{"id":1100086,"date":"2024-12-14T20:07:30","date_gmt":"2024-12-15T01:07:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bocskairadio.org\/?p=1100086"},"modified":"2025-01-03T19:49:31","modified_gmt":"2025-01-04T00:49:31","slug":"it-turns-out-there-are-hungarians-everywhere-an-interview-with-founder-of-the-online-hungarian-school-dr-judit-tamas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bocskairadio.org\/en\/it-turns-out-there-are-hungarians-everywhere-an-interview-with-founder-of-the-online-hungarian-school-dr-judit-tamas\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018It turns out there are Hungarians everywhere\u2019 \u2014 An Interview with Founder of the Online Hungarian School Dr. Judit Tam\u00e1s"},"content":{"rendered":"

Source: hungarianconservative.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

Dr.\u00a0Judit Tam\u00e1s came to America thirty years ago as a kindergarten teacher through a scholarship program. She quickly became involved in the Hungarian community in Buffalo, New York, and a few years later moved to North Carolina for her husband\u2019s job. When their three children were born, she founded the Carolinas Hungarian Group, organized camps for Hungarians for twenty years, and later launched the popular Online Hungarian School (OMI), which she has run for fifteen years. Nowadays they have 250\u2013300 students from 50 countries studying in 50 groups.<\/em><\/p>\n

***<\/p>\n

How did you end up in North America?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I graduated as a kindergarten teacher in Hungary, and worked as an educator in the UK for two years. In 1993 I was offered a scholarship to the U.S. thanks to\u00a0P\u00e9ter Forg\u00e1ch<\/a>, who helped many talented young Hungarians to continue their studies in America and to contribute to the development of Hungary upon their return home. I was one of the first students. I first earned a master\u2019s degree in early childhood education from the State University of New York at Buffalo, and then supplemented it with a doctorate. In the meantime, we established an exchange student-teacher program between the American university and a teacher training college in Hungary. In addition, we brought many international conferences to Hungary. There was a great deal of Hungarian\u2013American networking in the first few years after the fall of communism.<\/p>\n

The Hungarian community in Buffalo wasn\u2019t very large, they didn\u2019t have a Hungarian weekend school, for example, but they had Hungarian scouting, which I became involved with. Since scouting starts at the age of five, I started a kindergarten class for younger children so that by the time they get into scouting, their Hungarian language skills would meet the expected level.<\/p>\n

You were also active in North Carolina from the beginning\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n

We moved to North Carolina at the end of my doctoral studies, because my husband got a job here. After those years in Buffalo, where we had a strong connection to the local Hungarian community, we really missed something similar in North Carolina, so, together with another Hungarian family, we started to \u2018hunt for\u2019 Hungarians one after the other, for example on\u00a0iwiw<\/em>, an early Hungarian social media site, which was popular at the time; or we would open up the local phone book and write to people with Hungarian names. We started with very small steps, and as the community grew, we organized bigger gatherings. Once we had a presence on the Internet, it was easier for people to find us. And later we started the camp\u2014that\u2019s how the\u00a0Carolinas Hungarian Group<\/a>\u00a0was formed in 2000.<\/p>\n

\n

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The Carolinas Hungarian Group\u2019s Easter Camp PHOTO: courtesy of Dr. Judit Tam\u00e1s<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/figure>\n

Your camps are popular across America. How did you start organizing them?<\/strong><\/p>\n

We live far away from each other, so we couldn\u2019t get together regularly. In the camps we meet less often, but we\u2019re together for days, which makes it worth driving several hours. We used to organize camps twice a year, but since the Covid pandemic, we only have the Easter camp. It\u2019s a family gathering, where we also take care of the non-Hungarian speaking spouses by organizing activities also suitable for them: handicrafts, folk dancing, cooking, sports competitions. The Easter camp is based around the Easter holiday theme: we celebrate Hungarian Easter traditions, decorate eggs with various techniques, do sprinkling, dress up in folk costumes, invite a band, folk dancers and craftsmen. We once organized a complete traditional wedding ceremony\u2014it\u2019s the kind of program that even people in Hungary don\u2019t necessarily experience. We invite guests from Hungary too. Camps of several hundred people running for several days like ours are rare in North America. We prepare for at least half a year, to make sure that everything will be in order: accommodation, meals and programs for all ages.<\/p>\n

Where do the participants come from and what is the camp venue?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Participants come not only from the two Carolinas, but also from states further away. The spring camp coincides with spring break for many, so with one or two extra days off, they can come even from quite a distance. Since the dates are known for a year in advance, many people organize their vacations accordingly. Some people still come back after ten years.\u00a0 It\u2019s very difficult to find a suitable location for such a huge and diverse event, where there is enough space for cooking, folk dancing, etc. The Easter camp is usually held in the mountains, while the autumn camps were held on the beach. We try to organize them in a way that is physically and financially accessible for everyone.<\/p>\n

I used to organize them for twenty years, but since the school has grown to become large, organizing camps no longer fits into my life. Meanwhile, my children, who were born when we started all this, have grown up. We have managed to involve the new generation with young children, both as organizers and participants, so fortunately there is enough fresh supply ensuring the camp\u2019s future.<\/p>\n

\n

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Zsuzsa Lantos teaches a Geography class. PHOTO: courtesy of Dr. Judit Tam\u00e1s<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/figure>\n

Where did the idea of the OMI come from?<\/strong><\/p>\n

The camps were organized online; that\u2019s where the idea came from: if we\u2019ve been working together for years and we can discuss and organize practically everything online, why don\u2019t we try to teach the children in the same way, since we couldn\u2019t have a physical Hungarian weekend school locally because of the huge distances that set us apart? We teamed up with a few other mothers\u2014teachers by vocation\u2014to create an online classroom for the children of the Hungarian community in the Carolinas. We first called it a book club to motivate them to read. Then we created a small website, where we started to upload all kinds of educational materials, and then we started the lessons. Since the Covid pandemic, online lessons are in the public consciousness, but at that time it was a rarity. It worked absolutely well, and it grew into a school, which operated within the Carolinas Hungarian Group for a long time, until it outgrew that organization and we became independent in 2021.<\/p>\n

OMI has reached 50 countries and 50 groups in 15 years. How?<\/strong><\/p>\n

At first, we worked with one group, but very quickly we realized that we had to break them down into age groups. Families where we started with their school-age children asked if we had a program for the pre-school age group; later many parents were interested if their teenagers could also join; so we started teaching younger and older children. When non-Hungarian-speaking family members asked for language lessons, we started to work with adults, too. Some came to us with special requests; for example, Bible lessons, chess classes, online camps, music classes for the little ones. We now have a reading club for teenagers, who love to talk about books. But we also have mother-baby classes, toddler classes, puppetry, vocabulary and language development classes, reading and writing instruction including cursive if requested by parents, music lessons, and various subjects such as history, math, literature and grammar as well as Hungarian language classes.<\/p>\n

In the meantime, we started to get requests from other states, and then from abroad. It turned out that there are Hungarians everywhere, including very faraway African and Asian countries, too. Sometimes they come from such exotic places that we have to check the map\u2026We have about 250\u2013300 students per year, only about half of whom now live in America, and in total we have had several thousand students in 15 years, which would be difficult to count because many attend more than one class. We have roughly 700 classes per semester, with classes every day, from Monday through Sunday, from morning to evening, mainly because of the different time zones. I don\u2019t think any other school or organization could meet the need to provide Hungarian learning available anywhere in the world.<\/p>\n

How big are these groups?<\/strong><\/p>\n

It varies depending on the age and profile of the group. For example, the smaller the children, the less they can wait for each other; everyone wants to tell their story or show their work at the same time. So the younger groups are smaller, but teenagers work well in larger groups. If there are requests from very specific time zones or requests that we know in advance won\u2019t attract more applicants, we\u2019ll start the group even if it\u2019s financially unprofitable, because we don\u2019t want to send anyone off. We\u2019ve decided many times not to have more groups, not to expand the timetable\u2026and then a request came in that we accepted it. We try to find a way to reach everyone, and we also give private lessons within the school. We take on the preparation for the Hungarian exam for children who want to move to or return to Hungary. On the other side, there are second- and third-generation parents and children who have never or rarely been to Hungary, because not everyone can afford traveling overseas\u2014they also have to be taught in a very different way.<\/p>\n

\n

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Ildik\u00f3 N\u00e9meth holds a class for an Australian group. PHOTO: courtesy of Dr. Judit Tam\u00e1s<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/figure>\n

