The purpose of the project is that students are given the chance to develop their Swedish - mainly their spoken Swedish. The project receives financing from the programme Nordplus that involves universities from Finland, Latvia and Sweden. Not only do they meet in person once each semester, instruction takes place online. Before each online lesson, students watch a film with a certain theme and prepare by writing down new words and answering questions related to the theme of the film. It's a chance for students to speak and to be active in Swedish.
In autumn 2017, students met at the university in Joensuu, in autumn 2018 they met in Satakunta yrkeshögskola in Björneborg, and in autumn 2018 they met at the Kostakademin in Riga. This spring 2019 it is the turn of Dalarna University to welcome students and teachers, a group of about 20.
Samanta Liepina was once an exchange student at Dalarna University, and is now studying intercultural relations between Latvia and Nordic countries at Latvia's Kulturakademi in Riga. She views her studies of Swedish as a good investment for the future.
"There are lots of work opportunities in Latvia if you know how to speak Swedish. I want to try to get work in customer service where Swedish customers call so that I can help them with their questions while at the same time working on my language skills. I am also considering travelling to Sweden to work after I graduate," she explains.
During the visit, teachers work on evaluating and developing the project, and students get the chance to improve their Swedish and to learn about Swedish history and culture. The group has visited a number of different departments at the university as well as various tourist spots, such as the Falun mine and Carl Larsson-gården in Sundborn, a few kilometres from Falun.