Fulbright Reality Czech

Kevin Schug is a chemist. During the current Spring semester, he teaches analytical chemistry and English for chemists at the Faculty of Science of Palacky University in Olomouc. As a Professor of Analytical Chemistry at The University of Texas at Arlington, Kevin has been to the Czech Republic before, mostly to attend conferences, to meet with research partners or to explore the Czech countryside together with his wife. This January, he traveled to the country for five months as a Distinguished Scholar of the Fulbright Program. He shares that: "Many friends and colleagues have asked me how I can justify simply picking up from my everyday life and leaving to live in Europe for the better part of a year. To them, I say, “why not?”" Just a few days after his arrival, Kevin joined other American Fulbright grantees in the country at a mid-year conference that took place in Třešť, right in the middle of the Vysočina Region. To Kevin's surprise the Fulbright crowd was much youn...

By Hallie O’Neill, Gymnázium Cheb When I applied for my Fulbright teaching assistantship, I said that I wanted to implement creative writing into my lessons. I wasn’t sure how feasible this goal would be, because I didn’t know if my students’ English would be at a high enough level to do so. Luckily, I’m teaching in a pretty advanced gymnázium, and the level of ability I see in my students quite often astounds me. They are more than capable of writing creatively, and some of them even write in their free time. That isn’t to say they’re totally receptive to the idea, though. Creative writing isn’t for everyone. Even when I was in high school, there were always students in my writing classes who just didn’t “get” the fun of it, or didn’t find any enjoyment in writing stories and using imagination in that way. It’s no different here. While there are some secret poets or the occasional student who wants to be a writer herself, there are many others who have no interest i...