What should parents do if they are interested in OMI?<\/strong><\/p>\n

There\u2019s a detailed timetable on the website, but it\u2019s not easy to navigate; sometimes even we have to check twice before we recommend a class. Parents need to fill out a small application form on the website, enter the age of their children and what they would like to do. We then offer them \u2018trial lessons\u2019, where we introduce ourselves and get to know the families. One of the great advantages of online school is that there are so many options and we can cater for all needs\u2014that\u2019s why it\u2019s so important to have this trial lesson, which we can do quickly, but we don\u2019t hurry if the child enjoys it and the parent is available. Parents are usually very keen to talk; they want to tell us not only what they want and why, but also their whole situation: whether there is a Hungarian community around them, what bothers them regarding their children\u2019s education, etc. In this process, we try to assess and then take all aspects into account\u2014age, Hungarian language skills, personality, group dynamics\u2014to create as homogeneous a group as possible. Every good teacher differentiates, but it\u2019s easier to make progress if you don\u2019t put, for example, a linguistically beginner 10-year-old in the younger group, because a 10-year-old needs very different methods from those used with 7\u20138-year-olds, not to mention teenagers. We then offer them possible groups they can try out, because it\u2019s very important for us that they feel that the teacher, the level and the group itself is suitable for their children. If it turns out after the first class that the level isn\u2019t right, it\u2019s possible to change groups and try another one. And we never ask for tuition fees in advance because we trust the families\u2014that\u2019s also rare.<\/p>\n

What do you usually experience during the trial lessons?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Families are very busy. It\u2019s hard to find free time even for the kindergarteners, because they have so many extracurricular activities and spend so much time traveling. We\u2019ve helped many families who have slipped into everyday English use; because they are afraid of falling behind at school or because for various other reasons, they prefer not using Hungarian, and thus even though the child understands Hungarian, they prefer to respond in English or in the language of their countries of residence. One of our aims of the trial lessons is to encourage them. Often parents come to us saying that their teenager doesn\u2019t want to join, can we persuade him? In such cases, it\u2019s also our job to get them interested and to support their parents so that they don\u2019t give up on it. Our school is not just about the lessons and classes, but much more. It\u2019s a community where parents are similarly situated\u2014that\u2019s why we set up a parents\u2019 group and various communication channels to talk to each other. Sometimes we also invite experts, but often we don\u2019t need one, because there is so much knowledge accumulated in the families that they can learn a lot from each other. And then there is our currently 22 strong teaching staff including teachers with all kinds of qualifications, who have not only graduated in Hungary but also have a lot of experience in teaching Hungarian children living abroad\u2014because they need both: not only their basic subject-matter expertise, but how education works for children living abroad.<\/p>\n

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A child puts up a maypole as a home assignment. PHOTO: courtesy of Dr. Judit Tam\u00e1s<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/figure>\n

Is there anything else that OMI can offer?<\/strong><\/p>\n

We have many children who also attend local Hungarian weekend schools, but that\u2019s usually not enough: many parents want more, something different. It\u2019s also very helpful for private students, because there is a community here. And they can\u2019t learn subjects like we do in other Hungarian weekend schools: high level math, physics, geography, history, folklore, folk dance\u2026All subjects can also help a lot in the local American, German, French, etc. schools, because they learn about things that make them more informed. It\u2019s not just about teaching Hungarian, it\u2019s teaching all kinds of subjects in Hungarian. Since the children otherwise live in various cultures and languages, we often discuss traditions and holidays celebrated in their countries of residence, so they learn not only about Hungarian culture, but also about their other countries.<\/p>\n

We also prepare them for various Hungarian and international maths competitions; where they\u2019ve achieved very good results. Many of our children know more about Hungarian ethnography and folklore than a child growing up in Hungary. We put a lot of emphasis on Hungarian identity, so that they are proud of their origins, traditions and of Hungary in general. It\u2019s important that children who speak Hungarian well also go to Hungarian schools, and for as long as possible. Our aim is to start as early and keep them in the system as long as possible. That\u2019s why we have scholarships; school shouldn\u2019t be a financial issue. Teenage years are very important and decisive: we can have a big impact on the children, and since they will go to university or college afterwards, we have to make them love Hungarian language and culture before that, so that later on as young adults they themselves will look for opportunities to get into the Hungarian communities, go to folk dance events, pick up a Hungarian book, etc. We have a lot to do until then\u2026<\/p>\n

You mentioned you have highly qualified teachers.<\/strong><\/p>\n

When we occasionally put out a job advert, they find us from Hungary and Europe. There are fewer qualified teachers with college degrees who can teach at OMI. We have some teachers who teach very intensively, up to six or seven groups, and some who have fewer groups, but all of our teachers have a passion for teaching. Those who love teaching will sooner or later find the opportunity to continue their profession, even when they live abroad.<\/p>\n

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Writing class at OMI PHOTO: courtesy of Dr. Judit Tam\u00e1s<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/figure>\n

Our teaching staff includes various subject teachers, drama teachers, speech therapists, Hungarian as a foreign language teachers, ECL language exam instructors, etc. This is also the strength of our school. We have everything under one umbrella for parents, and our teachers work together. We have an online teachers\u2019 room where we communicate constantly, discuss successes, challenges, best practices, and learn from each other. Online teaching can be a very lonely activity if you\u2019re doing it on your own. It\u2019s very important to help and mentor each other. The field of online teaching and digital pedagogy is also constantly changing and evolving. Even after all these years we can\u2019t say we know everything or that we would have the industry knowledge at our fingertips. That\u2019s another reason why online school is good and people like teaching here: they have to be creative. We organize a lot of training for ourselves, we have monthly meetings, we train each other about the use of various educational applications and we have sub-teacher groups, collaborating constantly.<\/p>\n

Are there no disadvantages of online teaching? Some are afraid of it, for example because of the assumed excess use of computers or the lack of personal touch\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n

All I can say is: if you are afraid of it, come and try it with your child. There are professionally proven ways to do it well. The classes last one hour each, so the child is not sitting in front of a computer all day. Technology cannot be excluded from children\u2019s lives. At the same time, nowadays there are many technology rich schools, classrooms where several types of technology are used regularly to enhance teaching and learning, such as interactive whiteboards, mobile devices. Hungarian schools also have to change; we can\u2019t just photocopy worksheets. Online education must also be entertaining, interactive and experiential. During the Covid pandemic, the world was suddenly forced into it, schools had to switch quickly to online education, but OMI is different. For example, it certainly brings out the best from teachers. I\u2019m not saying it\u2019s easy, we all get physically tired in 60-minute lessons that require a lot of preparation too, but it has its advantages: children get a very high-quality education and a supportive community that you can never have enough of. Moreover, there are certain subjects and activities that work well online. Families are also involved. In the case of weekend schools, parents don\u2019t necessarily know what their children are learning, but here they get lots of ideas that they can try out for themselves. New traditions are adopted; new topics are introduced into families. All our materials are accessible for those enrolled. We give homework but nothing is compulsory. However, if someone wants to practice at home, we want to help. Activities are not only virtual; we do a lot of hands-on learning, e.g. making a model of the Chain Bridge or collecting something from nature. We make puppets and a variety of crafts and we have many extra-curricular and community-building activities, such as online story time, puppet shows; even online folk dance parties, completely free and open not only to enrolled students but to anyone.<\/p>\n

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Dr. Judit Tam\u00e1s at AMIT 2024 with her award PHOTO: courtesy of Dr. Judit Tam\u00e1s<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/figure>\n

This year, you received an award at the annual\u00a0<\/strong>American Hungarian Schools\u2019 Association (AMIT)<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0conference.<\/strong><\/p>\n

We regularly attend AMIT conferences; six of our teachers were there this year.\u00a0During the Covid pandemic, we helped a lot of schools and organizations. Some Hungarian weekend schools didn\u2019t switch to online education and sent families to us; at some others we \u2018just\u2019 helped out. We are happy to show them our methods, provide materials, and they can watch our lessons anytime. Our teachers are often invited to conferences, and if someone is considering switching to online teaching, they often contact us.<\/p>\n

Certainly, I\u2019m not the only one who received this award but our whole staff, although there were times when I have run the school completely on my own. Currently there are three board members running the school, and we all have our strengths. My field is pedagogy. Being a school principal is already out of my comfort zone, and it\u2019s not always easy to lead a teaching staff of 22. The time zones are also a challenge: when some teachers go to bed, others get up, and there is no end to it. We work from home, most of our classes are on weekends, for example we have 12 classes on Sunday. From my own time zone perspective, the first Asian group starts at four in the morning, and the last starts at eight in the evening, so my computer is basically always ringing. It\u2019s not easy to manage, but we complement each other well, because the financial, technical and administrative part of running a school is handled very well by T\u00edmea Szonja Oll\u00e1ri-Homor. Zsuzsa Lantos, a geography teacher, is our deputy principal, also teaching at the\u00a0Arany J\u00e1nos Hungarian School<\/a>\u00a0in New York. Our teachers are usually community leaders, physical school directors, event organizers.<\/p>\n

