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Patron St – St Roland National Day – 18th November National Emblem – Coats of arms National Anthem - God bless Latvia (Dievs, svētī Latviju!) Around Capital – Riga Currency- Euro The World

Latvia: Thursday 23rd April Latvia

A tapestry of sea, lakes and woods, Latvia is best described as a vast, unspoilt parkland with just one real city – its cosmopolitan capital, Rīga. The country might be small, but the amount of personal space it provides is enormous. You can always secure a chunk of pristine nature all for yourself, be it for trekking, cycling or dreaming away on a white- sand beach amid pine-covered dunes.

Key Phrases

Hello- Good Morning- Goodbye- Please- Labdien Labrīt Uz redzēšanos Lūdzu

Do you speak Thank you- My name is- What is your name? English? Paldies Mans vārds ir Kāds ir jūsu vārds? Vai tu runā angliski?

Yes- No- Jā Nē Patron St – St Roland National Day – 18th November National Emblem – Coats of arms Around National Anthem - God bless Latvia (Dievs, svētī Latviju!) Capital – Riga Currency- Euro The World Latvia

Literacy How much do you know about Latvia?

1. Latvia is one of the three ______countries.

East European One mark per Balkan correct answer Baltic Nordic

2. Latvia's flag, which is red-white-red, is often confused with the flag of another country, even though the red in Latvia's flag is much darker. Which is the other country?

Uzbekistan Belgium Austria Lithuania

3. What is the capital city of Latvia?

Answer: How much do you know about Latvia?

1. Latvia is one of the three ______countries.

East European One mark per Balkan correct answer Baltic Nordic

2. Latvia's flag, which is red-white-red, is often confused with the flag of another country, even though the red in Latvia's flag is much darker. Which is the other country?

Uzbekistan Belgium Austria Lithuania

3. What is the capital city of Latvia?

Answer: Riga Facts & Activities

1. Latvia’s flag is one of the oldest in the world Even though the state of Latvia was only founded in 1918, its flag dates back to 1279 and is one of the three oldest in the world. According to one legend, the leader of an ancient Latvian tribe was mortally wounded in a battle and wrapped in a white sheet. Blood stained the sheet’s edges while the part on which he was lying remained white. In the next battle his tribe used the blood-stained sheet as a flag and was victorious.

Activity: find out which country has the oldest flag in the world. Is there also a legend associated with it?

2. Latvia is among the world’s greenest countries Over half of Latvia’s territory is covered with forests and one fifth of the country comprises protected nature areas. Among others, there are four national parks, 42 nature parks, and 260 nature reserves. Add to that 500 km of white sand beaches, 12,000 rivers and over 2,000 lakes, as well as unique wildlife and you’ll probably understand why this small country is a popular destination for nature lovers.

Activity: Based on this information, write a descriptive paragraph describing the natural environment of Latvia. Facts & Activities

3. In Riga, roosters sit atop church towers The capital of Latvia is the beautiful Riga, founded in 1201. Churches in Riga’s historic Old Town are unlike any other for a curious reason: instead of crosses, golden roosters adorn the church towers. Why, you may ask? In truth, nobody knows exactly. Practically, the roosters double as weather vanes showing the direction of the wind – quite important for a bustling harbour city!

Activity: What is a harbour city?

4. In Kuldīga, you can catch flying fish In the charming small town of Kuldīga lies the Venta Rapid, the widest waterfall in Europe and a place where fish fly. Every spring and autumn fish, such as salmon, swim upstream to breed and try to jump over the rapids. Three centuries ago Duke Jacob invented a clever way to easily catch as many as 100 salmon a day – by placing baskets along the rapids and letting the fish jump into them.

Activity: Use a simile to describe the fish. Facts & Activities

5. Ice hockey is the hottest sport While some nations are passionate about football / soccer, basketball or cricket, the holy sport in Latvia is ice hockey. Latvian hockey fans pride themselves as the best ice hockey fans in the world and call it simply ‘hockey’ because the other types simply don’t matter here. In addition to the national team and a lively local league, there is an ice rink in every small town, allowing everyone to try their hand at the country’s most popular sport.

