Czech High Schools | Housing | Car Exchange | Personal Stories
About Czech High Schools
Czech high schools differ in many ways from the American ones. More detailed description of Czech high school system and daily work and life is available below.
Types of Czech High Schools
Secondary schools are of various types. Usually an entrance examination or interview is required. They conclude with the maturita examination. This examination is given after 13 years of basic and secondary school attendance. Students have to pass this examination successfully if they want to apply for study at university.
Grammar school (Gymnázium)
is usually 8 (after 5th class) or 4 (after 9th class) years long. This type of school offers broad general
education and is traditionally considered to be preparation for study at a university. But not all students
leaving gymnázium are successful in gaining entrance to a university.
Specialized secondary school (Stredni odborna skola - SOS)
Students, who at the conclusion of their study at these schools pass the maturita examination, in general
as well as in specialized subjects are prepared to go to work in the field they studied or to the university.
These students have to decide upon their specialized field of study at the age of 15. Some of the types of these
specialized secondary schools are as follows: pedagogical secondary schools for teachers in kindergartens,
technical secondary schools teaching engineering, chemistry, mechanical engineering, agriculture, etc.;
secondary nursing schools; business academies for future secretaries. There are secondary schools specialized
in the fine arts and design. Other special schools are conservatories of music and dramatic arts, where
students pass the maturita examination after four years; then, after completing another 2 years of special classes,
they are awarded the leaving certificate.
Vocational school, Apprentice School (Ucnovska skola, stredni odborne uciliste - SOU)
offer the possibility of study for 4 years together with practical training. The best apprentices pass the maturita
examination. These students have the same right to apply for university study as the students from other types
of secondary schools.
Differences Between Czech and U.S. High Schools
A Fulbright Exchange teacher is not expected to become a carbon copy of a native Czech English language teacher. Still, Fulbright exchange teachers who have the most successful experience manage to strike a balance between conforming and pushing the boundaries of the cultural nuances of foreign language instruction in the Czech Republic. This is tricky business, and takes some patience and persistence.
Most Fulbright Exchange teachers will work at a university preparation high school, a Gymnasium. Since students at Gymnasium have met admittance requirements and passed entrance examinations, they are often compared to U.S. honors or advanced placement students. Still, it is best not to expect a halo-filled classroom. "Teenagers remain teenagers wherever you go in the world" is a common observation from Fulbright exchange teachers.
Teaching English here is not like teaching Spanish or French at a typical American school. Foreign language is taken extremely seriously, and is rigorously studied. The students might be at a higher level then you expect, and as they must pass a very difficult foreign language exam to enter university, those who want to go on must take it even more seriously.
A comparative look at a secondary school life in the U.S. and in the Czech Republic in a format of a PowerPoint presentation prepared by our grantee can be downloaded here.
Student - Teacher Relationship
Relationship between a teacher and students tend to be more formal than in the U.S. Students stand up when a teacher enters the room at the beginning of a class and great him/her. They are used to a more formal or distant relationship with their teachers. Paradoxically, it is quite common for a group of students to invite a teacher to the pub with them for a drink and quite fine for a teacher to accept if they are at least eighteen years old (it is illegal to sell or serve alcohol to persons under the age of 18!). These are cultural nuances that you will become more familiar with over your stay in the Czech Republic.
Because students are used to being taught from the front of a classroom, given facts which they have to passively memorize, sometimes getting students engaged in conversation may be a challenge, requiring some innovation and creativity.
Students do not chose their classes, they are given a fixed schedule of the year they are in. There are only few subjects, which students pick themselves. Accordingly, in most cases one group of students (one class) takes majority of the classes together. Each group of students (class) has its own class teacher. This teacher usually remains their class teacher for the whole duration of their studies at the high school. He/she is for example supposed to get to know the students better, meet with their parents usually once a semester, take the class on a regular school trip and in general he/she is responsible for the students more than any other teacher at the school. Usually this teacher also teaches his students more classes than he/she is teaching other groups of students.
