Ukrainian Free University hosts seminar for teachers from Ukraine

MUNICH, Germany - In cooperation with the Hellbrugge Children's Center of Munich, under the direction of the internationally known physician and pedagogue, Dr. Theodor Hellbrugge, the Pedagogical Institute of the Ukrainian Free University has initiated a three-week training seminar for teachers from Ukraine.

Twenty-five young kindergarten and grammar school teachers (among them five nuns, one priest and one deacon), are receiving intensive training in the Montessori teaching method. Named after the Italian educator Maria Montessori (1869-1952), the method is a system for teaching young children based on the principle of unfettered individual, selfmotivated instruction. The children are encouraged to move about freely, to follow their impulses and to learn from each other.

The Hellbrugge Center, which has a decade-long practical and theoretical experience in honing and applying the method internationally, has provided the necessary realia and instructors, who are assisted by the UFU personnel.

Impressed by the cooperation received from the UFU staff, especially from Dr. Mykola Szafowal, Dr. Hellbrugge has announced that this program will be extended for the next three years, during which the number of teacher-participants will be increased to 60.

Together with the Pedagogical Institute of the UFU and the Ridna Shkola Ukrainian School Association of Munich, the Hellbrugge Center is currently making plans to establish a special trilingual (German-English-Ukrainian) kindergarten in Munich, the first of its kind in Europe, if not in the world. Financial support for this project is presently being sought.

The current Teacher-Training Program of the UFU is being subsidized by the German Sunshine Foundation and the U.S.-based St. Sophia Religious Association of Ukrainian Catholics, which has granted scholarships to the religious members of the program. Scholarships for other participants have been provided by the UFU Foundation in New York.

Copyright © The Ukrainian Weekly, July 27, 2003, No. 30, Vol. LXXI

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