Western Ukrainian town is home to Ukraine's Waldorf School (04/06/03)

Western Ukrainian town is home to Ukraine's Waldorf School

Horodenka, Ukraine - After seven years of intense work, through international efforts, a Waldorf school opened its doors on June 12, 2002, in the city of Horodenka, western Ukraine, starting with a kindergarten program, appropriately named Stork's Nest ("Buzkove Hnizdo"), with the intent of expanding progressively into the grades as the school develops. Marianna Terletska, who has worked tirelessly for the past seven years, a graduate of the Waldorf Teacher Training in Odesa, is the pioneering teacher in Horodenka.

In 1995 Dzvinka Nykorak-Hayda, a certified Waldorf teacher presently teaching at the Detroit Waldorf School and director of early childhood training with the Waldorf Teacher Development Association in Detroit, was invited to train teachers in Waldorf pedagogy in Odesa by the German contingent of Waldorf education. While in Odesa, she was approached by members of the Kameniar Pedagogical Society and asked to help establish a Waldorf teacher training seminar in western Ukraine.

After visiting Horodenka in 1996, and affirming that this was a serious proposal, Ms. Nykorak-Hayda rallied experienced Waldorf teachers from the United States to return with her to Horodenka and train students teachers in a two-track seminar: one for the elementary grades and the other for early childhood.

Waldorf early childhood teachers Sally Muir of Birmingham, Mich., and Ms. Nykorak-Hayda of Warren, Waldorf elementary teacher John Trevillian of Detroit and Waldorf elementary and eurythmy teacher Ihor Radysh, and Waldorf elementary teacher Giannina Zlater both of New York, traveled to Mykhalche on the Dnister River, for three consecutive summers. They taught Waldorf pedagogy to 50 student teachers, 25 in the elementary studies, and twenty five in early childhood.

The student teachers came from all parts of Ukraine, such as Odesa, Kyiv, Kharkiv, Sumy, Ternopil, Lviv, Kolomyia, and Dolyna. The benefit of this seminar was that it was taught in Ukrainian. For the English speaking teachers, translations were done into Ukrainian. Ms. Nykorak-Hayda wrote and translated two handbooks in Ukrainian for pedagogical use by teachers.

After completion of the three-year seminar, next came the need to acquire property to establish a school. Spearheaded by Ms. Muir, Ms. Nykorak-Hayda and Mr. Radysh, fund-raising was done in the United States, Germany, Scotland and the Hague.

Two properties were identified, but due to bureaucratic red tape they fell through (but that is another story for another time). A former kindergarten complex of three buildings and beautiful grounds became available and was purchased with international funds in the heart of the city of Horodenka. The good will of contributors was instrumental in the acquisition of this property.

Volodymyr Radysh, a Camphill architect based in Scotland and a graduate of the New York Waldorf Elementary and High Schools, traveled to Horodenka on two occasions to draw up plans for renovation; he also donated time and funds for this project.

The members of the Kameniar Pedagogical Tovarystvo, headed by Ihor Terlytsky, have worked diligently, rolling up their sleeves to bring one of the school buildings up to western standards. Many supplies were donated by well-wishers in Austria. During summer vacations, German Waldorf students traveled to Ukraine to help with the renovations.

Ms. Nykorak-Hayda and Ms. Muir undertook sending items from the United States to furnish a complete kindergarten room, including carpeting, rocking chairs, child size furniture, fabric, utensils, dishes, toys, books, art supplies, teaching supplies, etc., as well as a fax machine and copier. This established a visual example for future Waldorf schools in Ukraine.

The school is flourishing due to Waldorf pedagogy that honors each child for who he or she is. It was Rudolf Steiner, an Austrian philosopher, who founded the first Waldorf school in Stuttgart in September of 1919. The school movement has grown to over 1,000 schools worldwide. Waldorf pedagogy is based on Steiner's conclusions.

Rahima Baldwin, writing in "You Are Your Child's First Teacher," explained the Waldorf approach as follows:

"In the elementary school (grades 1-8), all subjects are presented in a lively and pictorial way, because the elementary school child learns best when information is artistically and imaginatively presented.

"The same teacher stays with the same children from the first through the eighth grade, teaching the 'main lesson' subjects, which include language arts, mathematics, history, geography and all the sciences: zoology, botany, physics, astronomy, chemistry and physiology. This 'main lesson' is taught during the first two hours of the morning in blocks of three to six weeks per subject. Students create their own 'lesson books' as artistic records of their learning, rather than using textbooks or worksheets.

"During the rest of the day, special subject teachers fill out the curriculum with two foreign languages for all eight years, orchestra, choral singing, dance, arts, crafts, practical work such as gardening, farming, sewing, crocheting, knitting, woodworking, house building, etc., eurythmy (a form of movement to music, verse, rhythm) and physical education."

All students play in the school symphony and, therefore, are exposed to the finest music in the world - Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, etc. Every year the children perform in a drama, starting with simple plays in the early grades and culminating with a full-length Shakespearean production by the eighth grade.

In Horodenka, the work continues. Two of the three school buildings are in the process of renovation. Ihor Terletsky of Horodenka, initiator and visionary is tirelessly carrying on with the endeavor. The property across the street from the newly acquired school is available, and the hope is that, again with aid coming from beyond Ukraine's borders, it could be purchased for a youth center, where young people at risk can gather for meaningful purposes such as community outreach, drama, music, art, care of the elderly, a food kitchen for the poor, library, computer learning center, etc. The founding American teachers keep close contact and mentor the developing school.

The children are the future of Ukraine and the world, and that is the focus of this important endeavor. Gratitude is extended to those around the world who have donated their time, effort and funds for the Horodenka project. Presently there is an initiative to establish Waldorf schools in Lviv and Crimea.

For more information or to help these emerging schools, readers may contact: Dzvinka Nykorak-Hayda, 2555 Burns, Detroit, MI 48214; e-mail: [email protected].

| Home Page |