Teachers do not stay in the same classroom throughout the day. Instead, they move about in the manner of a university professor. Students usually stay in one class but they often move to other classrooms, labs etc. for Chemistry, Physics, Biology, Fine Arts, PE or foreign language classes.
Class size - usual size of a class is about 30. Foreign language classes tend to be smaller with only 15-18 students, though this is not a universal norm.
Cheating
Unfortunately, cheating is rampant in Czech school on almost all levels. One Fulbright teacher summed it up in this way: "Cheating is a big problem because students are close to each other and they MUST help. If they DON'T, they are considered bad, or unfriendly. Even when I make many versions of a test, I've found it impossible to stop the cheating."
Absences
Sickness - in the past, Fulbright teachers were surprised by the amount of excused absences due to sickness. The Czechs seem to have a more nurturing environment when it comes to sickness: there is no valor attached to coming to work or school with a hacking cough or sore throat, rather it is considered a bit absurd, and insensible. If the absence is excused, the students are not held responsible for any test, quiz or homework from that day.
Class trips
There is usually one class trip every year, towards the end of the school year. The entire class participates but not every teacher is required to go on the trip.
Teaching Assignment
Number of classes
It is likely that there will be no other native English speaker in the school and so it is not uncommon for Fulbright
teachers to meet with 15-20 different groups of students one time a week. The reasoning is that as many students as
possible should benefit from a native English teacher. Prague is crawling with English speakers, both Czech and
American, but in smaller towns and villages, English is much less widespread. You should find out the details about
your schedule before you come to the Czech Republic. If you discover that
your exchange partner's schedule at your host school had been changed, so that you could teach as many groups of
students as possible, and you are not happy about this arrangement, you should communicate your objections to the
school asking them to keep the schedule of your exchange partner. If you have any problems reaching a consensus
with your host school, please let us know, we will try to help you.
Teaching materials
The textbooks you should use will be provided for you in the school. In the past, the textbooks were the same at
the same type of schools but now each school can choose the books they want to use. Although you will be given the
regularly used textbooks, it is nice to have materials from U.S., fun innovative stuff - games, current events, etc.
Curriculum
Generally, the curriculum depends on the year the students are in, on the textbook that is used and on the topics
of the maturita exam (see below). Native speakers of English are either supposed to carry on with the job of their
exchange partners, use the same textbook, teach more grammar and prepare the students for the topics of the maturita
exams (or at least discuss some of them if they are not teaching the graduating students) or they are assigned to
teach purely conversation classes. In that case the teacher has more freedom in what book he/she uses, what topic
he/she wants to discuss with the students, with what pace he/she wants to proceed, and what he/she wants to
concentrate on. Teachers who teach conversation only however sometimes feel that their classes do not have any
particular aim which would fit precisely into the general frame of the school's schedule and they find themselves
teaching too many groups of students and meeting with them e.g. only once a week. Children like grammar but they
need practice.
Exams traditionally, exams in all subjects can be both oral and written, with the oral component tending to be the dominant element. Students expect tests, and like them. Not just a grade on participation and general language skills.
Maturita
Students graduate from secondary school by passing the comprehensive Maturita exam. The student's Maturita
results are recorded on the Maturita certificate and become part of the student's transcript. Universities request
a copy of this certificate during the admission process. The graduating class needs to be prepared for this final
leaving exam. Most students take the maturita exam in four subjects. Some of the subject s are compulsory (such as
Czech Language), other are subject of the student's choice. The English language exam within maturita is taken orally,
with students speaking for 10-14 minutes on one of a number of possible topics. Students are given lists of the
topics for each of the subjects usually at the beginning of their last school year. The topics for English maturita
exam are mostly common knowledge, and the curriculum for the graduating students consists primarily of exam
preparation.
Classroom book
Everyday, each teacher writes a brief description of the material covered during a class period into the classroom
book as well as names of absent students. The book moves with the students, from class to class and each different
teacher writes in the same book. It becomes a document of all the material covered throughout the year for each group
of students.
