Embassy Supports “Teaching Tolerance through English” Summer Camp in Balatonlelle

August 7, 2008

Eleven primary school students, aged 12 to 14, and two English teachers from Michalovce and Cejkov are among the participants at the “Teaching Tolerance through English” summer camp being held from August 2 – 16 in Balatonlelle, Hungary. The camp, whose Embassy-supported program aims to help teachers and students increase levels of tolerance at their multi-ethnic schools through teaching English, will host 80 students and 16 teachers from seven different countries, including Croatia, Hungary, Montenegro, Kosovo, Romania, Serbia, and Slovakia. The participants come from communities where different ethnic groups live side by side, and where practical skills and experience to improve mutual tolerance are still developing. English-speaking experts from the United States train teachers to foster tolerance at their schools in their teaching strategies. On August 1, the day before the camp began, Ambassador Vincent Obsitnik made a visit to the T.J. Moussona primary school in Michalovce, one of the two participating Slovak schools, where he discussed the program and objectives of the summer camp with the teachers and students there.