Message fromo the Debrecen Summer School
Dear Students/Friends,
It has been a rare occurrence in the almost-century-old history of Debrecen Summer School that a summer course could not be properly held but it has never happened so far that the obstacle for cancelling would have been a pandemic affecting almost all countries around the world. There have been actual wars as well as wrong, or allegedly wrong, political decisions among the reasons but it has never been the case of the health of both the local organizers and the international student body being at stake. However, in 2020, we experience exactly that. Right now, due to the world-wide coronavirus pandemic, we must not risk receiving any student of the Hungarian language and culture in person on our campus, situated in the middle of everyone’s beloved Nagyerdő area.
However, we do believe that this should not force us to abandon all hope and forget about a chance to make it possible for those interested in learning Hungarian to continue refining their command of the target language and even meet each other as well as their favorite teachers. The only difference about providing this opportunity to you is going to be the location and the medium: this time, the venue is not going to be the impressive Main Building of the University of Debrecen and the surrounding campus but a quasi-virtual reality: the worldwide web, where it is fully online.
Between the beginning of June and the end of August, 2020, we will be happy to offer three 40-unit sessions of Hungarian language courses for groups of 4 to 6 students at all levels of fluency. The daily 2 x 45-minute classes will be available in a variety of time slots, making it possible for everyone to pick the one that best suits their time-zone differences, irrespective of where they might be located geographically.
Naturally, it is also possible to opt for intensive or private courses as well if there is a certain amount of specific demand for these.
In addition to the language courses, there will also be other opportunities tailored for improving the participants’ awareness of certain areas of Hungarian culture as well as their special vocabulary in specific areas of language use.
We are looking forward to seeing (and hearing) you this summer, too, although not in person but through cameras (and speakers), because we would just like to make sure that you stay home and stay safe for the time being.