If everything goes so smoothly, I guess you\u2019ll be running it for a long time.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Well, there have been ups and downs\u2026There were times when I wanted to give it up, but there were always some teachers and parents who said, \u2018Don\u2019t give it up, we\u2019ll help you, we\u2019ll figure something out together.\u2019 They were always very supportive and thus we always kept going. There were times when I even wrote down that I was going to quit, so that I wouldn\u2019t forget the next day and get over the annoyance, but then a letter would come from a child or a parent saying they can\u2019t wait for the next semester to start\u2026As long as we get feedback like this and we have plenty of applicants without any advertising, we\u2019ll continue. For now, it\u2019s me who takes it forward, but I\u2019m sure there will be others who will continue OMI, because by now the whole system is well-functioning, teachers and parents got used to it.<\/p>\n

Source: hungarianconservative.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Source: hungarianconservative.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

Dr.\u00a0Judit Tam\u00e1s came to America thirty years ago as a kindergarten teacher through a scholarship program. She quickly became involved in the Hungarian community in Buffalo, New York, and a few years later moved to North Carolina for her husband\u2019s job. When their three children were born, she founded the Carolinas Hungarian Group, organized camps for Hungarians for twenty years, and later launched the popular Online Hungarian School (OMI), which she has run for fifteen years. Nowadays they have 250\u2013300 students from 50 countries studying in 50 groups.<\/em><\/p>\n

***<\/p>\n

How did you end up in North America?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I graduated as a kindergarten teacher in Hungary, and worked as an educator in the UK for two years. In 1993 I was offered a scholarship to the U.S. thanks to\u00a0P\u00e9ter Forg\u00e1ch<\/a>, who helped many talented young Hungarians to continue their studies in America and to contribute to the development of Hungary upon their return home. I was one of the first students. I first earned a master\u2019s degree in early childhood education from the State University of New York at Buffalo, and then supplemented it with a doctorate. In the meantime, we established an exchange student-teacher program between the American university and a teacher training college in Hungary. In addition, we brought many international conferences to Hungary. There was a great deal of Hungarian\u2013American networking in the first few years after the fall of communism.<\/p>\n

The Hungarian community in Buffalo wasn\u2019t very large, they didn\u2019t have a Hungarian weekend school, for example, but they had Hungarian scouting, which I became involved with. Since scouting starts at the age of five, I started a kindergarten class for younger children so that by the time they get into scouting, their Hungarian language skills would meet the expected level.<\/p>\n

You were also active in North Carolina from the beginning\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n

We moved to North Carolina at the end of my doctoral studies, because my husband got a job here. After those years in Buffalo, where we had a strong connection to the local Hungarian community, we really missed something similar in North Carolina, so, together with another Hungarian family, we started to \u2018hunt for\u2019 Hungarians one after the other, for example on\u00a0iwiw<\/em>, an early Hungarian social media site, which was popular at the time; or we would open up the local phone book and write to people with Hungarian names. We started with very small steps, and as the community grew, we organized bigger gatherings. Once we had a presence on the Internet, it was easier for people to find us. And later we started the camp\u2014that\u2019s how the\u00a0Carolinas Hungarian Group<\/a>\u00a0was formed in 2000.<\/p>\n

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[caption id=\"attachment_38077\" align=\"alignnone\" width=\"1024\"]\"\" The Carolinas Hungarian Group\u2019s Easter Camp PHOTO: courtesy of Dr. Judit Tam\u00e1s[\/caption]<\/figure>\n

Your camps are popular across America. How did you start organizing them?<\/strong><\/p>\n

We live far away from each other, so we couldn\u2019t get together regularly. In the camps we meet less often, but we\u2019re together for days, which makes it worth driving several hours. We used to organize camps twice a year, but since the Covid pandemic, we only have the Easter camp. It\u2019s a family gathering, where we also take care of the non-Hungarian speaking spouses by organizing activities also suitable for them: handicrafts, folk dancing, cooking, sports competitions. The Easter camp is based around the Easter holiday theme: we celebrate Hungarian Easter traditions, decorate eggs with various techniques, do sprinkling, dress up in folk costumes, invite a band, folk dancers and craftsmen. We once organized a complete traditional wedding ceremony\u2014it\u2019s the kind of program that even people in Hungary don\u2019t necessarily experience. We invite guests from Hungary too. Camps of several hundred people running for several days like ours are rare in North America. We prepare for at least half a year, to make sure that everything will be in order: accommodation, meals and programs for all ages.<\/p>\n

Where do the participants come from and what is the camp venue?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Participants come not only from the two Carolinas, but also from states further away. The spring camp coincides with spring break for many, so with one or two extra days off, they can come even from quite a distance. Since the dates are known for a year in advance, many people organize their vacations accordingly. Some people still come back after ten years.\u00a0 It\u2019s very difficult to find a suitable location for such a huge and diverse event, where there is enough space for cooking, folk dancing, etc. The Easter camp is usually held in the mountains, while the autumn camps were held on the beach. We try to organize them in a way that is physically and financially accessible for everyone.<\/p>\n

I used to organize them for twenty years, but since the school has grown to become large, organizing camps no longer fits into my life. Meanwhile, my children, who were born when we started all this, have grown up. We have managed to involve the new generation with young children, both as organizers and participants, so fortunately there is enough fresh supply ensuring the camp\u2019s future.<\/p>\n

\n

[caption id=\"attachment_38079\" align=\"alignnone\" width=\"724\"]\"\" Zsuzsa Lantos teaches a Geography class. PHOTO: courtesy of Dr. Judit Tam\u00e1s[\/caption]<\/figure>\n

Where did the idea of the OMI come from?<\/strong><\/p>\n

The camps were organized online; that\u2019s where the idea came from: if we\u2019ve been working together for years and we can discuss and organize practically everything online, why don\u2019t we try to teach the children in the same way, since we couldn\u2019t have a physical Hungarian weekend school locally because of the huge distances that set us apart? We teamed up with a few other mothers\u2014teachers by vocation\u2014to create an online classroom for the children of the Hungarian community in the Carolinas. We first called it a book club to motivate them to read. Then we created a small website, where we started to upload all kinds of educational materials, and then we started the lessons. Since the Covid pandemic, online lessons are in the public consciousness, but at that time it was a rarity. It worked absolutely well, and it grew into a school, which operated within the Carolinas Hungarian Group for a long time, until it outgrew that organization and we became independent in 2021.<\/p>\n

OMI has reached 50 countries and 50 groups in 15 years. How?<\/strong><\/p>\n

At first, we worked with one group, but very quickly we realized that we had to break them down into age groups. Families where we started with their school-age children asked if we had a program for the pre-school age group; later many parents were interested if their teenagers could also join; so we started teaching younger and older children. When non-Hungarian-speaking family members asked for language lessons, we started to work with adults, too. Some came to us with special requests; for example, Bible lessons, chess classes, online camps, music classes for the little ones. We now have a reading club for teenagers, who love to talk about books. But we also have mother-baby classes, toddler classes, puppetry, vocabulary and language development classes, reading and writing instruction including cursive if requested by parents, music lessons, and various subjects such as history, math, literature and grammar as well as Hungarian language classes.<\/p>\n

In the meantime, we started to get requests from other states, and then from abroad. It turned out that there are Hungarians everywhere, including very faraway African and Asian countries, too. Sometimes they come from such exotic places that we have to check the map\u2026We have about 250\u2013300 students per year, only about half of whom now live in America, and in total we have had several thousand students in 15 years, which would be difficult to count because many attend more than one class. We have roughly 700 classes per semester, with classes every day, from Monday through Sunday, from morning to evening, mainly because of the different time zones. I don\u2019t think any other school or organization could meet the need to provide Hungarian learning available anywhere in the world.<\/p>\n

How big are these groups?<\/strong><\/p>\n

It varies depending on the age and profile of the group. For example, the smaller the children, the less they can wait for each other; everyone wants to tell their story or show their work at the same time. So the younger groups are smaller, but teenagers work well in larger groups. If there are requests from very specific time zones or requests that we know in advance won\u2019t attract more applicants, we\u2019ll start the group even if it\u2019s financially unprofitable, because we don\u2019t want to send anyone off. We\u2019ve decided many times not to have more groups, not to expand the timetable\u2026and then a request came in that we accepted it. We try to find a way to reach everyone, and we also give private lessons within the school. We take on the preparation for the Hungarian exam for children who want to move to or return to Hungary. On the other side, there are second- and third-generation parents and children who have never or rarely been to Hungary, because not everyone can afford traveling overseas\u2014they also have to be taught in a very different way.<\/p>\n

