On Monday, October 14, 2024, a kick-off meeting took place for the project titled Preparation of Future Teachers of Slovak Language and Slovak Literature for Educational Practice in Schools with Hungarian as the Language of Instruction. The project, launched as part of the call from the Recovery Plan for the Pilot Testing of Changes in the Preparation of Future Teachers of Slovak in Minority Schools, is being implemented by the Faculty of Central European Studies in cooperation with the Faculty of Arts of Constantine the Philosopher University in Nitra. You can read more about the project here.

The initiator of the event was the main project coordinator, Ildikó Vančo, from the Institute of Hungarian Linguistics and Literary Science at the Faculty of Central European Studies. The aim of the meeting was to establish a theoretical foundation, as well as to identify and discuss the best practices for the successful implementation of the project.

The meeting was opened by Ladislav Szekeres, dean of our faculty, who briefly introduced the project and welcomed the invited guests. Among others, the event was attended by Dóra Kanyicska Belán, from the National Institute for Education, Chief State Advisor for the Development in the Division of Minority and Inclusive Education. Following the introduction, Ján Gallik, co-coordinator of the project and Director of the Institute of Languages and Cultures of Central Europe at our faculty, presented the three phases of the project’s implementation.  

The working part of the meeting consisted of presentations and lectures from both domestic and international experts. The event was moderated by Anna Oros Bugár from the Institute of Hungarian Linguistics and Literary Science, and all the presenters were consecutively interpreted (to Slovak and Hungarian) by her colleagues, Gizella Szabómihály and Zsuzsa Hajabács. In her lecture, Erika-Mária Tódor (Romania) addressed the issues of teaching Romanian as the state language.  Jana Pekarovičová (Slovakia), from the specialized department Studia Academica Slovaca at the Faculty of Arts of Comenius University in Bratislava, shared experiences regarding the needs of foreign language learners and discussed modern, effective language teaching methods.

Anikó Beregszászi (Ukraine) highlighted the challenges of teaching Ukrainian in the Hungarian community of Transcarpathia. In the afternoon session, Orsolya Nádor (Hungary) shared experiences regarding the needs of foreign language learners and discussed modern, effective language teaching methods. Márta Csire (Austria) outlined her experiences in measuring the language competencies of German-Hungarian-speaking students within the Austrian school system. The series of presentations concluded with a contribution from Ildikó Schmidt (Hungary) who spoke about the stages of acquiring one’s mother tongue.

Following the lectures, a roundtable discussion took place, moderated by Lucia Molnár Satinská from the Ľudovít Štúr Insitute of Linguistics at the Slovak Academy of Sciences. During the discussion, Dóra Kanyicska Belán, representing the Ministry of Education, presented the ministry’s plans and the opportunities for education in minority schools brought by the curriculum reform (the new State Educational Program). Participants also shared their previous experiences and the challenges they have encountered in this field. It can be concluded that both the lectures and the discussion fulfilled their goal, providing a platform for raising issues and challenges that will need to be addressed during the project’s implementation.         

 

Text: Mgr. Michal Krauter, PhD., FSŠ – Institute of Languages and Cultures
Photo: Mgr. Zoltán Decsi, FSŠ – Dean's Office,  Mgr. Zsuzsa Hajabács, FSŠ – PhD. student

 

Pubished: October 22, 2024