A special Norwegian visit

Natália Pilipčuková, a teacher at the Elementary School in Veľká Ida, was recently delighted to welcome a group of eighteen guests from Norway, the Embassy of the Kingdom of Norway in the Slovak Republic, representatives of the Government Office of the National Contact Point for FM and NFM Office for the Financial Mechanism in Brussels.

Natalia has been teaching at the after-school Feuerstein Club for 5 years and the visitors were impressed when they compared the results those pupils who had regularly attended the Feuerstein Club with those pupils in a control group who had not attended.

The Feuerstein Club experience shows remarkable results. Of the 18 children who were taught by the Feuerstein method, 14 of them passed from the zero to the fourth grade. By contrast, out of the 12 peer children who did not have the benefit of the Feuerstein method, sadly only one pupil is in the fourth grade. In addition, the Feuerstein group children have also had fewer absences and better marks.

Children from our other Feuerstein school clubs have also had good results. Nelka, third grader from Rankovce, won the district competition “Šaliansky Maťo” in reciting legends. At the Feuerstein afterschool club in Stará Ľubovňa, little Mária drew her teacher’s attention because she saw a peculiarity in a mathematical puzzle that even older children have a problem noticing.

The progress of children who regularly attend all the Feuerstein afterschool clubs is undeniable. We hope one day all children in Slovakia who have had the misfortune to have been born into poverty will get the same opportunities as these children.