The Knowledge Hub podcast has reached Episode 3 of its second season, with the spotlight on the ‘Seven Realms Story’ master programme. Its creator first drew on her creativity as a child by deliberately “misreading” fairy tales – a practice she believes helped her later in shaping an educational concept built on story writing. Alongside the programme, we also meet the teacher herself, Mónika Kiss, who takes us inside a Szeged school building that feels like a pair of welcoming arms, and recalls a formative encounter with another Szeged native in another city. In the second half of the episode, we hear about a pivotal meeting in Italy – and the even broader international connections and journeys of the mind that await anyone who dares to take part.

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A colourful background

Mónika Kiss has a remarkably diverse academic background: she first graduated in Cultural Organisation in Szeged, then went on to gain qualifications as an Italian teacher, a primary teacher, a language and speech development specialist, and also holds a diploma in career counselling. Her excellent work and innovative methods have earned her numerous prestigious awards: the Sulinetwork Prize, the Tempus Public Foundation’s Digital Teacher Award on four occasions, and first place in an international eTwinning competition. Twice she reached the finals of the Global Junior Challenge – and won once. Building on two decades of professional experience and vision, she created the Seven Realms Story programme at the Orczy István Primary School in Szeged, in partnership with the Somogyi Károly Library.

As a devoted advocate of project-based pedagogy, Mónika has, for over twenty years, sought to convey even the driest elements of IT knowledge in ways that are both engaging and practical. To this end, she found Italian pen pals for her pupils, who, through the process of correspondence, effortlessly absorbed a wealth of fundamental IT skills—skills that old-fashioned teachers might otherwise have demonstrated in a purely theoretical way, such as creating empty folders simply to illustrate the procedure of making one.

“Reading gives you wings”

Two encounters outside Szeged helped shape the Seven Realms Story: her cooperation with the Somogyi Library began at a CodeWeek conference. By January 2024, the first cohort of the programme had already started. Over its five-year span, the programme promises that pupils will learn by writing their own stories, grow into a community, and ultimately create a digital portfolio – all while carrying forward a love of reading. Mónika sees this as crucial, since reading lays down many of the foundations for students’ future careers and personal lives.
From the very first day, Mónika wanted children to know the journey they were embarking on. The classroom decoration immediately reflected the Seven Realms Story – even depicting the pupils as cartoon characters. A sign proclaiming “Reading gives you wings” reminded them of the value of books.

Working with the library, she soon realised it could also serve as a digital community space and host modern project-based learning activities. In addition to nurturing the tradition of reading, students encourage others using today’s tools – creating book recommendation videos and uploading them to the Somogyi Library’s channel. This not only gives them a sense that their preferences matter, but also helps them bring joy to others – as with Mother’s Day events held at the library, or family-friendly activities supported by digital tools.

No excuses needed

How can such a programme fit within the state curriculum? Assessment, particularly reading comprehension testing, provides the bridge. The competition spurred by the programme was so effective that in its first year alone, students completed over 2,500 reading comprehension tasks. The best performers were crowned “book kings and queens”, while every book read was rewarded. The curriculum framework is carefully considered in designing the content, while teacher administration is carried out on the BOOKR Suli platform, which aligns with the national curriculum.
Since the programme lasts a year beyond lower primary, it resembles a demanding long-distance run. Sustained motivation requires strong alliances between pupils, parents, teachers, the library, and the school. When this happens, the children hardly notice the effort – as they are too absorbed in writing their own stories.

Chalk drawings and artificial intelligence

Mónika neither avoids nor fears technological change. The programme’s main aim is to ensure digital literacy for all pupils. Applications are chosen to be age-appropriate, safe, and preferably free. Where ethically sound and creatively useful, children are introduced to new possibilities, while traditional techniques are not forgotten: even chalk drawings on asphalt still have a place in a modern educational programme.

Artificial intelligence is also a regular feature – sometimes for creating visual backgrounds to accompany online stories, other times through the Hello History app, where pupils converse with historical figures brought to life by AI. Thanks to its rich data set, the app can teach on multiple levels simultaneously – style, language, narratives, and perspectives – significantly developing pupils’ empathy.

International connections

There are many ways to fall in love with a country. As a student, Mónika longed for knowledge that sounded mysterious – so she began learning Italian, one of the best decisions of her life. She kept up her passion throughout secondary school and university, then caught the virus Italicus at a friendly meeting. Yet she didn’t stop at Italy: as one of the first eTwinning ambassadors and an active participant in the Comenius programme, she travelled to Portugal, Turkey, and even polar regions.

To this day, she is motivated by the value created through collaborative thinking with her pupils and their peers abroad. Thanks to her international experience, she has helped place Hungarian pedagogy on the map. She has discovered much we can learn from others – and that others can learn from us – while also rethinking what truly counts as a problem in education. She encourages all Hungarian teachers to gain international experience, starting with something as accessible as a free 30-hour accredited eTwinning course. For those held back by language barriers, she recommends first connecting with Hungarian-speaking teachers beyond the country’s borders.

Circles of connection

As always, the episode closes by showing where and how to connect with Mónika and her projects. She welcomes anyone interested in trying the Seven Realms Story or project-based learning more generally. Recently, she and Ildikó Piri, deputy director of the Somogyi Library, have been running workshop-style demonstrations for teachers, open to colleagues from anywhere. For those unable to attend these in-person sessions in Szeged, there are online channels to get in touch with the programme team.

Through eTwinning Hungary, teachers can also connect with Mónika and other national ambassadors, who are happy to support colleagues – both within training courses and beyond – in building international networks.

Members of the episode:

Mónika Kiss, primary school teacher and Italian language teacher at the Orczy István Primary School in Szeged, creator of the Seven Realms Story master program

Mónika holds degrees in Cultural Organisation, Italian language teaching, primary education, language and speech development, as well as career counselling. Her work and innovative methods have been recognised with numerous prestigious awards: she is a Sulinetwork Prize laureate, four-time winner of the Digital Teacher Award from the Tempus Public Foundation, a two-time finalist and once the overall winner of the Global Junior Challenge, and first prize winner of an international eTwinning competition.

Tanítói hitvallása:

“My most important goal is that the children – the protagonists of the project – carry out the tasks with joy, and in doing so, shape themselves into an even stronger, more supportive community. It is vital that they experience the value and meaning of knowledge and experience. During online education, our project activities became even more prominent, holding not only community-building but also community-sustaining value. When we share our knowledge with others, exchange opinions, ask for help, or make friends – often through modern technological tools and applications – it enriches our daily lives, fosters tolerance, and encourages teamwork. All of this fills both the children and myself with joy every single day.”

Bertalan Péter Farkas, editor and host of Knowledge Hub podcast

Knowledge manager, consultant, trainer, and project manager in the field of knowledge management, though originally trained as a geography and history teacher. In his daily work, he serves as Academic Director at one of the region’s largest educational technology companies. He specialises in knowledge management for educational and digital transformation, while as an entrepreneur he is deeply passionate about learning environments and knowledge transfer.

He graduated from ELTE as a geography–history teacher and geographer. After a few years of teaching, he joined state agencies (Educatio, EMET, Tempus), and for nearly six years led the Knowledge Management Group at the Tempus Public Foundation. As Managing Director of Learnitect Design Ltd., he focuses on the design of knowledge-transfer-supportive learning environments, as well as on online and offline learning organisation, the design of community spaces, and international project management.

He conceived the idea of the Knowledge Hub podcast in 2022, which became reality in the autumn of 2023.