Activity: Which sport do you think is the most popular in the world? And how can that be determined?

6. Latvian women are the tallest in the world A recent study comparing the height of people in over 200 countries found that, with their average height of 170 cm (5ft 7in), Latvian women are taller than ladies of any other nation. While Dutch men were the tallest, Latvian gentlemen were not far behind and took the 4th place worldwide.

7. It’s home of the first Christmas tree Decorating a fir tree is an old winter solstice tradition, observed by most northern Europeans. However, the first decorated Christmas tree on record was one in Riga back in 1510. People adorned it with straw ornaments, ribbons, dried flowers and weave, sang and danced, and burned the tree afterwards for good luck. Later this tradition spread to Germany from where it conquered the rest of the world.

Activity: Write 5 synonyms for beautiful which could be used to describe a magical Christmas scene. Famous writers & poets

Rainis (1865-1929) is held in high esteem as a Latvian “national poet”. His patriotic and national romantic poems raised the Latvian spirits. They were not enough to give Rainis a political leadership he sought for (above the role of minister) but they were enough to grant him a role in national mythology (entire cemetery where he was buried has been named after him). Rainis’s leftist beliefs saved him from Soviet censorship, allowing him to be known even for Soviet-born generations. Rūdolfs Blaumanis (1862-1908) was a writer, scenarist and poet who concentrated on describing the Latvian village Aspazija (1865-1943) was a Latvian poet which was in his lifetime still the main living space of and playwright, especially known as the ethnic Latvians. wife of Rainis. Riga in Winter

• This is a picture from one of the numerous marketplaces in Riga.

• Describe the picture. • What can you see…any symbols? • What are the people buying? Why? • How do you think these people are feeling? • What smells would you expect here? • What could be heard? Patron St – St Roland National Day – 18th November National Emblem – Coats of arms Around National Anthem - God bless Latvia (Dievs, svētī Latviju!) Capital – Riga Currency- Euro The World Latvia

Numeracy Latvia replaced its previous currency, the lats, with the euro on 1 January 2014, after a European Union (EU) assessment in June 2013 asserted that the country had met all convergence criteria necessary for euro adoption.

Look at these items and work out how much they would have cost in 1 Euro= 0.70 lats lats

70 € 200 € 2.30 € 125 € 280 €

49 140 1.60 88 197 Cities in Latvia (population)

City Population (2013) Population (2019) Daugavpils 93,312 82,604 Jēkabpils 24,635 22,076 Jelgava 59,511 55,972 Work out the Jūrmala 50,840 49,325 decrease in Liepāja 76,731 68,945 population in all cities. Rēzekne 32,328 27,820 Rīga 658,640 632,614 Valmiera 25,130 23,125 Ventspils 38,750 34,377 Cities in Latvia (population) Round off the 2019 population to the nearest thousand- finish the box.

City Population (2013) Population (2019) Nearest Daugavpils 93,312 82,604 83,000 Jēkabpils 24,635 22,076 Jelgava 59,511 55,972 56,000 Jūrmala 50,840 49,325 Liepāja 76,731 68,945 Rēzekne 32,328 27,820 633,000 Rīga 658,640 632,614 Valmiera 25,130 23,125 Ventspils 38,750 34,377 34,000 Cities in Latvia (population) Plot these populations on a bar graph. Population vertically and cities horizontally.

City Nearest Daugavpils 83,000 Jēkabpils 22,000 Jelgava 56,000 Jūrmala 49,000 Liepāja 69,000 Rēzekne 28,000 Rīga 633,000 Valmiera 23,000 Ventspils 34,000 Riga Radio & Television Tower

The Riga Radio and TV Tower (Latvian: Rīgas radio un televīzijas tornis) in Riga, Latvia is the tallest tower in the European Union. It was built between 1979 and 1989 with funding from the central government of the Soviet Union. Its highest point reaches 368.5 meters which makes it the third tallest tower in Europe. Can you work out how high it is in feet?

