Estefania Fodor

Study program: Kindergarten Education BA

Country: Venezuela, Bolivarian Republic of

Scholarship: Hungarian Diaspora Scholarship

Period of studies at ELTE: 2022.09.01 - 2025.06.30

"The teachers and the entire staff of the faculty were always willling to give me a helping hand when I needed"

WHAT STOOD OUT TO YOU ABOUT ELTE?

The first thing that stood out to me about the university and made me want to be a part of the community was the legacy this university has behind it, being founded on 1635, it makes ELTE one of the oldest universities in the country, with an astonishing and impecable background. It has 5 nobel prize winners! It is one of the biggest and most renounced university in Hungary, offering degrees in so many different fields, and so the possibilities for encountering international students is even bigger.

WHAT MAKES STUDYING AT ELTE SO GREAT?

The Eötvös Loránd university is a community of people, formed by students of all nationalities, degrees and ways of thinking. They are always offering new ways to express themselves, with multiple activities inside and outside the campus. And specially, the university is filled with experts and pioneers in their field! Two of my professors are pioners of Bilingual education in Hungary!

WHAT ARE / WERE YOUR CHALLENGES IN YOUR STUDY PROGRAM?

The Kindergarten Education BA program at ELTE is based on the Hungarian Education System, which I am unfamiliar with. Therefore, it has been a bit of a challenge to understand and get used to the way things work, specially since it is the complety oposite of the methodoly used in my country, Venezuela. In Hungary, the kindergarten education is based on a free-play approach and teaching through music, the „Kodály Method”, which is oposed to the strick methodoly I experience during my kindergarten years.

HOW DID YOU OVERCOME THESE CHALLENGES?

The teachers and the entire staff of the faculty were always willling to give me a helping hand when I needed, but It was also on me to learn and do my best to understand the Hungarian methodology, which ended up being an interesting process, opening my eyes to world of children being able to develop as active and independent individuals, learning at their own pace. Of course, I made some Hungarian friends which made the process easier to bear.

HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE ELTE IN THREE WORDS?

Open-minded. International. Historic.

HOW DO YOU THINK YOUR DEGREE WILL HELP YOU IN YOUR LIFE AND CAREER?

As a student of an International Kindergarten education program, once I graduate the possibilities will be endless, but I would like to dedicate myself to teach English or Spanish in an International Kindergarten, for I will have the knowledge on how to develop children’s abilities in the best way possible, according to what psychology, pedagogyme physical education professors have taught me, experts in those fields.

DO YOU HAVE ANY RECOMMENDATIONS FOR FUTURE STUDENTS AT ELTE?

Something I wish I had known before starting my degree would be the career oppotunities I will have inside Hungary because of quickly and easy it is to fall in love with the city of Budapest. On the other hand, as an interantional student, this is a new chapter in your life and it might not be easy, so we should always try to reach out for help at any time, the university is equipted with english-speaking psychologists, student councils, professors that will be willing to help you. And do not forget to reach out to other international students! There are plenty of those, and they understand the struggles and problems you might have.