Equipment
Copy machines
Copy machines are available in all schools, but there might be only one machine for the whole school. Also,
the amount of copies a teacher is permitted to make is sometimes limited by budget constraints. Generalizing,
American teachers tend to be more paper happy then Czech teachers.
Tape recorders and a video set
Most schools have tape recorders and a video set available for the foreign language teachers to use in the class.
Housing
The housing varies, of course. The Czech Republic is a European country, apartments/houses without running hot water or central heating are a total exception. Stove with oven, fridge with freezer, automatic washing machine, TV and a stereo set are standard equipments of Czech households. Most inhabitants live in family houses or in apartments. The apartments can be privately owned, or they can belong to a company or to the state.
The standard procedure is that the exchange partners exchange their housing. In case this is not possible, the partner who cannot offer his/her own housing is required to assist his/her counterpart in finding suitable and convenient housing. While it is usually very expensive for an average Czech person to rent an apartment, for a foreigner with higher income it may not be so. As a rule in the CR, the bigger the city, the larger the offer of apartments for rent.
Utilities
There is no rule about how the exchange partners should divide payment of the utilities. Usually each participant pays his/her utilities in his/her hosting country, i.e. the Americans pay their utilities in the Czech Republic and the Czechs in the U.S.
There are two main things which make paying utilities in the CR a bit more complicated. Many Czechs have an arrangement that the utilities are taken directly from their salary each month. One commits to such an arrangement for the whole calendar year and it is difficult to cancel it. Also, in many places, one pays a set amount of money for the utilities each month and only once in three months (or even once in a year! - depends on the town) does he/she learn from the gas and electricity companies, how much she/he had actually spent. Then the remaining amount has to be paid to the company or in case it appears that the customer paid more in the monthly installments than he/she actually spent, the company returns the money to the customer (or actually bills him/her less the next month). Sometimes the utilities are included in the rent and it needs a lot of counting and investigation to set the approximate monthly cost of utilities.
Hints for Solution:
Some exchange partners pay both the rent and the utilities in their home country. In the past some grantees solved the problem of the last month payment for utilities (or the adjustment
of the payment of utilities for the last three months - see above) by leaving their exchange partner a blank check.
In one case, the exchange partners decided that each of them should pay the utilities in their hosting country,
despite the fact that the Czech participant had utilities included in the rent and it was almost impossible to
find out the cost of the monthly utilities in her Czech home. The exchange couple made this decision because
the Czech exchange participant was going to go to the States with 3 dependents while the American participant
was coming to the Czech Republic only with her husband, thus it would not be fair if she had to pay the utilities
for her exchange partner's whole family. They also thought it will be better for both sides because if each of
them pay what they consume, they do not have to feel bad about cooking more or heating more etc. The Czech
participant examined their data at the electricity and gas companies for the previous year. She counted the
average monthly consumption of electricity and gas of her four-member family and calculated its cost. Then she
calculated the cost for two people only. This final sum was then sent by the American exchange partner to her
account each month as the payment for utilities. Both partners kept paying the rent in their home country and
the Czech partner paid the utilities in the States.
Car Exchange
The Commission strongly discourages car exchange between the grantees. The cars usually vary in quality and condition, and grantees tend to have very different ideas on how they will use the car during the year. Some will want to use it only occasionally for shorter trips, others will need it to commute to work and to do shopping every day, yet others may want to use it to explore Europe or the U.S. during their school vacations.