1 meter= 3.3 feet Riga Radio & Television Tower

Did you work it out? 1,209 ft

1 meter= 3.3 feet Patron St – St Roland National Day – 18th November National Emblem – Coats of arms Around National Anthem - God bless Latvia (Dievs, svētī Latviju!) Capital – Riga Currency- Euro The World Latvia

Science Scientific Facts

A Latvian invented jeans The tailor Jacob W. Davis was born Jākobs Jufess in Riga and emigrated to the US as a young man in 1854. In 1870, he was asked by a customer to make a strong pair of trousers for her woodcutter husband – his creation would become the template for modern denim jeans, and two years later, with help from Levi Strauss, he patented the product. Scientific Facts

The discovery of Angel Falls Its alcohol might cure a cold Another Riga native, Aleksandrs Laime, was the first recorded Black Balsam is a traditional human to reach Venezuela's Angel liquer made using 24 different plants, flowers, buds, juices, Falls, in 1949. roots, oils and berries prepared in oak barrels. It is considered to be a good cold remedy and according to legend Catherine the Great became ill during a visit to Latvia – but was cured after drinking it. Explorative Facts

Crocodile Dundee was actually Latvian According to some sources, the inspiration for Crocodile Dundee may have been Arvīds Blūmentāls Its biggest airline is an innovator (or Crocodile Harry). Born in Dundaga in 1925, he moved to Australia in 1951 and spent years hunting airBaltic, founded in 1995, has its crocs in Queensland. headquarters in Riga and flies to 68 destinations. In 2013 it came up with a novel concept – letting passengers create their own in- flight meal when they book their ticket. Friction Friction Friction- Extension Solubility Solubility Patron St – St Roland National Day – 18th November National Emblem – Coats of arms Around National Anthem - God bless Latvia (Dievs, svētī Latviju!) Capital – Riga Currency- Euro The World Latvia

Creative Arts Design a new kit for the Latvian Ice Hockey Team

- You have been asked to redesign the kit for the Latvian Ice Hockey Team - What would you change? Why? - Remember to keep the important symbols.

This is the current kit Cooking time. Rye bread is extremely popular in Latvia and there are plenty of different types, including dark or sweet sourdough rye bread. Latvians love to accompany almost every dish with rye bread.

Ingredients: 200g rye flour, plus extra for dusting 200g strong white or wholemeal flour 7g sachet fast-action dried yeast ½ tsp fine salt 1 tbsp honey

• Method

1. Tip the flours, yeast and salt into a bowl. In a jug, mix the honey with 250ml warm water, pour the liquid into the bowl and mix to form a dough. Tip out onto your work surface and knead for 10 mins until smooth.

2. Place the dough in a well oiled bowl, cover with cling film and leave to rise in a warm place for 1-2 hrs, or until roughly doubled in size. Dust a 2lb/900g loaf tin with flour.

3. Tip the dough back onto your work surface and knead briefly to knock out any air bubbles. Shape into a smooth oval loaf and pop into your tin. Cover the tin with oiled cling film and leave to rise somewhere warm for a further 1 – 1.5 hr, or until doubled in size.

4. Heat oven to 220C/200C fan/gas 7. Remove the cling film and dust the surface of the loaf with rye flour. Slash a few incisions on an angle then bake for 30 mins until dark brown and hollow sounding when tapped. Transfer to a wire cooling rack and leave to cool for at least 20 mins before serving Draw & create a daisy

NATIONAL FLOWER Daisy is national flower of Latvia also called as pipene. Botanically it is called as Chrysanthemum leucanthemum. These are wild grown flowers. Their growing season is July to September. These are waxy flowers having beautiful scent. It has gain popularity among Latvian people and in meetings and greeting this flower is given as a gift. Creating a daisy