Who are you people?

A few years ago I ate lunch with a very clever gentleman once a week. We contemplated the idea of education as ripples in a pond. How can ideas spread once the initial stone has been tossed into the water? Can those who learn teach others?

That simple idea led to the grander one of teacherless learning. The logical next step for the information age. Because with the world at your fingertips, a teacher whose only job is to impart information makes very little logical sense.

Sadly our paths diverged, but that year of conversations led me directly to the experiment, which after much trial and rather a lot of errors resulted in the cards.

What does Angol, na? mean?

Bit of a story, that. 'Angol' means 'english' in Hungarian. 'Na' is an imperative of sorts, indicating something similar to 'of course' with overtones of 'doh'. But. Monty Python fans - like myself and most Hungarians - are very familiar with The Hungarian Phrasebook Sketch, in which Cleese confounds a shopkeeper by asking for tobacco, which his phrasebook tells him is 'A légpárnás hajóm tele van angolnákkal.' 'My hovercraft is full of eels'.
'Eel', in Hungarian, is 'angolna'.

The Team

Annie - Ideatrix in Chief, Teacher of English

An erstwhile student of philosophy, I turned to teaching before I had even left high school. Blame my teachers; Andover is truly an amazing place to absorb the art of education. While I've taught photography, music theory, and the amusingly named "Culture" at University in the middle of nowhere, China, language remains my first love. I've taught in the States, Canada, China, and Hungary. Conversations with fellow educators coupled with coming up on 20 years in the classroom gave rise to this idea I cannot seem to shake; the unique perspectives of both peers and my students challenge and push me every day, and with any luck will continue to do so for a very long time to come.

Partners ::
Zsuzsa Kuna - Translator
James Bullock - Ideas Taster and resident crazy-o-meter
Péter Mészáros - Bicycle Repairman

Special thanks to ::
Miklós Molnár - Cultural Compatibility Checker
Dániel Szügyi - Connection Doctor
István Sauska - Inspirator
Csongor Sárközy - Innovations Manager
Kinga Petőfi - Wordsprite

Made possible by ::
Desi
Brian Harmann
Anonymous
Mariann Lévai
A. Empie
Krisztián Tóth
Davis Jankowski
Jon Odo
Uncle Yamesh
CBP Photo
Anonymous
Hunter Roberts
Anonymous
Orsi Meleg
Anonymous
In memory of David Roy Esslinger
Anonymous