\n

[caption id=\"attachment_38080\" align=\"alignnone\" width=\"768\"]\"\" Ildik\u00f3 N\u00e9meth holds a class for an Australian group. PHOTO: courtesy of Dr. Judit Tam\u00e1s[\/caption]<\/figure>\n

What should parents do if they are interested in OMI?<\/strong><\/p>\n

There\u2019s a detailed timetable on the website, but it\u2019s not easy to navigate; sometimes even we have to check twice before we recommend a class. Parents need to fill out a small application form on the website, enter the age of their children and what they would like to do. We then offer them \u2018trial lessons\u2019, where we introduce ourselves and get to know the families. One of the great advantages of online school is that there are so many options and we can cater for all needs\u2014that\u2019s why it\u2019s so important to have this trial lesson, which we can do quickly, but we don\u2019t hurry if the child enjoys it and the parent is available. Parents are usually very keen to talk; they want to tell us not only what they want and why, but also their whole situation: whether there is a Hungarian community around them, what bothers them regarding their children\u2019s education, etc. In this process, we try to assess and then take all aspects into account\u2014age, Hungarian language skills, personality, group dynamics\u2014to create as homogeneous a group as possible. Every good teacher differentiates, but it\u2019s easier to make progress if you don\u2019t put, for example, a linguistically beginner 10-year-old in the younger group, because a 10-year-old needs very different methods from those used with 7\u20138-year-olds, not to mention teenagers. We then offer them possible groups they can try out, because it\u2019s very important for us that they feel that the teacher, the level and the group itself is suitable for their children. If it turns out after the first class that the level isn\u2019t right, it\u2019s possible to change groups and try another one. And we never ask for tuition fees in advance because we trust the families\u2014that\u2019s also rare.<\/p>\n

What do you usually experience during the trial lessons?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Families are very busy. It\u2019s hard to find free time even for the kindergarteners, because they have so many extracurricular activities and spend so much time traveling. We\u2019ve helped many families who have slipped into everyday English use; because they are afraid of falling behind at school or because for various other reasons, they prefer not using Hungarian, and thus even though the child understands Hungarian, they prefer to respond in English or in the language of their countries of residence. One of our aims of the trial lessons is to encourage them. Often parents come to us saying that their teenager doesn\u2019t want to join, can we persuade him? In such cases, it\u2019s also our job to get them interested and to support their parents so that they don\u2019t give up on it. Our school is not just about the lessons and classes, but much more. It\u2019s a community where parents are similarly situated\u2014that\u2019s why we set up a parents\u2019 group and various communication channels to talk to each other. Sometimes we also invite experts, but often we don\u2019t need one, because there is so much knowledge accumulated in the families that they can learn a lot from each other. And then there is our currently 22 strong teaching staff including teachers with all kinds of qualifications, who have not only graduated in Hungary but also have a lot of experience in teaching Hungarian children living abroad\u2014because they need both: not only their basic subject-matter expertise, but how education works for children living abroad.<\/p>\n

\n

[caption id=\"attachment_38081\" align=\"alignnone\" width=\"1024\"]\"\" A child puts up a maypole as a home assignment. PHOTO: courtesy of Dr. Judit Tam\u00e1s[\/caption]<\/figure>\n

Is there anything else that OMI can offer?<\/strong><\/p>\n

We have many children who also attend local Hungarian weekend schools, but that\u2019s usually not enough: many parents want more, something different. It\u2019s also very helpful for private students, because there is a community here. And they can\u2019t learn subjects like we do in other Hungarian weekend schools: high level math, physics, geography, history, folklore, folk dance\u2026All subjects can also help a lot in the local American, German, French, etc. schools, because they learn about things that make them more informed. It\u2019s not just about teaching Hungarian, it\u2019s teaching all kinds of subjects in Hungarian. Since the children otherwise live in various cultures and languages, we often discuss traditions and holidays celebrated in their countries of residence, so they learn not only about Hungarian culture, but also about their other countries.<\/p>\n

We also prepare them for various Hungarian and international maths competitions; where they\u2019ve achieved very good results. Many of our children know more about Hungarian ethnography and folklore than a child growing up in Hungary. We put a lot of emphasis on Hungarian identity, so that they are proud of their origins, traditions and of Hungary in general. It\u2019s important that children who speak Hungarian well also go to Hungarian schools, and for as long as possible. Our aim is to start as early and keep them in the system as long as possible. That\u2019s why we have scholarships; school shouldn\u2019t be a financial issue. Teenage years are very important and decisive: we can have a big impact on the children, and since they will go to university or college afterwards, we have to make them love Hungarian language and culture before that, so that later on as young adults they themselves will look for opportunities to get into the Hungarian communities, go to folk dance events, pick up a Hungarian book, etc. We have a lot to do until then\u2026<\/p>\n

You mentioned you have highly qualified teachers.<\/strong><\/p>\n

When we occasionally put out a job advert, they find us from Hungary and Europe. There are fewer qualified teachers with college degrees who can teach at OMI. We have some teachers who teach very intensively, up to six or seven groups, and some who have fewer groups, but all of our teachers have a passion for teaching. Those who love teaching will sooner or later find the opportunity to continue their profession, even when they live abroad.<\/p>\n

\n

[caption id=\"attachment_38087\" align=\"alignnone\" width=\"724\"]\"\" Writing class at OMI PHOTO: courtesy of Dr. Judit Tam\u00e1s[\/caption]<\/figure>\n

Our teaching staff includes various subject teachers, drama teachers, speech therapists, Hungarian as a foreign language teachers, ECL language exam instructors, etc. This is also the strength of our school. We have everything under one umbrella for parents, and our teachers work together. We have an online teachers\u2019 room where we communicate constantly, discuss successes, challenges, best practices, and learn from each other. Online teaching can be a very lonely activity if you\u2019re doing it on your own. It\u2019s very important to help and mentor each other. The field of online teaching and digital pedagogy is also constantly changing and evolving. Even after all these years we can\u2019t say we know everything or that we would have the industry knowledge at our fingertips. That\u2019s another reason why online school is good and people like teaching here: they have to be creative. We organize a lot of training for ourselves, we have monthly meetings, we train each other about the use of various educational applications and we have sub-teacher groups, collaborating constantly.<\/p>\n

Are there no disadvantages of online teaching? Some are afraid of it, for example because of the assumed excess use of computers or the lack of personal touch\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n

All I can say is: if you are afraid of it, come and try it with your child. There are professionally proven ways to do it well. The classes last one hour each, so the child is not sitting in front of a computer all day. Technology cannot be excluded from children\u2019s lives. At the same time, nowadays there are many technology rich schools, classrooms where several types of technology are used regularly to enhance teaching and learning, such as interactive whiteboards, mobile devices. Hungarian schools also have to change; we can\u2019t just photocopy worksheets. Online education must also be entertaining, interactive and experiential. During the Covid pandemic, the world was suddenly forced into it, schools had to switch quickly to online education, but OMI is different. For example, it certainly brings out the best from teachers. I\u2019m not saying it\u2019s easy, we all get physically tired in 60-minute lessons that require a lot of preparation too, but it has its advantages: children get a very high-quality education and a supportive community that you can never have enough of. Moreover, there are certain subjects and activities that work well online. Families are also involved. In the case of weekend schools, parents don\u2019t necessarily know what their children are learning, but here they get lots of ideas that they can try out for themselves. New traditions are adopted; new topics are introduced into families. All our materials are accessible for those enrolled. We give homework but nothing is compulsory. However, if someone wants to practice at home, we want to help. Activities are not only virtual; we do a lot of hands-on learning, e.g. making a model of the Chain Bridge or collecting something from nature. We make puppets and a variety of crafts and we have many extra-curricular and community-building activities, such as online story time, puppet shows; even online folk dance parties, completely free and open not only to enrolled students but to anyone.<\/p>\n

\n

[caption id=\"attachment_38082\" align=\"alignnone\" width=\"724\"]\"\" Dr. Judit Tam\u00e1s at AMIT 2024 with her award PHOTO: courtesy of Dr. Judit Tam\u00e1s[\/caption]<\/figure>\n

This year, you received an award at the annual\u00a0<\/strong>American Hungarian Schools\u2019 Association (AMIT)<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0conference.<\/strong><\/p>\n

We regularly attend AMIT conferences; six of our teachers were there this year.\u00a0During the Covid pandemic, we helped a lot of schools and organizations. Some Hungarian weekend schools didn\u2019t switch to online education and sent families to us; at some others we \u2018just\u2019 helped out. We are happy to show them our methods, provide materials, and they can watch our lessons anytime. Our teachers are often invited to conferences, and if someone is considering switching to online teaching, they often contact us.<\/p>\n

