During the summer the talent Alžbeta Chynoradská together with Jana Chynoradská, director of HARMONY ACADEMY and Eliška Deckárová, consultant of IPA Slovakia, took part in an unforgettable training for teachers. It took place at the proven centre of inspirational teacher training - Teacher Training in Pilgrims, in the beautiful historic city of Canterbury, England. Alžbeta Chynoradská, a novice Trainer and one of the youngest participants of the course, shared with us how the whole training went.
When, as a novice teacher, I received an offer to attend the Teacher Training in Pilgrims, England, through Erasmus+, I did not hesitate for a minute. I enjoy improving my language, skills, traveling, meeting new people and their cultures, so this opportunity was a great opportunity for me to start my career spectacularly. Of course, I was worried and anxious because I wasn't as "experienced" as other older teachers and I had a lot of question marks in my head. Am I not young for such training? What if I don't fit in? However, my curiosity and willingness to learn something new overwhelmed me, so I, Eliška and Janka flew away in the direction of London.
"Am I not young for such training? What if I don't fit in?"
I already had experience with Pilgrims – as a Young Learner , I attended 2 summer camps at the age of 10 and 12. It was a huge experience for me and especially a great school and training of my English, so I expected something similar from this training – except for adults. I was not far from the truth. On the very first day, I found a "soul mate", a young, novice lecturer, so we agreed that we were starting the same way. I also got a great lecturer for our course, Creative Methodology, Stefy. Since I already knew Stefy from her visits to Slovakia, she knew who I was and tried to "sew" this course both to experienced lecturers and to us newcomers. I was very pleasantly surprised by the course of this training. A minimum of theory, but a large number of practical activities that can be used as another number of other variations. The great thing about it was that the teachers got into the role of students, so they experienced what it was like to be in class from the other side. It was also a big plus that we didn't just work as one group, but we also experienced other teachers and their groups. We worked with the group Methodology and English Language for Primary and also with Special Needs and Inclusive Learning. It was amazing to see how our creativity kick-started and how we relaxed.
But our teachings are far from ending here. In addition to our daily courses (except for the weekend), we had the opportunity to attend afternoon and evening workshops with other amazing teachers. We have worked with Mario Rinvolucri, Alan Maly and many others. However, one of my favourites was Scottish Evening. We sang songs, drank whiskey, ate Scottish biscuits and laughed a lot.
"I very much appreciate Harmony's efforts to support us, young, novice teachers on our journey towards development and quality education."
At the end of the training, I didn't even feel like leaving – I felt so good there. However, the advantage is that our journey did not end there, I stayed in touch with my classmates and other participants and we keep reporting - what we use in practice, how we are doing.
I am very happy that I was able to participate in this mobility as part of the HAPPY SCHOOL 2020 project. My answer to the question of whether I am too young for such an experience is – certainly not. I very much appreciate Harmony's efforts to support us, young, novice teachers on our journey towards development and quality education. I may be an isolated case, but I personally think that this is the future. It is something completely different, new and truly rewarding. I have the feeling that I will continue to draw on this experience for a very long time to come.
Alžbeta Chynoradska
trainer HARMONY ACADEMY
