On October 28-31 in Moscow federal master classes of teaching native tongues of Russia took place. The participants went through a two-stage competition, whereby they had to present their methodical essays and lesson plans - 182 teachers from 43 regions of Russia submitted their works.

75 winners from Chuvashia, Tatarstan, Bashkiria, Mordovia, Udmurtia, Komi, Tver, Moscow, St. Petersburg and other regions convened for the second stage that happened in the country's capital city. They demonstrated their methods and teacher skills to judges who gave a Chuvash teacher the winning 3rd place.

The Chuvash winner, Svetlana Tiahmusova comes from School 43 in the city of Cheboksary. Two other Chuvash teachers were Valentina Efimova from the town of Kozlovka and Valentina Ivanova from Kanash district's Suhaikassi school. They all teach the Chuvash language and literature.

Valentina Efimova's methods and teaching devices were considered the best by the judges, and she received a special diploma.

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Eva Lisina takes tribune (left), while Krasnov on vigil (center)

On March 12, Chuvash Orthography: Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow conference was held in the Humanities Institute of Chuvash Republic. The event gathered together teachers, journalists and researchers.

Surely there are many thinkers and ideas on how to write correctly - those who want to return to the old rules, those who prefer no change, and those who want "reforms" like eliminating ambiguity when writing compound words. The Bible translator Eva Lisina, for instance, considers old rules to let words be perceived in deeper, more meaningful ways.

But yes, the question was put forward - is it really necessary to debate orthography when school hours for Chuvash are significantly reduced?

The Conference was attended by the head of Chuvash Republic's State Council Committee of Social Politics and National Question Peter Krasnov.