Hints for Solution:
For everyday life in the CR, car is not a necessity. The public transportation in towns and cities is very good,
reliable, cheap and efficient. The railway and bus system is very thorough and allows you to get almost to any
place in the Czech Republic. If you want to travel abroad, there are always EuroCity train connections and regular
bus routes to many cities within Europe. It is not a problem to rent a car for occasional trips, although that is
certainly more expensive than to go on a train or a bus. In the past, most U.S. grantees did without a car, perhaps occasionally renting one. A few grantees purchased their
own car for the year. Some rented a care for a long period of time. In one case the American grantee sold her car to
her Czech exchange partner and then bought it back from her for somewhat lower price (this was done with the help of
a car retail agency which set the initial and the second price). Czech grantees usually need to purchase their own car in the U.S. This cannot be done without some help from the
side of the American exchange partner (since for example in order to buy a car, one already has to have one to
be able to drive to the car pool!) and the U.S. grantees are requested to assist with this matter, for example
by arranging with one of their colleagues in the States to help the new Czech teacher taking them to the car pool,
advising them on the usual approximate price of a certain type of car, suggesting a nearby car pool etc.
Personal Stories
Beth
I applied for the Fulbright Teacher Exchange because I wanted to see what it was like to teach in another country, discover what high school age students were like in that country, learn another language, and have the cultural experience and expanded world view that comes with living in another country. I was euphoric when I learned I'd been accepted but soon came down to earth with all the preparations necessary to go.
I expected to be a little more of an oddity at my school in Prague but soon found out that there were five other American teachers who came with another program. I think my experience was unusual, however. I still had a good, if demanding, teaching experience. Several of my Czech students and some colleagues continue to write and e-mail, which has been enormously rewarding. While I found school demanding and stressful (not all American teachers had the same experience; some were treated as special guests), as I said it was also rewarding. Some colleagues did not like Americans; I just steered clear of them. Plenty of other colleagues made me feel welcome and valued. I couldn't say that there was one best thing. In spite of the stresses (and my son had trouble, especially at first, adjusting to Czech kindergarten) I wouldn't trade last year for anything. It was one of the best years of my life; it was so rich in so many ways -- new friends, a fascinating culture, the chance to live in one of the great cities of the world, a struggle but also some minor triumphs with the language (in the countryside esp. I found people warmed up the minute I tried to speak Czech, however poorly and haltingly; I'm very grateful to the Fulbright Commission for sending me to the summer language school), and of course to travel all over the Czech Republic and most of Central Europe.
Now that I'm home, the biggest professional benefit is what I'm able to give my students from my year. My classroom is plastered with posters and pictures and I can help them see things from a different perspective. I thought I was pretty culturally aware before my Fulbright year, but that awareness has grown exponentially. The only real problem with returning home is the letdown -- how can my small mountain town: how can that possibly measure up to what I was able to do last year? But I have my memories.
Meredith
It is hard to say what my expectations were as I approached my Fulbright Exchange year in the Czech Republic. I had never been to Easter Europe, and I didn't know very much of the Czech language. Whenever people asked me about it, I could give them the facts of where I was going (Hodonín, in Southern Moravia) and what I would be doing (teaching in a Business Akademie). I couldn't imagine what my life would be like, and that was partially what I was so excited about.
Yes, there were challenges involved: I had to find a new apartment for my exchange partner to live in and set it up for her on very short notice, we disagreed during the year about the details of our living arrangements, my Czech school gave me a horrendous schedule that even no Czech teacher would accept, I was living in a small city far from Prague. But with those challenges came great rewards: I might have had 22 different classes, but I saw a great cross section of students and school environments. I met and became friends with people I wouldn't have otherwise met. Living in a small city in an agrarian region turned out to be the greatest gift of the program. The region in which I lived is rich in folk culture, and there are not so many foreign visitors. I was treated to a view of life a tourist could never see, and I am grateful for all that my friends shared with me while I was there.
What I've come to realize is how vitally important actually experiencing another culture is to understanding that culture, or even to understanding your own. You can translate a word from one language to another, but your can't translate all of the cultural associations and assumptions that go with it. I know that when I emailed with my exchange partner, I took for granted that `school' in American English and `školy' in Czech meant basically the same thing. But the four walls and the roof are the beginning and the end of the similarities between the two, and I couldn't have known that until I lived it for myself. Not only do I understand what it means to be Czech, but I also have a much better understanding of what it means to be an American.
