Mission Statement | Who We Are |History |Staff

CETP exists to benefit young people in the formerly socialist countries of Central Europe by providing public schools in the region with native-speaking English teachers. Since 2006, we are placing teachers solely in Hungary. English-language skills are in high demand throughout the region and the need for English teachers remains high even more than a decade after the major political and ideological changes took place in Central and Eastern Europe. Local people with skills in high economic demand, in Central Europe as in other regions of the world, are often attracted to better paying jobs than public school teaching, thus contributing to the teacher shortage.

CETP also offers North Americans and others a meaningful long-term professional and cross-cultural experience and a unique opportunity to become an active part of a Central European community.

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CETP is a teacher recruitment organization. Since 1991 we have been working to provide native-speaking English teachers and other languages and subjects to public schools as well as several parochial schools in Hungary and Romania. CETP serves more than 100 different schools, and has sent more than 500 English Conversation Teachers to the region over the past decade. The Central European Teaching Program is the single largest provider of teachers to Hungarian public schools.

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The Central European Teaching Program, originally called Teach Hungary, was founded by Lesley Davis in 1991, after a year of teaching English and French at Horváth Mihály Gimnázium in Szentes, Hungary. During her year as a teacher in Hungary, Lesley was often approached by Hungarian English teachers and school directors requesting help recruiting native speakers of English as English Conversation Teachers for their schools.

Lesley saw the need for a structured teacher placement program which could send native speakers of English to teach in high schools in Hungary. Upon returning the US, she founded Teach Hungary to meet this need. Teach Hungary moved to Beloit College when Lesley came to work for the college's Office of International Education in 1992. The program grew rapidly, expanding to neighboring Central European countries. To reflect these changes, the program name was changed to the Central European Teaching Program, or CETP.

In the spring of 2003, the program became independent from Beloit College, while continuing the same mission of providing personal, quality service to both teachers and schools.

CETP has become a well-known and respected organization throughout our host countries. School directors know that if they are able to provide certain basic living and working conditions, and if their schools are given positive reports from previous native-speaking teachers, they will be guaranteed a qualified native-speaking teacher from the program. Like many of you, Central European schools choose to work with our program because of the support we offer. They are in frequent contact with our overseas offices.

At CETP we try to maintain a policy of approachability, flexibility, and understanding, both in regards to the schools we work with and the teachers. Our program is largely free of bureaucracy, save what is required by Central European authorities. CETP serves as a private Peace Corps, but with no government funding. Although we operate on a shoestring; orientation, phone and Internet service--particularly in Europe, plus a small stipend for our country directors ends up costing many thousands of dollars. Because our small staff believes so fervently in CETP’s mission, we work hard to ensure that each applicant receives their every penny’s worth during their teaching stint abroad.

CETP teachers come from all walks of life and a wide variety of teaching backgrounds. There are retired couples willing and able to offer their wealth of experience to Central European students. There are recent college graduates looking for an exciting and challenging way to spend a year or two and to build up their teaching credentials. Mid-career professionals join CETP looking for a change of lifestyle and a chance to "give something back" by being a volunteer teacher. Elementary, high school, and college teachers on sabbatical join us to experience teaching and living in another country and by a different set of rules. And there are plenty of teachers who fall somewhere in between these descriptions. The one thing that all CETP teachers share, however, is an insatiable curiosity about other cultures, a sense of adventure, and a mature and open-minded approach to life.

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Mary Rose, CETP's Director, taught through CETP at an elementary school in Kalocsa, Hungary (2002-2003). She is an experienced teacher, certified in elementary education, and with her TEFL certification from Transworld Teachers in San Francisco. When not busy enjoying her young grandsons Cash,Jake, Cyrus, Noah and newborn Abe. Mary directs the program from her office in Portland, Oregon.

Hajnalka Vancsik is based in the capital city of Budapest. Prior to joining CETP, Hajni (pronounced "HOY-nee") provided support for Americans studying in Hungary through various study abroad organizations. She is CETP’s Hungarian director and acts as liaison between CETP, the Hungarian government, school directors, and our teachers. As such she ensures that CETP’s teachers have a safe, healthy, and satisfying stay in Hungary—in other words, she is our Hungarian mom!  She was at one time director’s assistant for one of Hungary’s major theatres, and thus she’s well-acquainted with many famous stage and film personalities.  Nonetheless, her dog Bonifac remains the apple of her eye.

Melinda Reidinger is in the process of putting together our new Czech Republic program, assisted by her husband Petr. Dr. Reidinger received her degree in Cultural Anthropology from the University of Virginia after writing a dissertation on country homes in Bohemia. She has lived in the Czech Republic altogether about 11 years, and makes her own home in a quiet village in Central Bohemia. She learned to speak and read Czech as an adult and passed the exam for legal interpreters. Since she has been home with her children she has been translating for a host of prestigious clients including President Klaus, the former Prime Minister, and the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra. When at leisure, she is a very crunchy type who enjoys growing her own food and cooking it with her family. Melinda looks forward to sharing her knowledge and love of the Bohemian countryside with you.  Petr is a professional actor with the famous Jára Cimrman theater, which is comparable to the English Monty Python ensemble. With his troupe he travels all over the Czech Republic, and he knows many of its little-explored nooks and crannies. At home Petr keeps bees and brews mead and he enjoys hunting for mushrooms

Hildie Cuddigan is Mary’s part-time assistant as well as fulltime mom to Cash and Jake.  In her spare time she volunteers at the neighborhood elementary school, takes long walks with her dog Rocky, gardens, and reads. She lives in Portland, Oregon.