Students learn poetry can hold anger and fear too in Inga Gaile's creative workshop
Latvian poet Inga Gaile led a creative poetry session for sixth and seventh graders as part of the 'Latvijas skolas soma' cultural education programme, encouraging students to express emotions through verse. The session, titled 'Does the Second Group Hear Me,' engaged students as active participants from early morning.
An unusual lesson recently took place in Latvia, where poet Inga Gaile led a creative poetry workshop for schoolchildren. Titled 'Does the Second Group Hear Me,' the session reflected a wish to ensure young people's voices and experiences are truly heard. Sixth and seventh graders attended, arriving at school as early as 8:30 in the morning.
Students at the center of the creative process
From the very first minutes, it became clear the workshop was designed so students would not be passive listeners but active participants in a creative process. Under Gaile's guidance, young people were encouraged to reflect on their own emotions and to experience poetry as something personally meaningful, rather than merely a school subject to be studied. A key theme was that poetry has room not only for pleasant, bright feelings but also for anger and fear — emotions often hidden or left unspoken in everyday life.
Part of the 'Latvijas skolas soma' programme
The workshop was held as part of the cultural education initiative 'Latvijas skolas soma,' which aims to give students the chance to experience Latvian cultural values firsthand while developing their cultural awareness and self-expression skills. Gaile's session fits within this broader goal, offering students a way to better understand and articulate their inner experiences through poetry.
The approach reflects a wider trend in literary education toward making poetry feel closer to young people's everyday lives, rather than treating it as an abstract academic subject.
