Contacts and sponsorship in Riga

You can't get anywhere without contacts and one task I've set myself is to meet and talk to the right people here to get a better idea of how things work school-wise. One person I haven't actually met yet but hope to soon is Iveta Vītola, the Longman-Pearson agent. I did met her assistant Liga at the Baltic Book Fair on February 29th together with Tatiana Ginzburg who represents another big English language publisher Express Publishing. In competition for what looks like quite a complex market both women seemed interested in FunSongs but were quick to point out they only sell or promote their own houses' publications.

I tried to get them interesed in a sponsorship deal - their publishers buy a packet of FunSongs shows as a prize or for textbook adoptions but for the time being nothing. On the phone yesterday Iveta asked me for proof FunSongs has worked this way in the past with Longman in Italy and so I'm going to ask Elisa Casarini, the Longman rep in Bologna who has helped us with our sponsored shows over the last few months, to contact her - and we'll take it from there!

Yesterday I met up again with Igors Gruars from Riga City Council at an event organized by the Italian Embassy. I hope he will introduce me to the right people at the Education Department.

I'm also waiting to find out exactly what kind of administrative tasks need to be completed for FunSongs to be able to supply the Gramata un Raps bookshop chain with its CD.

Learning English in Latvia

Latvia is a small country of large contrasts

While Charles Goodger struggles to learn Latvian, a fascinating language with direct connections to ancient sanskrit, he is also keenly interested in how Latvian children learn English - and how the school system here is organized. Part of his time here in Riga is spent researching and from time to time reports of his findings will be posted on the FunSongs Blog.

He hopes people who appreciate FunSongs and have an interest in English-language learning, in teaching and culture in general, may find some of the reports interesting.