Certainly, I\u2019m not the only one who received this award but our whole staff, although there were times when I have run the school completely on my own. Currently there are three board members running the school, and we all have our strengths. My field is pedagogy. Being a school principal is already out of my comfort zone, and it\u2019s not always easy to lead a teaching staff of 22. The time zones are also a challenge: when some teachers go to bed, others get up, and there is no end to it. We work from home, most of our classes are on weekends, for example we have 12 classes on Sunday. From my own time zone perspective, the first Asian group starts at four in the morning, and the last starts at eight in the evening, so my computer is basically always ringing. It\u2019s not easy to manage, but we complement each other well, because the financial, technical and administrative part of running a school is handled very well by T\u00edmea Szonja Oll\u00e1ri-Homor. Zsuzsa Lantos, a geography teacher, is our deputy principal, also teaching at the\u00a0Arany J\u00e1nos Hungarian School<\/a>\u00a0in New York. Our teachers are usually community leaders, physical school directors, event organizers.<\/p>\n

If everything goes so smoothly, I guess you\u2019ll be running it for a long time.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Well, there have been ups and downs\u2026There were times when I wanted to give it up, but there were always some teachers and parents who said, \u2018Don\u2019t give it up, we\u2019ll help you, we\u2019ll figure something out together.\u2019 They were always very supportive and thus we always kept going. There were times when I even wrote down that I was going to quit, so that I wouldn\u2019t forget the next day and get over the annoyance, but then a letter would come from a child or a parent saying they can\u2019t wait for the next semester to start\u2026As long as we get feedback like this and we have plenty of applicants without any advertising, we\u2019ll continue. For now, it\u2019s me who takes it forward, but I\u2019m sure there will be others who will continue OMI, because by now the whole system is well-functioning, teachers and parents got used to it.<\/p>\n

