Tunde Szecsi

Creative Drama in Preschool Curriculum: Teaching Strategies Implemented in Hungary.

In an imaginary “Agency of Smiles,“ preschool children pretending to be aid workers are immersed in such activities as typing letters, sending and receiving faxes, answeringphones, and negotiating with clients. A mail carrier delivers a letter from an immigrant preschool boy in the Netherlands, who requests help in making friends in his new environment. The employees of “Agency of Smiles” brainstorm about possible solutions. Finally, children send an ”ambassador” with the following message: “Let your teacher know about your skills, and demonstrate them to your classmates, too. It does not matter that you do not speak the new language; you can sing, draw pictures, or do sports with your new friends. This will make you happy, and other children will realize how wonderful you are.”

Inclusive Educational Practices around the World: An Introduction

Inclusion is a term used to describe the ideology that each child, to the maximum extent appropriate, should be educated in the school and classroom he or she would otherwise attend. It involves bringing support services to the child (rather than moving the child to the services) and requires only that the child will benefit from being in the class (rather than having to keep up with the other students).

Teaching Strategies: Teaching Respect, Responsibility, and Kindness through Dog Safety Lessons

ets play an important role in children’s lives. Although relationships with animals bring much joy and numerous developmental benefits to many children, not all encounters with animals are positive. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report that each year, 4.5 million Americans are bitten by dogs; the rate of dog bite-related injuries is highest for children ages 5 to 9 years. While these injuries might involve an incident with stray or loose dogs, having a dog in the household is also associated with a high incidence of dog bites, both among children and adults (U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, n.d.). These statistics point to the need for education about safe interactions with dogs for all children, especially for those younger than 9 years old. During the past decade, humane educators, early childhood educators, and other researchers have consistently called for the distribution of knowledge and skills that would empower young children around dogs. Jalongo (2008) shared common situations and strategies for interacting with dogs, with the recommendation of incorporating them in the early childhood curricula. Research worldwide supports the effectiveness of these integrated programs. For instance, in the “Prevent-aBite” program in Australia, an accredited handler and dog team would demonstrate a 30-minute lesson on various “do’s and don’ts” of behavior around dogs to primary schoolchildren. Seven to 10 days later, an experiment was set up with a docile Labrador retriever. The findings showed that the children who had received the intervention displayed greater precautionary behavior than the children in the control schools (Chapman, Cornwall, Righetti, & Sung, 2000). Other studies (e.g, Wilson, Dwyer, & Bennett, 2003) suggest that participation in a brief educational dog safety program benefits children ages 4 to 6 years old. Spiegel (2000) found that ”the program results appeared to be highly effective in helping children understand how to prevent or avoid potentially threatening situations involving dogs” (p. 164). Humane education is meant to facilitate empathy, respect, responsibility, and kindness toward both peers and animals. Jalongo (2006) noted that incorporating a dog bite prevention program in the curriculum can help children learn to show respect and have compassion for other living things. If children are taught to be nice to and respect animals, they are more likely to treat people with respect and kindness as well. Research also suggests that humane education programs may have a positive impact on character development. Nicoll, Trifone, and Samuels (2008) found that 1st-graders’ self-reported empathy toward animals significantly increased after they had participated in an in-class humane education program. Furthermore, even a year after the humane education program was implemented, increased empathy in children toward animals was present (Ascione & Weber, 1993). This article outlines a university service learning project using the KIDS: Kids Interacting With Dogs Safely program in public and private kindergarten classrooms. Teaching strategies to increase kindergartners’ understanding of dog safety, and consequently facilitate respect, kindness, and responsibility through humane education, are shared in light of the university students’/educators’ reflections.

