There are very few practising teachers in the local education scene with such a broad global horizon as Ms. Gyöngyi Tóthné-Bán or on her nickname: Dondi who conquered the world from a small village from Hungary and the Balatonboglár Primary School. She has worked with teachers and students from dozens of countries on many continents, yet it is perhaps her students and their career paths that she is most proud of. In this energizing episode of the Knowledge Hub podcast, we get to know more about Dondi’s everyday life, her motivations, the secrets of her success and how she managed to achieve these results. In addition to sketching a brief professional portrait, the episode aims to provide listeners with lessons that will encourage them to open the doors of the classroom, break down the walls of geographical distance and bring new colours to their methodological repertoire.

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The game of time zones – What does it mean to organise a global lesson?

Gyöngyi Tóthné-Bán, also known by her frequent nickname Dondi, is a famous and respected teacher today because she is the only one in Hungary who organises effective and efficient global lessons. Dondi opens her classroom to teachers and children from India, the US and Thailand with a good heart and enormous energy. As she says, it is just a game of time zones. And what does it take? – Just a laptop and a projector and internet, of course. Their exciting adventures have taken them from Japan, Vietnam, India and the West to the USA and Canada, where they have met live online via Zoom, Skype, Teams or other online tools. They mainly plan joint language games, play mystery games with adults, give presentations about Hungary or play online games together.

We also asked Dondi how much time and how it takes to organise such a global lesson. She says that the preparation starts about a month before. Meeting the other educator online is always important, it helps to put a face to the collaboration and give you the confidence to work together. He also says that it is a common element that students from Hungary give a presentation, so it is worth preparing well in advance. This is also useful because these topics (place of residence, country, community, school, etc.) can be used as a theme in the language exam. After a few sessions, the students will be able to speak on these topics with great fluency and confidence. Another good game for older learners is to draw names from a list of famous people and have the pupils guess them barchoba-style.

With lower school children, there is more to do, while older children can even manage these meetings completely independently – and are happy if the teacher takes a back seat or even asks for help. 

Dondi teaches 4th–8th graders and makes sure that she only participates in programmes where a native level of English is not required. It is important that the tasks do not require students to know something they do not already know.

A small professional portrait – Dondi, the man and star teacher

Dondi is very active in the online social space (LinkedIn, YouTube channel, blog), building her own brand. This is a rarity among teachers in Europe. She is always happy to try new things, always eager to start using new platforms. She has kept an open mind and has learned a lot from the websites and other interfaces of her partners. LinkedIn is highly recommended for connecting in the international space (events, old partners, etc.), a role she considers more effective as she believes it is more professional and streamlined than Facebook.

Managing a lot of tasks as an educator is no small task. For Gyöngyi, one of the keys is sport, which she does for recreation, and she is convinced that it plays a key role in keeping her energy levels high. She loves competing and has swum across Lake Balaton several times. She believes it is important for many teachers to compete in races where they finish last – as it means they will have to struggle. This kind of challenge can pull people out of the rigidity that can develop in everyday life, over decades in any school or any profession. He also loves to take part in international competitions with his students. In November, they participated in Kahoot Cup and Skype mileage (Skypeathon). 

Action-based and experiential learning is fundamental to her, and she always strives to achieve this in her work. It’s easier for primary school children, who can play all day – almost any topic works, such as animal bingo. For the older ones, she likes to connect her students with students from abroad (e.g. “mystery geography” games). It’s also exciting for the students to look out into the world, they like the way their conversation partners search for Hungary, look for it and finally recognise it through the puzzles.

Dondi’s greatest international successes, for example:

  • Shewas the first Hungarian teacher to receive the Global Teacher Award from AKS Education, in 2021 and 2023, 
  • In 2021, she was one of the 50 successful people included in the Highlights of Hungary, 
  • She has been involved in the Microsoft in Education programme for almost a decade, 
  • Work as a Skype Global Mentor, and also 
  • First from Hungary to participate in a TweetMeet event, and 
  • She regularly appears on US TV, radio and in the national media.

Gyöngyi’s blogs: 

English: http://boglarangol.blogspot.com/
English: http://dondi64.blogspot.com/

Making your mark in the global teacher space – advice for beginners from Gyöngyi

“Adaptability is very important” – says Gyöngyi. There can be many situations to adapt to, and you will be successful if you can follow them. Punctuality and predictability are also important. In many cases, relationships are built and collaborations deepened through referrals, and this will be successful if the shared experiences are positive. She never cancels meetings and always makes it a priority to ensure that the plans she has agreed to are carried out.

They work if you enjoy doing them. In the long run, the only people who will be really successful in this field are those who really enjoy learning about other cultures.Working with a teacher in Nepal or Malaysia is an incredibly interesting and exciting experience for her. 

It’s just a game of time zones: if the hours are predominantly in the morning, it’s worth building connections to the east. If it’s more afternoon, you may be more western-oriented. Africa, for example, is an option in both cases. This will help to find common time for students. Another useful tip is to blog in English, as this can be an important reference for us when we receive enquiries from abroad. 

In this type of global work, a high level of use of digital tools is inevitable. But for most classes, all you need is a laptop and a projector.Having tablets is more complicated, but rarely needed.

How can teachers of other subjects (not English) be involved in these programmes?