Source: hungarianconservative.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":43,"featured_media":1099594,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[196],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1100086","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-local-events-and-news"],"yoast_head":"\n\u2018It turns out there are Hungarians everywhere\u2019 \u2014 An Interview with Founder of the Online Hungarian School Dr. Judit Tam\u00e1s – Bocskai R\u00e1di\u00f3<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bocskairadio.org\/en\/it-turns-out-there-are-hungarians-everywhere-an-interview-with-founder-of-the-online-hungarian-school-dr-judit-tamas\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"\u2018It turns out there are Hungarians everywhere\u2019 \u2014 An Interview with Founder of the Online Hungarian School Dr. Judit Tam\u00e1s – Bocskai R\u00e1di\u00f3\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Source: hungarianconservative.com Dr.\u00a0Judit Tam\u00e1s came to America thirty years ago as a kindergarten teacher through a scholarship program. She quickly became involved in the Hungarian community in Buffalo, New York, and a few years later moved to North Carolina for her husband\u2019s job. When their three children were born, she founded the Carolinas Hungarian Group, organized camps for Hungarians for twenty years, and later launched the popular Online Hungarian School (OMI), which she has run for fifteen years. Nowadays they have 250\u2013300 students from 50 countries studying in 50 groups. *** How did you end up in North America? I graduated as a kindergarten teacher in Hungary, and worked as an educator in the UK for two years. In 1993 I was offered a scholarship to the U.S. thanks to\u00a0P\u00e9ter Forg\u00e1ch, who helped many talented young Hungarians to continue their studies in America and to contribute to the development of Hungary upon their return home. I was one of the first students. I first earned a master\u2019s degree in early childhood education from the State University of New York at Buffalo, and then supplemented it with a doctorate. In the meantime, we established an exchange student-teacher program between the American university and a teacher training college in Hungary. In addition, we brought many international conferences to Hungary. There was a great deal of Hungarian\u2013American networking in the first few years after the fall of communism. The Hungarian community in Buffalo wasn\u2019t very large, they didn\u2019t have a Hungarian weekend school, for example, but they had Hungarian scouting, which I became involved with. Since scouting starts at the age of five, I started a kindergarten class for younger children so that by the time they get into scouting, their Hungarian language skills would meet the expected level. You were also active in North Carolina from the beginning\u2026 We moved to North Carolina at the end of my doctoral studies, because my husband got a job here. After those years in Buffalo, where we had a strong connection to the local Hungarian community, we really missed something similar in North Carolina, so, together with another Hungarian family, we started to \u2018hunt for\u2019 Hungarians one after the other, for example on\u00a0iwiw, an early Hungarian social media site, which was popular at the time; or we would open up the local phone book and write to people with Hungarian names. We started with very small steps, and as the community grew, we organized bigger gatherings. Once we had a presence on the Internet, it was easier for people to find us. And later we started the camp\u2014that\u2019s how the\u00a0Carolinas Hungarian Group\u00a0was formed in 2000. Your camps are popular across America. How did you start organizing them? We live far away from each other, so we couldn\u2019t get together regularly. In the camps we meet less often, but we\u2019re together for days, which makes it worth driving several hours. We used to organize camps twice a year, but since the Covid pandemic, we only have the Easter camp. It\u2019s a family gathering, where we also take care of the non-Hungarian speaking spouses by organizing activities also suitable for them: handicrafts, folk dancing, cooking, sports competitions. The Easter camp is based around the Easter holiday theme: we celebrate Hungarian Easter traditions, decorate eggs with various techniques, do sprinkling, dress up in folk costumes, invite a band, folk dancers and craftsmen. We once organized a complete traditional wedding ceremony\u2014it\u2019s the kind of program that even people in Hungary don\u2019t necessarily experience. We invite guests from Hungary too. Camps of several hundred people running for several days like ours are rare in North America. We prepare for at least half a year, to make sure that everything will be in order: accommodation, meals and programs for all ages. Where do the participants come from and what is the camp venue? Participants come not only from the two Carolinas, but also from states further away. The spring camp coincides with spring break for many, so with one or two extra days off, they can come even from quite a distance. Since the dates are known for a year in advance, many people organize their vacations accordingly. Some people still come back after ten years.\u00a0 It\u2019s very difficult to find a suitable location for such a huge and diverse event, where there is enough space for cooking, folk dancing, etc. The Easter camp is usually held in the mountains, while the autumn camps were held on the beach. We try to organize them in a way that is physically and financially accessible for everyone. I used to organize them for twenty years, but since the school has grown to become large, organizing camps no longer fits into my life. Meanwhile, my children, who were born when we started all this, have grown up. We have managed to involve the new generation with young children, both as organizers and participants, so fortunately there is enough fresh supply ensuring the camp\u2019s future. Where did the idea of the OMI come from? The camps were organized online; that\u2019s where the idea came from: if we\u2019ve been working together for years and we can discuss and organize practically everything online, why don\u2019t we try to teach the children in the same way, since we couldn\u2019t have a physical Hungarian weekend school locally because of the huge distances that set us apart? We teamed up with a few other mothers\u2014teachers by vocation\u2014to create an online classroom for the children of the Hungarian community in the Carolinas. We first called it a book club to motivate them to read. Then we created a small website, where we started to upload all kinds of educational materials, and then we started the lessons. Since the Covid pandemic, online lessons are in the public consciousness, but at that time it was a rarity. It worked absolutely well, and it grew into a school, which operated within the Carolinas Hungarian Group for a long time, until it outgrew that organization and we became independent in 2021. OMI has reached 50 countries and 50 groups in 15 years. How? At first, we worked with one group, but very quickly we realized that we had to break them down into age groups. Families where we started with their school-age children asked if we had a program for the pre-school age group; later many parents were interested if their teenagers could also join; so we started teaching younger and older children. When non-Hungarian-speaking family members asked for language lessons, we started to work with adults, too. Some came to us with special requests; for example, Bible lessons, chess classes, online camps, music classes for the little ones. We now have a reading club for teenagers, who love to talk about books. But we also have mother-baby classes, toddler classes, puppetry, vocabulary and language development classes, reading and writing instruction including cursive if requested by parents, music lessons, and various subjects such as history, math, literature and grammar as well as Hungarian language classes. In the meantime, we started to get requests from other states, and then from abroad. It turned out that there are Hungarians everywhere, including very faraway African and Asian countries, too. Sometimes they come from such exotic places that we have to check the map\u2026We have about 250\u2013300 students per year, only about half of whom now live in America, and in total we have had several thousand students in 15 years, which would be difficult to count because many attend more than one class. We have roughly 700 classes per semester, with classes every day, from Monday through Sunday, from morning to evening, mainly because of the different time zones. I don\u2019t think any other school or organization could meet the need to provide Hungarian learning available anywhere in the world. How big are these groups? It varies depending on the age and profile of the group. For example, the smaller the children, the less they can wait for each other; everyone wants to tell their story or show their work at the same time. So the younger groups are smaller, but teenagers work well in larger groups. If there are requests from very specific time zones or requests that we know in advance won\u2019t attract more applicants, we\u2019ll start the group even if it\u2019s financially unprofitable, because we don\u2019t want to send anyone off. We\u2019ve decided many times not to have more groups, not to expand the timetable\u2026and then a request came in that we accepted it. We try to find a way to reach everyone, and we also give private lessons within the school. We take on the preparation for the Hungarian exam for children who want to move to or return to Hungary. On the other side, there are second- and third-generation parents and children who have never or rarely been to Hungary, because not everyone can afford traveling overseas\u2014they also have to be taught in a very different way. What should parents do if they are interested in OMI? There\u2019s a detailed timetable on the website, but it\u2019s not easy to navigate; sometimes even we have to check twice before we recommend a class. Parents need to fill out a small application form on the website, enter the age of their children and what they would like to do. We then offer them \u2018trial lessons\u2019, where we introduce ourselves and get to know the families. One of the great advantages of online school is that there are so many options and we can cater for all needs\u2014that\u2019s why it\u2019s so important to have this trial lesson, which we can do quickly, but we don\u2019t hurry if the child enjoys it and the parent is available. Parents are usually very keen to talk; they want to tell us not only what they want and why, but also their whole situation: whether there is a Hungarian community around them, what bothers them regarding their children\u2019s education, etc. In this process, we try to assess and then take all aspects into account\u2014age, Hungarian language skills, personality, group dynamics\u2014to create as homogeneous a group as possible. Every good teacher differentiates, but it\u2019s easier to make progress if you don\u2019t put, for example, a linguistically beginner 10-year-old in the younger group, because a 10-year-old needs very different methods from those used with 7\u20138-year-olds, not to mention teenagers. We then offer them possible groups they can try out, because it\u2019s very important for us that they feel that the teacher, the level and the group itself is suitable for their children. If it turns out after the first class that the level isn\u2019t right, it\u2019s possible to change groups and try another one. And we never ask for tuition fees in advance because we trust the families\u2014that\u2019s also rare. What do you usually experience during the trial lessons? Families are very busy. It\u2019s hard to find free time even for the kindergarteners, because they have so many extracurricular activities and spend so much time traveling. We\u2019ve helped many families who have slipped into everyday English use; because they are afraid of falling behind at school or because for various other reasons, they prefer not using Hungarian, and thus even though the child understands Hungarian, they prefer to respond in English or in the language of their countries of residence. One of our aims of the trial lessons is to encourage them. Often parents come to us saying that their teenager doesn\u2019t want to join, can we persuade him? In such cases, it\u2019s also our job to get them interested and to support their parents so that they don\u2019t give up on it. Our school is not just about the lessons and classes, but much more. It\u2019s a community where parents are similarly situated\u2014that\u2019s why we set up a parents\u2019 group and various communication channels to talk to each other. Sometimes we also invite experts, but often we don\u2019t need one, because there is so much knowledge accumulated in the families that they can learn a lot from each other. And then there is our currently 22 strong teaching staff including teachers with all kinds of qualifications, who have not only graduated in Hungary but also have a lot of experience in teaching Hungarian children living abroad\u2014because they need both: not only their basic subject-matter expertise, but how education works for children living abroad. Is there anything else that OMI can offer? We have many children who also attend local Hungarian weekend schools, but that\u2019s usually not enough: many parents want more, something different. It\u2019s also very helpful for private students, because there is a community here. And they can\u2019t learn subjects like we do in other Hungarian weekend schools: high level math, physics, geography, history, folklore, folk dance\u2026All subjects can also help a lot in the local American, German, French, etc. schools, because they learn about things that make them more informed. It\u2019s not just about teaching Hungarian, it\u2019s teaching all kinds of subjects in Hungarian. Since the children otherwise live in various cultures and languages, we often discuss traditions and holidays celebrated in their countries of residence, so they learn not only about Hungarian culture, but also about their other countries. We also prepare them for various Hungarian and international maths competitions; where they\u2019ve achieved very good results. Many of our children know more about Hungarian ethnography and folklore than a child