Transforming Teacher Education in Hungary: Competencies for Elementary Teachers

he Hungarian-born physicist and mathematician Eugene Wigner, a winner of the Nobel Prize in physics, remembered his . . mathematics teacher in Budapest, Hungary, as follows: “He had every quality of a miraculous teacher: He loved teaching, he knew his subject and how to kindle interest in it. No one could evoke the beauty of a subject like him” (Marton, 2007, p. 40). Wigner’s words show that teachers have a critical role in shaping students’ learning experience. Through nurturing human potential, teachers make a considerable imprint on future generations and on society. Therefore, teacher education programs carry a great responsibility, as they are tasked with preparing teachers who have broad subject knowledge, sound pedagogical skills and dispositions to guide and support students, and an understanding of the social and cultural climate of education. Some of these expectations for teachers are relatively universal and eternal; others are changing, as societies experience transformation. Such recent changes occurred in Hungary after it joined the European Union in 2004. As Hungary became part of the European conversations about teachers and teacher education, the European Union’s recommendations for improvement necessitated changes in both the organization and the content of teacher education. With the emergence of a three-cycle system within higher education and the shift from a content-based approach to a competency-based’ approach, Hungarian elementary teacher education faced numerous challenges. The purpose of this article is to shed light on the emerging system of competencies for elementary teachers in Hungary, and to delve into teacher candidates’ perceptions regarding the competencies. To provide a context, the authors first outline the European Union’s (EU) guidelines for teacher competencies. Then we discuss the newly developed, statemandated Hungarian elementary teacher competencies, followed by an overview of the effort to transform elementary teacher education, with an emphasis on some of the major challenges and possible solutions. Finally, Hungarian elementary teacher candidates share their perceptions regarding the importance of the competencies and their preparedness to teach in light of them. THE EUROPEAN U ION‘S RECOMMENDATIONS ABOUT TEACHER COMPETENCIFS During the past decade, education has been a priority as part of the EU’s goal of becoming “the most competitive and dynamic knowledge-based economy in the world (European Commission, 2008, p. 1). Because research evidence indicates that teacher quality is the most significant within-school factor regarding student achievement (Rivkin, Hanushek, & b i n , 2005), improving the quality of teacher education has become paramount. The new millennium has brought novel demands for teacher education. Candidates are expected to develop the knowledge, skills, and dispositions necessary for working collaboratively in classrooms of students with diverse backgrounds and individual needs, while using new technology. According to almost all member states, these demands are emerging within the context of a teacher preparation mindset that has been poorly equipped for such tasks (European Commission, 2007). An additional challenge is the high percentage of teachers currently at retirement age, which requires teacher education programs to attract candidates to the profession. To address these challenges, the Education and Training 2010 work program established a solid framework for European cooperation in education. The goals articulated for teacher education include identifying teachers’ skills for their changing roles in a knowledge-based society, adequately supporting teachers for lifelong learning, making the teaching profession more attractive, and recruiting professionals from other fields (European Commission, 2008).

A Hungarian Preschool for the Children, Teachers, and Families.

lmagine you are going on a bicycle ride in a small town in Hungary. After leaving the noisy town behind, you cross a bridge over a picturesque stream. Thefresh air fills your lungs, and you feel happy and curefee. Soon, you see gardens with fruit trees; as you peek through the green leaves, you catch sight of neat, little red-roofed houses. You remember why you came here. One of those red roofi belongs to the preschool you onceattended. Nowa researcher, you enter the building, and your heart starts beating faster. Yes, the building looks familiar. Soon you see faces of your former teachers smiling at you-they still remember who you are, as ifthose 23 years nmer went by. The interviews with the director and teachers, along with the observations in the classrooms, reaffirm the feelings you felt there as a child. This is a place that children, parents, and teachers all deserue.

Teaching Strategies: ESOL in Every Minute of the School Day

Five kindergarten students, who speak Spanish and Haitian Creole, sit around a table during the daily 15-minute English for Speakers of Other Languages ( E S O L ) session with an €SOL assistant. This is the only time during their day when they receiveinstructiongeared toward their nceds as €SOL students. The €SOL assistaizt reads out questions, such as, “What is this?,”and the students respond i?z full sentences, “This is a book.“ The children, who can use only a little English wheiz they interact with their English-speaking classmates arefrustrated arid bored.

Teaching Strategies: “What If I Don't Speak It?” Classroom Strategies to Nurture Students' Heritage Languages

