Danny D plays guitar and teaches at EISB

Like many of my colleagues, I wanted to become a teacher already in primary school. I was interested in pedagogy, psychology… and cars. Soon I added classical guitar playing, but I was not ready for the hard work which is necessary to advance in playing a musical instrument so I didn’t become a child prodigy.

Later I studied electrical engineering in high school and attended the People’s Conservatory where I continued the classical guitar study. After graduating from high school I applied to university to study  Slovak language and Music, but failed the entrance exam, where the task was to sing. This didn’t prevent me from starting my first job as a guitar lecturer, however. Altogether I have spent 8 years teaching guitar at two different music schools.

In between I managed to get married, work for 3 years in different editing houses as Advertisement Manager and play bass guitar in a retro music band… and enroll in the Evangelical Lutheran Theological Faculty of Comenius University in Bratislava.

At that time,  I hardly spoke any English, when we got, as a whole family, the opportunity to spend a full year in an American educational institution based in Romanian Transylvania. The first half year consisted mainly of intensive English courses and farming. Yes, we were paying our scholarship by working on the school farm! Then we studied about anatomy, nutrition, hydrotherapy and massage. During this year I learned two new languages – English and Romanian. Our children were attending English school in the same compound and we were all staying with a Romanian family in the nearby village. 

But this was only the beginning of my international experience. I spent the following years working on international development and humanitarian projects in many countries with different international NGOs, like Caritas or Doctors Without Borders (MSF). I was traveling for work so much that for the holidays I just wanted to stay at home. This lasted for more than 10 years until I was based in Prague with responsibilities for the Middle East. For various reasons I needed to reconsider both my professional and personal life, which led to my decision to return to my home town of Bratislava. 

This long story can hardly be short, but here comes the most important part. Back home I was looking for an interesting working opportunity with the possibility of using my various skills and experiences  – and the EISB was looking for an assistant for its Nursery and Reception. It was April of 2016. I continued as Teaching Assistant for Primary until this year, when my responsibilities widened to Academic Support Coordinator. Besides teaching Slovak Language Acquisition (Slovak for Foreigners), I am responsible for organizing substitutions and duties and assisting the school administration with various tasks.

I am the proud father of my three kids: Daniela (26), Vladislav (24) and Radoslava (15).

Thanks to the first lockdown in April this year, I started to practice guitar again regularly and established a YouTube channel and Instagram account with my guitar work.

In school I am known as Mr. Daniel, but my friends call me Danny.