Tom Hobson, aka "Teacher Tom", one of the world's best preschool teachers, is coming to Athens this April, to participate in the 'Play on Early Education' international conference.
Less than a month remains until the 2nd international Conference 'Play on Early Education', hosted at Serafio of City of Athens (19 Ehelidon & 144 Piraeus), from 27 to 30 April.
The world's best educators will once again come to Athens to exchange ideas on how Play contributes to the education of preschool children, but also on how Play and Education have changed in the post-covid era, the era of social distancing and… Zoom.
John C. Yiannoudis, co-founder of the play-based school Dorothy Snot Preschool & Kindergarten, and Tom Hobson, aka Teacher Tom, who is considered one of the best preschool teachers in the world, hosted a live talk on Facebook about this year's conference.
Teacher Tom stated that he is looking forward to coming to Athens, noting that the first 2019 Conference was the best relevant conference he had attended.
As they both pointed out, the pandemic has changed a lot in the world, including the Play, but whatever happens, children have to play and what they want is to discover the world.
In fact, Teacher Tom stressed that children want to learn through experience and discover the real world. He even cited as an example an experiment he does on young children, when he asks them to choose what they want to play with; a real lawn mower or a fake one. All children choose the real one, because the real world is more exciting.
Tom Hobson showed special interest in the keynote speakers of the Conference, whom John described as people who have a passion for play and pre-school education and want to share their knowledge and interact with others. The goal is for those who leave this Conference to be happier, wiser and more enthusiastic about the application of play based models in preschool education.
The keynote speakers are the well-known Swedish educator Suzanne Axelsson, Teacher Tom, Walter Meynell, John Axelsson, Stella Kasdagli and Penelope Theodorakakou, and the teacher who managed to turn a public school in a Greek village into an educational model of creative self-management, Angelos Patsias.
John also made a special reference to the big sponsors of the Conference; Bosch, whose tools helps children create what they can imagine, Lego / Eduk8 which is directly intertwined with modern education and educational robotics in Greece, and the Papadopoulou biscuit and food industry, which this year celebrates its 100th anniversary and is intertwined with the Greek family.
