Fulbright Reality Czech

Logan Stallings taught English during the academic year of 2019/2020 at Secondary Art School in Bechyně. In her English lessons, Logan bravely experimented with team teaching along with her mentor Markéta, and she took a weekly ceramics class. Together with other ETAs in the area, who were placed at Business & Services High School in Tábor and at Gymnázium Pelhřimov, Logan helped to initiate cooperation between the three schools. As the real estate market in Bechyně is limited, Logan lived in Bechyně Castle.  It’s hard to believe that a year ago, I was in the Czech Republic. Since the pandemic started, it’s felt like the days were barely creeping by; time seemed to slow down, and 2020 stretched on for an eternity. But somehow, in hindsight, the months have flown by. Time flies when you’re social distancing to the best of your abilities. I miss the Czech Republic, and I especially miss Czech Christmas. Even though I was an ETA, when it came to Czech cultural traditions, I w...

Výzkumnice Hana M. Broulíková dnes pendluje mezi českým Národním ústavem duševního zdraví a holandskou Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. Jejím oborem zájmu je ekonomie zdravotnictví. Analýza nákladů léčby může významně pomáhat i v klinické praxi – výzkum Hany Broulíkové zejména v péči o duševní a neurodegenerativní onemocnění ukazuje, že dosavadní tuzemský přístup k podobným chorobám je horší nejenom pro pacienty, ale i celé zdravotnictví. Inspiraci Hana Broulíková hledala zejména při svých zahraničních výjezdech. V roce 2018 díky Fulbright-Masaryk stipendiu navštívila Department of Biostatistics na Mailman School of Public Health a také Taub Institute for Research on Alzheimer's Disease and the Aging Brain při Columbia University v USA. S Hanou M. Broulíkovou hovořil Ladislav Loukota ze stránky  Vědátor . Rozhovor je druhým dílem seriálu příběhů ke 30. výročí Fulbrightovy komise. Videozáznamy najdete každou první středu v měsíci na našem YouTube kanále a Facebooku , a sice ...

Kevin Curran arrived in Prague,  Czech Republic in September 2019 to complete a master's degree in International Economics and Politics at Charles University as a Fulbright student. After finishing his research project "Free Press: A Study of Media Ownership and Youth Perspective" and his Fulbright grant, Kevin decided to stay. Currently, Kevin works at the Association for International Affairs (AMO) as a PR and Project Assistant focusing on China and Russia as well as a Visiting Fellow at the International Sustainable Finance Centre as he continues to work on his master's degree. In this article, Kevin, who previously worked as a journalist for The Financial Times, shares his experience following the U.S. presidential election in a foreign country.   Photo 1: Kevin hikes to Maj lookout, Central Bohemia, July 2020. As late night television shows are often eager to display with impromptu street interviews, Americans often know little about their own civic processes. Th...

Hana Ripková byla u založení Fulbrightovy komise před 30 lety a již 25 let organizaci vede. Do USA "na zkušenou" vycestovalo přibližně 1000 českých stipendistů a podobný počet Američanů naopak přijel do České republiky. Hlavním cílem Fulbrightových programů, které dnes fungují ve více než 160 zemích světa, je posilování vzájemného porozumění mezi USA a partnerskými zeměmi. Jak se v čase proměňují motivy Čechů a Američanů vycestovat na několik měsíců za oceán? Jak programy proměňují stipendisty? A co vedlo absolventku Matematicko-fyzikální fakulty k práci pro Fulbright? Rozhovorem s ředitelkou Fulbrightovy komise Hanou Ripkovou zahajujeme seriál rozhovorů k 30. výročí Fulbrightovy komise. Videa a texty připravujeme ve spolupráci s platformou Vědátor . Videozáznamy najdete každou první středu v měsíci na našem YouTube kanále a Facebooku , a sice za zvuku zkoušky sirén, přesně v poledne. V pátek Vám nabídneme částečný přepis rozhovoru i zde, na našem blogu. S Hanou Ripkovou hov...

Zdeňka Zvoníčková teaches English and Italian language at Gymnazium Tišnov. During the last school year, Zdeňka was one of the four high school teachers, who represented the Czech Republic at the six-week Fulbright Teaching Excellence and Achievement (TEA) training program in the U.S. Together with a colleague from Děčín Nursing School, Zdeňka returned home in the middle of March, few hours before Czech borders closed as a result of the pandemic outbreak. Coincidentally, the U.S. training came in very handy when Czech high schools suddenly closed down, and education moved to the online world. Dear readers, I am a Fulbright TEA alumna and I would like to dedicate these few lines to my experience at Kent State University, where I participated in a training program on media literacy and critical thinking during last spring. I would like to share how I managed to implement what I had learnt at the training into my lessons and how I passed it on. It was a special time in my life, which bri...

Chloe' Skye  is a Word Magician and avid traveler who served as a Fulbright English Teaching Assistant at Gymnázium Tišnov from 2014-2015. Originally from New York, Chloe' has also taught ESL in the U.S. and Israel, and while she currently lives in Denmark, she considers Czech Republic her second home. Her sustainability writing and creative work has been published in Earth911, Pangyrus LitMag, Standart Mag, Hanging Loose, and more. She records her adventures on travel, culture, and language blog  Chlohemian . This is an adapted version of a Chlohemian post that originally appears here . All photos are used with the author, Chloe’ Skye’s, permission. When the pandemic hit Europe in early March, Czech Republic took proactive steps against Covid-19 transmission, including a national movement to sew and wear masks called Celé Česko šije . Since Monday, October 5th, however, the country has gone back to a state of emergency due to the intensity of the second wave of the novel co...

Teal Vickrey was an English Teaching  Assistant in 2016/2017 at Gymnasium Vimperk, located in South Bohemia, on the edge of Šumava National Park. During her time in Vimperk, Teal hosted a weekly writing club, encouraged her students to participate in a national writing competition, helped her students to put together a journal with original poems and short stories, and assisted a student with the translation of her comic book. Today, Teal works at a non-profit that focuses on youth leadership. Her organization switched to home-office mode in the middle of March. During the last six months, Teal has adopted similar coping strategies that she learned during her time in the Czech Republic in order to maintain her well-being. A few weeks ago, a friend of mine, also a former Czech English Teaching Assistant, mentioned how much her year as an ETA had prepared her for working at home. An outsider listening (luckily there were none), would have assumed that our time abroad was horrible- if...

Tomáš Klumpar od roku 2015 vede Beztíži – oddělení DDM Ulita v Praze 3, které se věnuje práci s mládeží žijící rizikovým způsobem života. Tomáš studoval na Slezské univerzitě v Opavě a na Fakultě humanitních věd UK v Praze. Už během studií pracoval v občanském sektoru jako sociální pracovník. Absolvoval několik zahraničních stáží a v roce 2015 strávil tři měsíce čerpáním inspirace pro další práci v organizaci Art Start v New Yorku.  Rozhovor původně vyšel v online magazínu EDUzín. Se svolením autorky Lucie Kocurové sdílíme na našem blogu.     Když jede do práce, nosí černého bombera s červeným písmenem B na hrudi. “Stává se mi, že mě na ulici zastaví parta teenagerů a říkají – ty jsi z Beztíže, tu my známe, tam je to super,” usmívá se pyšně Tomáš Klumpar. Jako kluk byl trochu sígr, poslouchal rap a rád se poflakoval po ulicích. Dnes vede zařízení, které podobným “týpkům” nabízí alternativní způsoby trávení volného času. Můžete na začátek představit Beztíži? Beztíže m...