This feature is the second article in a series that celebrates the accomplishments of National Affiliates of the International Development in Europe Committee (IDEC) of the International Reading Association (IRA). Their member organizations’ activity reports are compiled twice a year (in January and July), and we have summarized excerpts from these reports. Visit www.literacyeurope.org for more information and a list of national websites. 

Denmark 

Lasepadagogen, the Danish Council of International Reading Association, is one of the oldest reading associations in Europe. It was established in 1950 and is chartered as an IRA affiliate. The Lasepadagogen journal, The Reading Teacher, is published six times a year. They also publish special books written by researchers in fx. dyscalculia (dyslexia) and how to teach and learn with different problems in reading and writing. Lasepadagogen’s annual conference called Munkebjergkonferencen will be held on November 17 and 18, 2011. The theme of the conference is “Evaluation of reading and writing in practice teaching.” On November 16, Lasepadagogen will host a conference with the theme “How to see the pupil behind the diagnosis?” for local consult reading teachers from public schools in Denmark. Read more about Lasepadagogen at www.laesepaed.dk.

Estonia 
The Estonian Reading Association, also know as EstRA and Eesti Lugemisühing, held their annual conference with the theme “Picture and Text” on June 8 through 10, 2011. The conference in Tallinn attracted more than 200 participants from different countries.  The conference included an awards ceremony for winners of the “Picture and Text” essay competition for teachers. Their “Reading Nest” project, now in its seventh year, continues to train mentors how to create new reading nests in schools, kindergartens, and libraries. The “Schools Where Literacy Thrives” collection about the results of three years of the project activities was published in 2010 and presented in EstRA conference. This publication is in its fourth year. The “Reading is Fun” initiative is in its 10th year in 13 schools from all over Estonia including schools for children with hearing disabilities. Visit www.lugemisyhing.ee for more information about EstRA. 

Finland
The Finnish Reading Association (FinRA) has played an important role for educators who have benefited from the quarterly journal Kielikukko. FinRA is planning a one-day cruise seminar with workshops for its members on October 15, 2011. Themes for the workshops will be “Multiculturalism in today’s schools” and “Students’ need of web literacy.” The work on the peer reviewed publication based on articles from the Second Baltic Sea –15th Nordic Reading Conference is at its final stage. The editorial group of Dr. Vuokko Kaartinen, chair, Carita Kiili, and Dr. Marita Makela wish to thank writers, reviewers, and editors for their professional work and assistance. The publication will contain 13 articles; nine in English and four in Finnish. The authors represent Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, and Finland. Conference presentations can be found online at http://www.parnet.fi/~finra/?page=1. In June, 40 years of FinRA documents: projects, protocols/minutes and communication gathered from the founding years until 2004 have been deposited in the provincial archives in the city of Jyvaskyla, the home town of FinRA. The next step is to gather photographs to include. The material is available for research purposes. Go to http://www.parnet.fi/~finra/

 for more details about FinRA.