škola

I am currently teaching 16 different classes per week at my škola. Every five-weeks my classes will change I will teach 16 new classes, with new students because the school wants me to meet and interact will each of its 1,000 students. This means I will be doing a lot of icebreakers and memorizing a lot of names. This week alone I have learned and maybe forgotten at least 250 students names, plus the names of the other teachers, people in my soccer league, etc.

My first week of school was smooth and fun. The thought of creating different lesson plans for my classes and appeasing the 11 teachers I am working with is daunting. Some teachers have been very flexible and have given me free-range over their classes – which will allow me to do fun activities and recycle lesson plans from other classes. On the other hand, some teachers have specific ideas of lessons for their class and I feel like I am limited by their expectations. Some lessons are geared towards a large exam that every student takes in order to graduate from high school. The topics range from American culture and traditions to family and relationships to shopping etiquette.

For the next five weeks I am teaching 3rd and 4th year English. Recently, they have been studying the Czech educational system, so I have been teaching them about the American school system and having them compare it to the Czech system. This has been a very easy topic for me because I have been through the system. One of the stereotypes that the students have about American schools is that students wear uniforms everyday. The two biggest differences in the school systems are: (1) Americans begin preschool and day care at an earlier age. Czech women have three to four years of paid maternity leave, and are sometimes guaranteed a job at their place of employment when they return. This means that there are very few preschools or nurseries in the Czech Republic. (2) Many high schools here specialize in a specific field. For example there are high schools the focus on engineering, hotels and hospitality, medicine, music, etc. While magnet schools are becoming more popular in the US, students in the specialty schools in the Czech Republic are on a set career path. In the US, you can choose one subject and change many times before you decide what you want to major in and that is in college! This makes for an interesting topic teach.

Other subjects I have to make lessons about include environmental issues, world issues, American cities, interesting facts about the US, and British versus American English. The topic that seems to be the scariest for me is “problems of the world.” How can I fit all the problems of the world into one 45-minute lesson? Obviously the big issues are hunger, poverty, and war. How do I condense them? They are so important and there is so much to say about each one! I am planning to ask if I can split them into individual lessons.

Many students have asked me to go with them to the pub, to play sports, to the zoo, to the movies, etc. It is very hard for me to deny their invitations, especially because I am just getting to know them. However, there are so many students that I have decided that if they want to spend time with me or they just want to practice their English, they can sit with me during lunch on Thursdays in the cafeteria. I created and “English Lunch Table” sign and they are allowed to sit and eat with me during either of two lunch periods. Hopefully, this helps. In the meantime I will play basketball with students on Thursday and go climbing with them the next Thursday, help a student who wants to apply to American technical colleges and one who wants to improve their English, and I will go to the Zoo next Wednesday! Life is getting busy and picking up! After four-years of college with no class earlier than 9 AM, I forgot what it was like to wake up early for high school!