Anna, Maddie, Saemyi and 
Madison arrived in the Czech Republic in August 2021 to assist with English language education at Czech high schools in Litomyšl, Kolín, Světlá nad Sázavou and Jaroměř as Fulbright grantees. All of them met for the first time at the in-country training that the Fulbright Commission hosted during the last week of August at Castle Liblice, located about 30 miles North of Prague.
The training for the 33 English Teaching Assistants who are currently placed at high schools all over the Czech Republic took five days. For the last two days, Czech high school teachers, who serve as mentors of Fulbright ETAs during their whole 10-month stay joined as well. To encourage communication and cooperation among grantees and teachers placed nearby, all American grantees and their Czech hosts were grouped into so-called “nests.” Some nests are nice and tight, with grantees located within 30 minutes away of each other, while other grantees have to travel a bit more. Looking at the map, you can see that Saemyi, Maddie, Anna and Madison are probably in the most spread out nest. This fact, however, did not limit the grantees’ and their schools’ determination to cooperate throughout the year.
Saemyi Jeong is placed at Světlá nad Sázavou Academy, a school that combines various tracks, including general gymnasium, vocational and art. Saemyi’s mentor, who is currently the Deputy Headmaster at the school, Jakub Kořínek took up the challenge of kicking off the series of four project days by hosting all of the grantees and their colleagues in October.
Picture 3: Světlá nad Sázavou Acedemy Deputy Headmaster Jakub Kořínek has lunch with the school's English Teaching Assistant Saemyi Jeong, August 2021, Castle Liblice. (Jakub and Saemyi eat lunch together in an outdoor setting.)
On Thursday, October 21, at 8 am in the morning, all four ETAs and their Czech colleagues met in Světlá nad Sázavou and started the first project day for about 70 students of the academy. First, the four Americans introduced themselves, explained their motivation for the Fulbright ETA Program in the Czech Republic and shared their first impressions after two months of teaching at their host schools. Saemyi started by saying that Czech students seem to be much tidier than their American counterparts, which is awesome because she does not have to clean up after her students. Madison Graham, who traveled to Světlá together with his mentor Julie Němečková from Gymnázium Jaroměř, shared that U.S. students seem more extroverted that his Czech students, but on the other hand, Czech students are much more motivated to learn foreigh languages. Maddie Hobbs teaches at Kolín Nursing School, and she participated in the project together with her mentor Mirka Červenková. Maddie said that she is very impressed with her students’ passion for the medical field and their willingness to volunteer during the pandemic. Last but not least, Anna Wysocki, who currently teaches at Gardening and Technical High School in Litomyšl together with her Czech mentor Soňa Pokorná, revealed that she enjoys the honest responses that she gets from her students and colleagues, who seem to be free of the pressure to be positive all the time.
On Thursday, October 21, at 8 am in the morning, all four ETAs and their Czech colleagues met in Světlá nad Sázavou and started the first project day for about 70 students of the academy. First, the four Americans introduced themselves, explained their motivation for the Fulbright ETA Program in the Czech Republic and shared their first impressions after two months of teaching at their host schools. Saemyi started by saying that Czech students seem to be much tidier than their American counterparts, which is awesome because she does not have to clean up after her students. Madison Graham, who traveled to Světlá together with his mentor Julie Němečková from Gymnázium Jaroměř, shared that U.S. students seem more extroverted that his Czech students, but on the other hand, Czech students are much more motivated to learn foreigh languages. Maddie Hobbs teaches at Kolín Nursing School, and she participated in the project together with her mentor Mirka Červenková. Maddie said that she is very impressed with her students’ passion for the medical field and their willingness to volunteer during the pandemic. Last but not least, Anna Wysocki, who currently teaches at Gardening and Technical High School in Litomyšl together with her Czech mentor Soňa Pokorná, revealed that she enjoys the honest responses that she gets from her students and colleagues, who seem to be free of the pressure to be positive all the time.
After their introduction, Saemyi, Anna, Maddie and Madison invited the students to participate in their small group workshops. Saemyi played a “musical chair” activity with questions. When the music was playing, students had to walk around and when the music stopped, they sat down wherever they were closest to. They had a list of questions to ask and answer. The purpose of the game was to get to know each other and practice English! Anna did an activity with students focusing on using the skill of inference and context clues when you do not know the meaning of a word. She first taught students about the definition of “infer”, and later introduced silly English words to the students, asking them to try and guess what the word might mean based on the context of the word in a sentence. Recognizing the difficulty of learning vast vocabulary words, she thought this activity would help provide students with the proper tools to tackle unfamiliar phrases. Maddie worked with students to help them express opinions. She started with an activity having students decide "this" or "that" and make a choice. For example, coffee or tea. Students then had to work to describe the reasons for their choice and why they agreed or disagreed with their peers. Madison led a set of group discussions where students rotated between the groups. The topic was focused broadly on age and the different stages of life. All of the students participated in all of the four workshops on a rotational basis.
After the workshops, all guests had delicious lunch at the school canteen and were invited to tour the school. The glass making tradition of Světlá nad Sázavou goes back to the 1960s, when the school opened for glass makers and glass cutters. Later, more and more educationl tracks were added and the art school was, in the new millenium, officially combined with the local Gymnázium (general and pre-college high school) and a local vocational school. The visit to the glassworks was a must.
While the students were putting together art performances to present at the end of the day, American visitors and their hosts from Jaroměř, Litomyšl and Kolín participated in an art workshop supported by a group of art students. Everyone in the group decorated a nail file and a hand mirror that will always remind them of this project day.
As a special surprise for the guests, students presented their art projects. One group presented a whole theater play “Smolíček Pacholíček.” The actors did not only manage to learn the script and deliver the narrative, but they also created beautiful costumes and props from Fall-colored leaves and branches in front of the school. Another group gave the guests a semi-formal presentation about the school. The third group made customized T-shirts for all of the guests with personalized designs and symbols according to the information the students received during the introductions.
At the end of the day, Fulbright ETA Coordinator Kristyna Dzmuranova presented the opportunities Czech students have to study, work, travel or otherwise explore the U.S.
Afterwards, all the guests went out to get dinner together at a local restaurant.
What a great day full of inspiration! And the next turn? Maddie and Mirka have just hosted the group at Kolin Nursing School, and their unique project day on January 13 has enabled all the participants to peek into the daily lives of students who are passionate about the medical field. So stay tuned for more details. The next Project Day will happen at the Gardening and Technical High School in Litomyšl in April.
