The introduction of information and communication technology (ICT) to the educational system of Latvia has implemented infrastructural planning since 1985 (Grinfelds, 1996). The initial plan envisaged equipping schools (mainly secondary schools) and institutions of higher education with computer sets, and training teachers and university faculty. A new subject -informatics -was introduced in secondary schools. A new syllabus was designed and, subsequently, textbooks and study aids were published. Teachers of mathematics and physics were the first to be trained. These original teachers of informatics then started teaching this new subject. ICT integration in education system of Latvia is analysed taking into account results of international comparative educational studies (IEA COMPED and SITES). The implementation of ICT into the curriculum foreign language teachers-to-be at the University of Latvia and in schools is analysed and the results of the survey are presented. L'intégration de TICV dans la formation des maîtres et différentes disciplines scolaires en LithuanieL'introduction des TIC dans le système éducatif de la Lithuanie a conduit à une planification des structures depuis 1985 (Grinfelds, 1996). Le plan initial envisageait l'équiper les écoles (surtout secondaires) et les institutions d'enseignement supérieur avec des ordinateurs et de former les enseignants et les universitaires. Une nouvelle discipline l'informatique á eté introduite dans les écoles secondaires. On a crée de nouveaux programmes et par suite des livres et d'autres moyens d'enseignement ont été publiés. Les enseignants de mathématiques et de physique furent les premiers formés. Ces premiers enseignants en mathématiques ont ensuite commencé à enseigner cette nouvelle discipline. Integration von ICT in die Lehrerbildung und in verschiedene Schulfächer in LettlandDie Einführung von ICT (Informations-und Kommunikationstechnologie) in das Bildungssystem von Lettland hat seit 1985(Grinfelds, 1996 zu infrastrukturellen Planungen geführt. Die Anfangsplanung sah vor, Schulen (hauptsächlich Sekundarschulen) und Einrichtungen weiterführender Bildung mit Computeranlagen auszustatten sowie Lehrer und Universitätsangehörige auszubilden. Ein neues Fach -Informatik -wurde in weiterführenden Schulen eingeführt, dazu ein neuer Lehrplan entworfen, anschließend wurden Lehrbücher und Studienhilfen herausgegeben. Mathematik-und Physiklehrer waren die ersten, die darin ausgebildet wurden. Diese ursprünglichen Informatiklehrer begannen dann, das neue Thema zu lehren.

Integration in the global world that has rapidly been happening during the independence years in Latvia has brought about many benefits in the field of education but has also created numerous problems. It has aggravated the postmodern situation which in the context of literature teaching/learning has manifested itself as decrease of learners’ reading interests and skills. In didactics of the Latvian literature, the approach to interpretation of a literary work designed in the 19th and 20th has enriched with various theoretical and methodological sources from the West. It raised the necessity to develop awareness of these theories in the cultural and historical context and draw the conclusions in connection with the actual situation at schools. To solve these problems, curriculum development requires change of focus as well as varied methodological approaches should be applied to increase learners’ motivation to read literature and raise awareness of themselves and the environment with the help of works of art.

Teachers’ individual understanding of the roles in their own profession influences the construction of teacher-student and other work relationships. It is also an important indicator for language program managers to perceive the teaching and learning process. Metaphor analysis is an effective method to raise awareness and reflection of professional roles among teachers. This study employs the open-ended questionnaire to investigate the professional roles of the teachers in the Less Commonly Taught European Languages (LCTELs) programs in China. The framework provided by De Guerrero and Villamil’s research is adapted to design and conduct the questionnaire. The elicited metaphors are collected, categorized and analysed, to answer the research questions: (1) How do the participants metaphorically conceptualize themselves as a LCTELs teacher? (2) Is their perception of roles consistent with the results generated in the previous researches about EFL/ESL practice? (3) Are teachers’ actual and expected professional roles identical? The final 38 collected metaphors were classified into 9 categories. The results either proved the metaphors of some traditional teaching roles in the previous researches, or presented the new ones which rooted in the unique practice of the LCTELs programs.

<p><em>The necessity of promoting reading interests in connection with the problems that have to be solved today and in near future in school, university and the society on the whole puts forward the task for the prospective teachers of literature to master not only theoretical knowledge in their study process but also to acquire skills necessary for their future pedagogical work so that they are able to choose the most suitable methodological approach for the interpretation of a literary work in each teaching/learning situation.</em></p>

Uwe Tellkamp’s novel is “a tale from a lost country” (Tellkamp), which depicts a myriad of problems in different strata of the society (intellectuals, army, artists, teachers, and scientists) in Germany a short while before and after the fall of the Berlin Wall. Applying the terms introduced by Mikhail Bakhtin, “chronotope” and “micro-chronotope”, the author has tried to describe the complex time-space of Tellkamp’s novel “The Tower”, which reveals some of the last years before the total collapse of the German Democratic Republic. The novel presents a broad gallery of characters – there are more than a hundred characters who help to mirror different layers of the society, the feelings in them, the relations among people, and “the survival strategies”. Tellkamp’s novel allows apprehending diverse associative connection with the German literature of different time periods. The novel is a multi-layered, intertextual, and instigating literary work that abounds in many associations, allusions, and symbols; a part of them is examined in this article.