9th CENTROPA SUMMER ACADEMY 2015, POLAND | JULY 6-14
Every summer we bring educators together to share best practices and write lesson plans they will use in their classrooms—and they partner with our teachers working in 20 Centropa countries.
In July 2007, we invited nine teachers working in American schools to Vienna and Budapest, so we could ask for their feedback about our first forays into education and the multimedia films we were just starting to make. There was never meant to be a follow up program.
During those eight days, something unusual happened. While holding round table discussions, teachers we knew from Austria and Hungary stopped by, listened in, and added their own comments. Conversations went on during meal times, on long walks as they strolled through these two great cities, and friendships were formed.
These teachers stayed in touch with each other during the school year. They asked each other questions about teaching methods, about how best to use Centropa films and databases, and shared ideas. That meant teachers in Budapest were helping craft lesson plans for students in Washington, and teachers in Baltimore were exchanging ideas with their counterparts in Vienna.
That is why we brought 16 teachers to Berlin the following year, including one each from Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary and Slovakia. And that in turn led to our 2009 Summer Academy for 26 teachers from eight countries, which took place in Frankfurt and in rural Germany. During both summer academies, we visited the great art museums of Berlin to discuss the troubled, fascinating Weimar era, and strolled along the Mosel River as we toured small villages with tiny synagogues and rural cemeteries.
In 2010, we spent nine days traveling through—and talking about—the great capitals of Mitteleuropa: Prague, Vienna and Budapest, and 60 educators from ten countries took part. Israeli historian Tom Segev joined us in Prague and delivered this keynote speech.
In 2011, 70 teachers, education ministry officials, museum educators and teacher-trainers from 13 countries came with us to Krakow, Vienna and Sarajevo, and in 2012, 75 teachers from 14 countries joined us Frankfurt, Heidelberg, Mannheim and Berlin.
In 2013, we spent our entire eight days in one city: Berlin, where 80 educators from 18 countries joined us, and in 2014, to commemorate the beginning of The First World War, 90 educators from 19 countries traveled with us to Vienna and Sarajevo.
At Centropa, we don’t “train” teachers and we don’t believe in borders.
