Fulbright Reality Czech

Alexandra Saulenas, Amzie Dunekacke, Emily Kohlman, Jennifer Dorn, Lizzy Ehren, and Parker Henry are lifelong friends and also 2018/2019 Fulbright alumni. Their friendship journey began over eight years ago in the lobby of a Brno Hotel. In late August of 2018, 30 new, excited and nervous English Teaching Assistants and Fulbright Commission staff met for the first time to start the in-country orientation. At the end of the four-day training, the ETAs traveled to their host towns. Alex and Emily took a bus to Znojmo, as Alex was placed at the Nursing School and Emily at the Gymnázium and Pedagogy School in Znojmo. Lizzy was placed at Gymnázium Hustopeče, Jen at Gymnázium Zábřeh, Amzie at Gymnázium Svitavy and Parker at Gymnázium Šlapanice. At that time, no one would have guessed how much travel, adventure, support and joy this group would share. Today, six years after the start of their Fulbright journey, we can surely call this a Fulbright love story. The group keeps in touch, and they

Katelyn Johnson is a sociologist and an aspiring educator. To broaden her education experience at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville, she spends the current Fall semester studying sociology at the Faculty of Social Sciences of the Charles University in Prague as a Gilman Scholar. Reflecting on her first time abroad, Katelyn says that: "[S]ociology is focused on studying social structures as well as patterns of  behavior within those structures, simply being in a foreign country and culture surrounded by a different language and code of social interactions has felt like one ongoing research project. So, for me, going around the city and meeting new people has been an endless resource."  The Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship Program  is one of the U.S. State Department scholarship programs; it enables students of limited financial means to study or intern abroad in order to provide them with skills critical to U.S. national security and economic prosperity. T

Olga Šilová je učitelka angličtiny, španělštiny a češtiny na Obchodní akademii Tomáše Bati ve Zlíně. V polovině září vyrazila na šest týdnů do USA jako stipendistka Fulbrightova programu Teaching Excellence and Achievement (zkráceně Fulbright TEA). Svou zlínskou střední školu vyměnila na pět týdnů za University of Wisconsin ve městě Madison a pět týdnů se ve skupině 21 učitelů ze střední a východní Evropy věnovala posilování mediální gramotnosti a kritického myšlení ve výuce. Během čtyř let existence programu do USA vyjelo 14 učitelů z celé České republiky. Letos na podzim spolu s Olgou Šilovou do Madisonu vyjela angličtinářka a němčinářka z Akademie a Gymnázia Světlá nad Sázavou a do paralelního programu na University of North Colorado ve městě Greeley kolega angličtinář a dějepisář z Gymnázia Písek. Lákadlem školení je také praktikum na americké střední škole - Olga Šilová každé úterý a čtvrtek učila společně s americkými kolegy v místní škole Monona Grove. V čem se americké střední