growing up in Hungary. We put a lot of emphasis on Hungarian identity, so that they are proud of their origins, traditions and of Hungary in general. It\u2019s important that children who speak Hungarian well also go to Hungarian schools, and for as long as possible. Our aim is to start as early and keep them in the system as long as possible. That\u2019s why we have scholarships; school shouldn\u2019t be a financial issue. Teenage years are very important and decisive: we can have a big impact on the children, and since they will go to university or college afterwards, we have to make them love Hungarian language and culture before that, so that later on as young adults they themselves will look for opportunities to get into the Hungarian communities, go to folk dance events, pick up a Hungarian book, etc. We have a lot to do until then\u2026 You mentioned you have highly qualified teachers. When we occasionally put out a job advert, they find us from Hungary and Europe. There are fewer qualified teachers with college degrees who can teach at OMI. We have some teachers who teach very intensively, up to six or seven groups, and some who have fewer groups, but all of our teachers have a passion for teaching. Those who love teaching will sooner or later find the opportunity to continue their profession, even when they live abroad. Our teaching staff includes various subject teachers, drama teachers, speech therapists, Hungarian as a foreign language teachers, ECL language exam instructors, etc. This is also the strength of our school. We have everything under one umbrella for parents, and our teachers work together. We have an online teachers\u2019 room where we communicate constantly, discuss successes, challenges, best practices, and learn from each other. Online teaching can be a very lonely activity if you\u2019re doing it on your own. It\u2019s very important to help and mentor each other. The field of online teaching and digital pedagogy is also constantly changing and evolving. Even after all these years we can\u2019t say we know everything or that we would have the industry knowledge at our fingertips. That\u2019s another reason why online school is good and people like teaching here: they have to be creative. We organize a lot of training for ourselves, we have monthly meetings, we train each other about the use of various educational applications and we have sub-teacher groups, collaborating constantly. Are there no disadvantages of online teaching? Some are afraid of it, for example because of the assumed excess use of computers or the lack of personal touch\u2026 All I can say is: if you are afraid of it, come and try it with your child. There are professionally proven ways to do it well. The classes last one hour each, so the child is not sitting in front of a computer all day. Technology cannot be excluded from children\u2019s lives. At the same time, nowadays there are many technology rich schools, classrooms where several types of technology are used regularly to enhance teaching and learning, such as interactive whiteboards, mobile devices. Hungarian schools also have to change; we can\u2019t just photocopy worksheets. Online education must also be entertaining, interactive and experiential. During the Covid pandemic, the world was suddenly forced into it, schools had to switch quickly to online education, but OMI is different. For example, it certainly brings out the best from teachers. I\u2019m not saying it\u2019s easy, we all get physically tired in 60-minute lessons that require a lot of preparation too, but it has its advantages: children get a very high-quality education and a supportive community that you can never have enough of. Moreover, there are certain subjects and activities that work well online. Families are also involved. In the case of weekend schools, parents don\u2019t necessarily know what their children are learning, but here they get lots of ideas that they can try out for themselves. New traditions are adopted; new topics are introduced into families. All our materials are accessible for those enrolled. We give homework but nothing is compulsory. However, if someone wants to practice at home, we want to help. Activities are not only virtual; we do a lot of hands-on learning, e.g. making a model of the Chain Bridge or collecting something from nature. We make puppets and a variety of crafts and we have many extra-curricular and community-building activities, such as online story time, puppet shows; even online folk dance parties, completely free and open not only to enrolled students but to anyone. This year, you received an award at the annual\u00a0American Hungarian Schools\u2019 Association (AMIT)\u00a0conference. We regularly attend AMIT conferences; six of our teachers were there this year.\u00a0During the Covid pandemic, we helped a lot of schools and organizations. Some Hungarian weekend schools didn\u2019t switch to online education and sent families to us; at some others we \u2018just\u2019 helped out. We are happy to show them our methods, provide materials, and they can watch our lessons anytime. Our teachers are often invited to conferences, and if someone is considering switching to online teaching, they often contact us. Certainly, I\u2019m not the only one who received this award but our whole staff, although there were times when I have run the school completely on my own. Currently there are three board members running the school, and we all have our strengths. My field is pedagogy. Being a school principal is already out of my comfort zone, and it\u2019s not always easy to lead a teaching staff of 22. The time zones are also a challenge: when some teachers go to bed, others get up, and there is no end to it. We work from home, most of our classes are on weekends, for example we have 12 classes on Sunday. From my own time zone perspective, the first Asian group starts at four in the morning, and the last starts at eight in the evening, so my computer is basically always ringing. It\u2019s not easy to manage, but we complement each other well, because the financial, technical and administrative part of running a school is handled very well by T\u00edmea Szonja Oll\u00e1ri-Homor. Zsuzsa Lantos, a geography teacher, is our deputy principal, also teaching at the\u00a0Arany J\u00e1nos Hungarian School\u00a0in New York. Our teachers are usually community leaders, physical school directors, event organizers. If everything goes so smoothly, I guess you\u2019ll be running it for a long time. Well, there have been ups and downs\u2026There were times when I wanted to give it up, but there were always some teachers and parents who said, \u2018Don\u2019t give it up, we\u2019ll help you, we\u2019ll figure something out together.\u2019 They were always very supportive and thus we always kept going. There were times when I even wrote down that I was going to quit, so that I wouldn\u2019t forget the next day and get over the annoyance, but then a letter would come from a child or a parent saying they can\u2019t wait for the next semester to start\u2026As long as we get feedback like this and we have plenty of applicants without any advertising, we\u2019ll continue. For now, it\u2019s me who takes it forward, but I\u2019m sure there will be others who will continue OMI, because by now the whole system is well-functioning, teachers and parents got used to it. Source: hungarianconservative.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.bocskairadio.org\/en\/it-turns-out-there-are-hungarians-everywhere-an-interview-with-founder-of-the-online-hungarian-school-dr-judit-tamas\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Bocskai R\u00e1di\u00f3\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/BocskaiRadio\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-12-15T01:07:30+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-01-04T00:49:31+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.bocskairadio.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/Judit-teaching_Judit-tanitas-kozben.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1920\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Antal-Ferencz Ildik\u00f3\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" 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She quickly became involved in the Hungarian community in Buffalo, New York, and a few years later moved to North Carolina for her husband\u2019s job. When their three children were born, she founded the Carolinas Hungarian Group, organized camps for Hungarians for twenty years, and later launched the popular Online Hungarian School (OMI), which she has run for fifteen years. Nowadays they have 250\u2013300 students from 50 countries studying in 50 groups. *** How did you end up in North America? I graduated as a kindergarten teacher in Hungary, and worked as an educator in the UK for two years. In 1993 I was offered a scholarship to the U.S. thanks to\u00a0P\u00e9ter Forg\u00e1ch, who helped many talented young Hungarians to continue their studies in America and to contribute to the development of Hungary upon their return home. I was one of the first students. I first earned a master\u2019s degree in early childhood education from the State University of New York at Buffalo, and then supplemented it with a doctorate. In the meantime, we established an exchange student-teacher program between the American university and a teacher training college in Hungary. In addition, we brought many international conferences to Hungary. There was a great deal of Hungarian\u2013American networking in the first few years after the fall of communism. The Hungarian community in Buffalo wasn\u2019t very large, they didn\u2019t have a Hungarian weekend school, for example, but they had Hungarian scouting, which I became involved with. Since scouting starts at the age of five, I started a kindergarten class for younger children so that by the time they get into scouting, their Hungarian language skills would meet the expected level. You were also active in North Carolina from the beginning\u2026 We moved to North Carolina at the end of my doctoral studies, because my husband got a job here. After those years in Buffalo, where we had a strong connection to the local Hungarian community, we really missed something similar in North Carolina, so, together with another Hungarian family, we started to \u2018hunt for\u2019 Hungarians one after the other, for example on\u00a0iwiw, an early Hungarian social media site, which was popular at the time; or we would open up the local phone book and write to people with Hungarian names. We started with very small steps, and as the community grew, we organized bigger gatherings. Once we had a presence on the Internet, it was easier for people to find us. And later we started the camp\u2014that\u2019s how the\u00a0Carolinas Hungarian Group\u00a0was formed in 2000. Your camps are popular across America. How did you start organizing them? We live far away from each other, so we couldn\u2019t get together regularly. In the camps we meet less often, but we\u2019re together for days, which makes it worth driving several hours. We used to organize camps twice a year, but since the Covid pandemic, we only have the Easter camp. It\u2019s a family gathering, where we also take care of the non-Hungarian speaking spouses by organizing activities also suitable for them: handicrafts, folk dancing, cooking, sports competitions. The Easter camp is based around the Easter holiday theme: we celebrate Hungarian Easter traditions, decorate eggs with various techniques, do sprinkling, dress up in folk costumes, invite a band, folk dancers and craftsmen. We once organized a complete traditional wedding ceremony\u2014it\u2019s the kind of program that even people in Hungary don\u2019t necessarily experience. We invite guests from Hungary too. Camps of several hundred people running for several days like ours are rare in North America. We prepare for at least half a year, to make sure that everything will be in order: accommodation, meals and programs for all ages. Where do the participants come from and what is the camp venue? Participants come not only from the two Carolinas, but also from states further away. The spring camp coincides with spring break for many, so with one or two extra days off, they can come even from quite a distance. Since the dates are known for a year in advance, many people organize their vacations accordingly. Some people still come back after ten years.