Students in the Pushkin Summer Institute Abroad take courses in Russian language, literature and culture, participate in a rich program of extra-curricular activities, and live with host families. Participants are required to attend classes daily, complete homework assignments, and actively participate in cultural programs, extra-curricular activities, and excursions. Students pledge to use Russian in class, during meals and group activities, with peer tutors, and with host families, and are supported to use Russian as much as possible at other times.
Pushkin Summer Institute Abroad works with Learn Russian in the EU, which is a joint initiative of Daugavpils University and the LatinSoft Training Center. Daugavpils University, established in 1921, is the major academic and research institution in Eastern Latvia. The Department of Russian and Slavic Linguistics at Daugavpils University has a long tradition of research and teaching the Russian language and literature to teachers, philologists and linguists from Latvia and many foreign countries. LatinSoft was founded in 1993 and focuses on teaching languages to adults and teenagers.
Typical daily schedule consists of 4.5 hour classes of language and/or culture in the morning, another hour of tutoring, communication practice, and portfolio consultations after lunch, as well as cultural activities with resident counselors and tutors for about three hours later in the afternoon. All this time students are actively learning Russian in a formal classroom setting and through interactions with peers.