Is it an asset or a burden to be bilingual? Although bilingualism is appreciated by many people worldwide, immigrant families often struggle with the maintenance of their heritage language1 (HL) and culture. In the United States, for example, the HL in most families is completely lost within three generations (Fishman, 1991). The loss of a child’s HL negatively impacts their cultural identity development, relationships with parents and grandparents, and academic performance (WongFillmore, 2000). Conversely, the maintenance of a child’s HL produces many positive attributes. People who are bilingual have more cognitive flexibility than those who are monolingual (Bialystok, 2007, 2010). A bilingual individual uses both languages actively, even when only one language is being used in a monolingual context (Bialystok, 2007, 2010). Bilingualism results in a cognitive reorganization of language in the brain. Specifically, the prefrontal cortex, which involves working memory and executive function, is also affected by language and works harder in people who are bilingual (Penn, 2010, as cited in Nunley, 2010). Furthermore, growth in working memory in the first language (L1) predicts growth in reading in the second language (L2) (Swanson, Sáez, & Gerber, 2006). Based on empirical evidence, in bilingual individuals one language depends on the other (Bialystok, 2007, 2010; Cummins, 2005). Bilinguals use their knowledge of concepts in the L1 to help them understand those in the L2; similarly, the L2 influences the L1 (Cummins, 1979; Valdés, 2005). Bilingual children’s L2 acquisition can be promoted by using the strong foundations of their L1 skills, because they transfer to the L2 (Cummins, 2005). Also, bilingual children experience benefits with some early literacy skills. For example, phonological awareness transfers easily from one language to another, and decoding and phonological awareness are more easily accomplished by bilingual children when compared to monolingual children, especially when their two languages use comparable alphabetic systems (Bialystok, Luk, & Kwan, 2005). Although the benefits of bilingualism are acknowledged, teachers who want to promote their students’ HL may wonder how they can do this when they do not speak the HL themselves. This article supports the position that teachers, regardless of their ability to speak another language, play a vital role in the maintenance of the HL through effective partnerships with families. First, we review literature on parents’ and teachers’ role in HL maintenance, and then we provide specific classroom strategies for teachers who might not speak the HL of the children in their class.

Teaching Strategies: Environmental Print: Old Notions, but Revalued

As early childhood professionals, we often need to remind ourselves about the value of many ”tried and true” literacy strategies that should not be thrown out, despite critics who believe there is no sound basis for such practices. Environmental print (EP) is one such practice. We define EP as print found in children’s natural environment, which includes logos, labels, road signs, and other print (Kirkland, Aldridge, & Kuby, 2007). Theappropriate time span for using EP ranges from toddlers’ early experiences with literacy to independent reading proficiency, and can particularly benefit special needs learners and English language learners. Those of us whose learning theory is constructivist and who base our teaching practices on a psycholinguistic model of literacy (i.e., we define reading as a meaning-making process) know that children construct their own knowledge about print. Children first learn that words represent objects and about the functions of print. We know that children need to be active participants in their learning and that they need to work with print at their individual levels as they apply logical reasoning to literacy learning (Ferreiro & Teberosky, 1982; Goodman, 1986; Kamii, Manning, & Manning, 1991).

“Dogs are Great Listeners”: A University Course Project Leads to Young Children’s Reading to Shelter Dogs

This chapter reports on a multistep university course project on dogs and children, which ultimately led to a community outreach of young children reading to shelter dogs. First, we review the research and anecdotal accounts about the benefits of animal-assisted activities (AAA), in particular benefits that children gained from the interaction with dogs. Also we give an overview of the current status of the infusion of humane education in teacher education courses. Then, we describe a university course project which aimed to activate early childhood professionals’ awareness about the positive contributions of the child-dog interaction for child development, and about possible curricular integration. Furthermore, we describe an initiative called Reading Buddies, in which young children read to shelter dogs. This program was created as a consequent step of the university course project. The insights and voices of participants both in the course and the community outreach program are shared. The chapter concludes with recommendations for collaborative projects between university and animal welfare groups, such as Reading Buddies—a project in which children read aloud to shelter dogs.

Teaching Preservice Early Childhood Educators About Humane Education

Young children are inquisitive about their environment. Humane education has the potential to create various learning opportunities to expand children’s understanding and skills for becoming responsible citizens of the globe. The infusion of humane education values into curriculum should occur every day. Therefore, early childhood teachers should incorporate humane education in lessons across the curriculum. Nevertheless, teachers need experience and preparation for this task. In the field of teacher preparation, courses on humane education can create opportunities for preservice teachers to construct knowledge, skills, and attitudes for shaping young children’s mind about the environment. This chapter proposes an argument for the infusion of humane education courses within teacher preparation. The theoretical framework emerges from a review of research on school-based humane education programs and on humane education courses at the university level. Subsequently, a project that piloted infused multidisciplinary humane education courses into teacher preparation is described, followed by the recommendations for early childhood teacher educators.