\u00a0 It\u2019s very difficult to find a suitable location for such a huge and diverse event, where there is enough space for cooking, folk dancing, etc. The Easter camp is usually held in the mountains, while the autumn camps were held on the beach. We try to organize them in a way that is physically and financially accessible for everyone. I used to organize them for twenty years, but since the school has grown to become large, organizing camps no longer fits into my life. Meanwhile, my children, who were born when we started all this, have grown up. We have managed to involve the new generation with young children, both as organizers and participants, so fortunately there is enough fresh supply ensuring the camp\u2019s future. Where did the idea of the OMI come from? The camps were organized online; that\u2019s where the idea came from: if we\u2019ve been working together for years and we can discuss and organize practically everything online, why don\u2019t we try to teach the children in the same way, since we couldn\u2019t have a physical Hungarian weekend school locally because of the huge distances that set us apart? We teamed up with a few other mothers\u2014teachers by vocation\u2014to create an online classroom for the children of the Hungarian community in the Carolinas. We first called it a book club to motivate them to read. Then we created a small website, where we started to upload all kinds of educational materials, and then we started the lessons. Since the Covid pandemic, online lessons are in the public consciousness, but at that time it was a rarity. It worked absolutely well, and it grew into a school, which operated within the Carolinas Hungarian Group for a long time, until it outgrew that organization and we became independent in 2021. OMI has reached 50 countries and 50 groups in 15 years. How? At first, we worked with one group, but very quickly we realized that we had to break them down into age groups. Families where we started with their school-age children asked if we had a program for the pre-school age group; later many parents were interested if their teenagers could also join; so we started teaching younger and older children. When non-Hungarian-speaking family members asked for language lessons, we started to work with adults, too. Some came to us with special requests; for example, Bible lessons, chess classes, online camps, music classes for the little ones. We now have a reading club for teenagers, who love to talk about books. But we also have mother-baby classes, toddler classes, puppetry, vocabulary and language development classes, reading and writing instruction including cursive if requested by parents, music lessons, and various subjects such as history, math, literature and grammar as well as Hungarian language classes. In the meantime, we started to get requests from other states, and then from abroad. It turned out that there are Hungarians everywhere, including very faraway African and Asian countries, too. Sometimes they come from such exotic places that we have to check the map\u2026We have about 250\u2013300 students per year, only about half of whom now live in America, and in total we have had several thousand students in 15 years, which would be difficult to count because many attend more than one class. We have roughly 700 classes per semester, with classes every day, from Monday through Sunday, from morning to evening, mainly because of the different time zones. I don\u2019t think any other school or organization could meet the need to provide Hungarian learning available anywhere in the world. How big are these groups? It varies depending on the age and profile of the group. For example, the smaller the children, the less they can wait for each other; everyone wants to tell their story or show their work at the same time. So the younger groups are smaller, but teenagers work well in larger groups. If there are requests from very specific time zones or requests that we know in advance won\u2019t attract more applicants, we\u2019ll start the group even if it\u2019s financially unprofitable, because we don\u2019t want to send anyone off. We\u2019ve decided many times not to have more groups, not to expand the timetable\u2026and then a request came in that we accepted it. We try to find a way to reach everyone, and we also give private lessons within the school. We take on the preparation for the Hungarian exam for children who want to move to or return to Hungary. On the other side, there are second- and third-generation parents and children who have never or rarely been to Hungary, because not everyone can afford traveling overseas\u2014they also have to be taught in a very different way. What should parents do if they are interested in OMI? There\u2019s a detailed timetable on the website, but it\u2019s not easy to navigate; sometimes even we have to check twice before we recommend a class. Parents need to fill out a small application form on the website, enter the age of their children and what they would like to do. We then offer them \u2018trial lessons\u2019, where we introduce ourselves and get to know the families. One of the great advantages of online school is that there are so many options and we can cater for all needs\u2014that\u2019s why it\u2019s so important to have this trial lesson, which we can do quickly, but we don\u2019t hurry if the child enjoys it and the parent is available. Parents are usually very keen to talk; they want to tell us not only what they want and why, but also their whole situation: whether there is a Hungarian community around them, what bothers them regarding their children\u2019s education, etc. In this process, we try to assess and then take all aspects into account\u2014age, Hungarian language skills, personality, group dynamics\u2014to create as homogeneous a group as possible. Every good teacher differentiates, but it\u2019s easier to make progress if you don\u2019t put, for example, a linguistically beginner 10-year-old in the younger group, because a 10-year-old needs very different methods from those used with 7\u20138-year-olds, not to mention teenagers. We then offer them possible groups they can try out, because it\u2019s very important for us that they feel that the teacher, the level and the group itself is suitable for their children. If it turns out after the first class that the level isn\u2019t right, it\u2019s possible to change groups and try another one. And we never ask for tuition fees in advance because we trust the families\u2014that\u2019s also rare. What do you usually experience during the trial lessons? Families are very busy. It\u2019s hard to find free time even for the kindergarteners, because they have so many extracurricular activities and spend so much time traveling. We\u2019ve helped many families who have slipped into everyday English use; because they are afraid of falling behind at school or because for various other reasons, they prefer not using Hungarian, and thus even though the child understands Hungarian, they prefer to respond in English or in the language of their countries of residence. One of our aims of the trial lessons is to encourage them. Often parents come to us saying that their teenager doesn\u2019t want to join, can we persuade him? In such cases, it\u2019s also our job to get them interested and to support their parents so that they don\u2019t give up on it. Our school is not just about the lessons and classes, but much more. It\u2019s a community where parents are similarly situated\u2014that\u2019s why we set up a parents\u2019 group and various communication channels to talk to each other. Sometimes we also invite experts, but often we don\u2019t need one, because there is so much knowledge accumulated in the families that they can learn a lot from each other. And then there is our currently 22 strong teaching staff including teachers with all kinds of qualifications, who have not only graduated in Hungary but also have a lot of experience in teaching Hungarian children living abroad\u2014because they need both: not only their basic subject-matter expertise, but how education works for children living abroad. Is there anything else that OMI can offer? We have many children who also attend local Hungarian weekend schools, but that\u2019s usually not enough: many parents want more, something different. It\u2019s also very helpful for private students, because there is a community here. And they can\u2019t learn subjects like we do in other Hungarian weekend schools: high level math, physics, geography, history, folklore, folk dance\u2026All subjects can also help a lot in the local American, German, French, etc. schools, because they learn about things that make them more informed. It\u2019s not just about teaching Hungarian, it\u2019s teaching all kinds of subjects in Hungarian. Since the children otherwise live in various cultures and languages, we often discuss traditions and holidays celebrated in their countries of residence, so they learn not only about Hungarian culture, but also about their other countries. We also prepare them for various Hungarian and international maths competitions; where they\u2019ve achieved very good results. Many of our children know more about Hungarian ethnography and folklore than a child growing up in Hungary. We put a lot of emphasis on Hungarian identity, so that they are proud of their origins, traditions and of Hungary in general. It\u2019s important that children who speak Hungarian well also go to Hungarian schools, and for as long as possible. Our aim is to start as early and keep them in the system as long as possible. That\u2019s why we have scholarships; school shouldn\u2019t be a financial issue. Teenage years are very important and decisive: we can have a big impact on the children, and since they will go to university or college afterwards, we have to make them love Hungarian language and culture before that, so that later on as young adults they themselves will look for opportunities to get into the Hungarian communities, go to folk dance events, pick up a Hungarian book, etc. We have a lot to do until then\u2026 You mentioned you have highly qualified teachers. When we occasionally put out a job advert, they find us from Hungary and Europe. There are fewer qualified teachers with college degrees who can teach at OMI. We have some teachers who teach very intensively, up to six or seven groups, and some who have fewer groups, but all of our teachers have a passion for teaching. Those who love teaching will sooner or later find the opportunity to continue their profession, even when they live abroad. Our teaching staff includes various subject teachers, drama teachers, speech therapists, Hungarian as a foreign language teachers, ECL language exam instructors, etc. This is also the strength of our school. We have everything under one umbrella for parents, and our teachers work together. We have an online teachers\u2019 room where we communicate constantly, discuss successes, challenges, best practices, and learn from each other. Online teaching can be a very lonely activity if you\u2019re doing it on your own. It\u2019s very important to help and mentor each other. The field of online teaching and digital pedagogy is also constantly changing and evolving. Even after all these years we can\u2019t say we know everything or that we would have the industry knowledge at our fingertips. That\u2019s another reason why online school is good and people like teaching here: they have to be creative. We organize a lot of training for ourselves, we have monthly meetings, we train each other about the use of various educational applications and we have sub-teacher groups, collaborating constantly. Are there no disadvantages of online teaching? Some are afraid of it, for example because of the assumed excess use of computers or the lack of personal touch\u2026 All I can say is: if you are afraid of it, come and try it with your child. There are professionally proven ways to do it well. The classes last one hour each, so the child is not sitting in front of a computer all day. Technology cannot be excluded from children\u2019s lives. At the same time, nowadays there are many technology rich schools, classrooms where several types of technology are used regularly to enhance teaching and learning, such as interactive whiteboards, mobile devices. Hungarian schools also have to change; we can\u2019t just photocopy worksheets. Online education must also be entertaining, interactive and experiential. During the Covid pandemic, the world was suddenly forced into it, schools had to switch quickly to online education, but OMI is different. For example, it certainly brings out the best from teachers. I\u2019m not saying it\u2019s easy, we all get physically tired in 60-minute lessons that require a lot of preparation too, but it has its advantages: children get a very high-quality education and a supportive community that you can never have enough of. Moreover, there are certain subjects and activities that work well online. Families are also involved. In the case of weekend schools, parents don\u2019t necessarily know what their children are learning, but here they get lots of ideas that they can try out for themselves. New traditions are adopted; new topics are introduced into families. All our materials are accessible for those enrolled. We give homework but nothing is compulsory. However, if someone wants to practice at home, we want to help. Activities are not only virtual; we do a lot of hands-on learning, e.g. making a model of the Chain Bridge or collecting something from nature. We make puppets and a variety of crafts and we have many extra-curricular and community-building activities, such as online story time, puppet shows; even online folk dance parties, completely free and open not only to enrolled students but to anyone. This year, you received an award at the annual\u00a0American Hungarian Schools\u2019 Association (AMIT)\u00a0conference. We regularly attend AMIT conferences; six of our teachers were there this year.\u00a0During the Covid pandemic, we helped a lot of schools and organizations. Some Hungarian weekend schools didn\u2019t switch to online education and sent families to us; at some others we \u2018just\u2019 helped out. We are happy to show them our methods, provide materials, and they can watch our lessons anytime. Our teachers are often invited to conferences, and if someone is considering switching to online teaching, they often contact us. Certainly, I\u2019m not the only one who received this award but our whole staff, although there were times when I have run the school completely on my own. Currently there are three board members running the school, and we all have our strengths. My field is pedagogy. Being a school principal is already out of my comfort zone, and it\u2019s not always easy to lead a teaching staff of 22. The time zones are also a challenge: when some teachers go to bed, others get up, and there is no end to it. We work from home, most of our classes are on weekends, for example we have 12 classes on Sunday. From my own time zone perspective, the first Asian group starts at four in the morning, and the last starts at eight in the evening, so my computer is basically always ringing. It\u2019s not easy to manage, but we complement each other well, because the financial, technical and administrative part of running a school is handled very well by T\u00edmea Szonja Oll\u00e1ri-Homor. Zsuzsa Lantos, a geography teacher, is our deputy principal, also teaching at the\u00a0Arany J\u00e1nos Hungarian School\u00a0in New York. Our teachers are usually community leaders, physical school directors, event organizers. If everything goes so smoothly, I guess you\u2019ll be running it for a long time. Well, there have been ups and downs\u2026There were times when I wanted to give it up, but there were always some teachers and parents who said, \u2018Don\u2019t give it up, we\u2019ll help you, we\u2019ll figure something out together.\u2019 They were always very supportive and thus we always kept going. There were times when I even wrote down that I was going to quit, so that I wouldn\u2019t forget the next day and get over the annoyance, but then a letter would come from a child or a parent saying they can\u2019t wait for the next semester to start\u2026As long as we get feedback like this and we have plenty of applicants without any advertising, we\u2019ll continue. For now, it\u2019s me who takes it forward, but I\u2019m sure there will be others who will continue OMI, because by now the whole system is well-functioning, teachers and parents got used to it. 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