Google and Skype translator can be a great asset if language skills are a barrier. It is worth experimenting with these tools, they can help in an increasing number of situations. In many cases, Gyöngyi has encountered groups where the partner teacher has asked the English teacher to help the lesson run smoothly. These collaborations are very helpful in building cooperation within the institution.

The European Day of Languages, for example, can be a great opportunity for Hungarian teachers to get involved in the programmes. But equally, representatives of other subjects and subjects can find their entry point into this world with a little searching. One of Gyöngyi’s personal favourites was the European Folktale Day, where they could learn about the typical characters and characteristics of folktales from different countries.

Interesting facts about virtual meetings

It can be adventurous when you meet a small class. In many cases, it is more difficult for the other teacher to discipline the class, and funny, amusing situations often arise.

This way, children can see a variety of shows. Musical and dance performances, for example, but it is also important to see teacher-student relationships and classroom equipment. They learn a lot about tolerance, about all nationalities, they see different colours. They have seen yoga classes, henna and more, but it was also exciting to see how Santa Claus comes to the southern hemisphere. As well as developing their language skills, they can learn about different parts of the world and different cultures from the classroom.

There are many Indian or “native” groups, and an interesting peculiarity here is that they speak English with a slightly different accent. In such cases, they may work with one or two good-eared students to try to decipher whether they have heard what they think they have heard. But of course, this can happen in an American school just as easily. It’s exciting when getting to know any new group, but ultimately, if you’re having difficulty understanding someone, you can always ask them to speak more slowly and clearly.

The teachers can be quite particular, one of Gyöngyi’s Belgian colleagues was chewing gum all through the lesson and it was very difficult to understand what she was saying, with the students “hanging on the ceiling” in the background. This compares to a Vietnamese group where both teacher and students participate in an online meeting in uniform and with amazing discipline. It is exciting to see classrooms from all over the world. The decorations, the layout of the tables, can all give you great ideas. The placement (or lack of it) of the teacher’s desk is also a good indicator of the specificity of the educational principles.

“What’s great about international work is that it’s not just for A-level students” – global lessons from a student’s perspective

It is obviously much easier and less stressful for students to participate in the programmes, as they have little or no role in the organisational part. Older children, who have been through a few similar events, can participate fully on their own or in many cases the teacher can learn from the students.

Another great advantage is that students who are less interested or less successful in the subject/subject are also happy and enthusiastic to participate in these events. This can even help a student who might otherwise have failed to pass the language exam to do so. 

An important positive is that it also builds confidence and knowledge for those who are less able to express themselves in writing but are verbally skilled.

It’s hard at first for a 14-year-old to stand in front of a camera and speak in a foreign language – even for many adults – but those who do will leave school stronger for it. Of course, we should also be prepared for people who will be watching from the back of the classroom – but that’s not a problem, says Gyöngyi, they need to find other ways to motivate themselves.

What’s good about international work is that it doesn’t just appeal to A-level students,

Dondi hints in the opening of the 2024 edition of the Csomópont podcast.

Members of the table

Gyöngyi Tóthné-Bán, Dondi

Gyöngyi Tóthné-Bán, internationally known as Dondi, is the English teacher at Boglár Primary School, next to Lake Balaton, in Balatonboglár. She started her international work 14 years ago. Initially, her aim was to practise the language, but as she met more and more classes from other parts of the world online, she got to know other cultures and introduced other countries to Hungarian culture. Throughout their exciting adventures, they met countries from Japan, Vietnam, India and the West to the USA or Canada online, live on Zoom, Skype, Teams or other online tools. They mainly plan joint language games, play mystery games with adults, give presentations about Hungary or play online games together. They were invited to various international events, e.g. dance competitions, music projects, or are invited several times to give presentations at conferences with partner schools. One year, they turned around and helped Hungarian American children get back to their Hungarian roots with online classes and other interesting projects.

During her work, she visited India, Delhi for a teacher exchange programme, London for the BETT show and Paris for the Microsoft in Education E2 meeting. In New York, she gave a presentation at the Hungarian American Schools meeting and in Dubai 2023 she received an individual teacher award and his school’s award for his years of international work.

Bertalan Péter Farkas, editor-in-chief

Knowledge manager, knowledge management consultant, trainer, project manager, but originally a teacher of geography and history. In his day-to-day work he provides global knowledge management for management consultants, coaches and international experts, and as an entrepreneur he works to promote the education scene in his home country and Europe. After a few years of teaching, she worked for government agencies (Educatio, EMET, Tempus) and headed the Knowledge Management team of the Tempus Public Foundation for almost 6 years. As managing director of Learnitect Design Ltd. he is involved in knowledge management and design of learning spaces for knowledge transfer, online and offline learning management, design of community spaces, international tender writing and project management. He conceived the idea for the Knowledge Hub podcast in 2022, which finally became a reality in autumn 2023.

More information: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bertalanpeterfarkas/ 

The Csomópont podcast is Hungary’s first knowledge management podcast, a place about knowledge and knowledge management, where original people, inspiring ideas, engaging community and corporate stories, carefully crafted lines and a dash of public thinking come together.

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Article written by Kristóf Györgyi-Ambró, edited by Éva Tóth.

Thank you for the support of our media partner, Modern School! 

This content was produced with funding from the European Union. The opinions and statements expressed herein are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the official position of the European Union or the European Agency for Education and Culture (EACEA). Grant agreement number: 2023-1-HU01-KA210-SCH-000152699.