Tuesday, September 23, 2014

Our School in the Czech Republic


Written by Jadon

Well, we have lived in Prague for a month, and we are doing very well.

It occurred to us in the last few days that many of you who casually follow our blog or our Facebook accounts would probably like to know more details about our school and our classes.  Well you are in luck! This blog post is for you!!

The name of our school is Gymnazium Arabska (both of those words have accents on the last ‘a’, which I don’t know how type on my American keyboard).  The term Gymnazium indicates that the school is somewhat prestigious, and that all of our students had to apply and be accepted before they could attend.

Our flat is about a 12 minute bus ride from our school—only two stops—and there is also a tram line that will get us almost all the way home from school with only a few extra stops. So getting to and from school is quite easy, which is a welcome blessing.

In the Czech school system, teachers do not have their own classrooms. Instead each teacher moves around for each new class, similar to how a university teacher in the United States would. This means that instead of a classroom, both Brittany and I have our own offices, though we each share our office with two other English teachers. Fortunately, we do each have our own desks, so we can spread out all our stuff. Because we are always changing classrooms, we are getting our exercise doing extra sets of stairs—our school has four floors—and we are constantly checking our schedules to make sure we are headed to the right classroom.

Another aspect of being a roving teacher that we are just starting to learn is that each classroom is different. Some classrooms have whiteboards, others blackboards. Some have projectors and screens, others have no media capability at all. I had one classroom today equipped with a Smartboard—which I almost wrote on with my dry erase marker… The point is, if you are planning to show a Powerpoint with pictures of the various landscapes of the United States, you might have to change classrooms, trade with another teacher for the hour, etc… You get the point.  For the most part, however, there is always a work around.

As for our specific classes, both Brittany and I teach 2nd, 3rd, and 4th years (sophomores, juniors, and seniors). We each have 5 classes for each year, that’s 15 classes in total for each of us! However, we only see our 2nd and 3rd years once a week for 45 minutes (which is not very long, though we are getting used to it), but our 4th years we see twice a week. So we each have 20 classes to teach a week, but only four preps. This means that we don’t have a lot of class planning to do per week, but we do have a lot of remembering to do. After you have taught the same lesson 5 or 10 times, it is really hard to remember what you have said to whom, and what you haven’t. It is also hard to remember names when you have 206 students—Brittany has 214—and you only see some of them once a week.

But all our students have a really good handle on the English language already, and we are enjoying teaching them.

I’m sure I left some details out, but seeing as this post is quite long already, you’ll have to ask about anything else you want to know in the comments section.

Praises:
-We continue to feel more at home here in Prague and at our school.
-We found a delicious Mexican restaurant close to our church (Mexican cuisine isn’t very common here).
-Brittany planned our first excursion into Europe (Paris) over our first school break in October!!!

Prayer Requests:
-In October we start a Bible study, Czech lessons, and begin our responsibilities with the English Drama Club at our school. So, prayer that we don’t re-overwhelm ourselves in a few days.
-I have been asked to tutor three boys after school in English, and that will also probably start in October.
- Brittany will be working with three of her female senior students outside of class. 

Taken during some of our sightseeing last weekend overlooking Prague

Thursday, September 11, 2014

Faith in Things


Written by Brittany

It’s very easy to be superstitious. Athletes, and fans, will wear the same socks, shirts, even (gross) underwear for their games. They have pre-game rituals that, as the commercial says, are only stupid if they don’t work. Even I have a teddy bear that has traveled with me everywhere since my friend Lisa gave him to me when I was 17, a St. Christopher (patron saint of travelers) bracelet I’ve worn every day so far in Prague, and a Blackhawks hat I wear every time I watch one of their games. And when I was in high school, I had my hair French braided for every standardized test I took. Do I put real spiritual stock into these things? No. Do they bring temporary comfort and confidence? Absolutely.

These first two weeks at school, our students have been doing individual presentations. They have to bring one important item from home and introduce it to the class, saying why it is important to them, what it represents, etc. This has been a great way to learn more about our students as well as assess their English speaking skills. What I didn’t expect to gain was insight into the spirituality of some of the Czech people and a small knowledge of where they place their confidences.

As students brought items from home, one word kept popping up: “talisman.” Objects ranging from necklaces, bracelets, and charms to an American quarter, a heart shaped rock, and a small, antique wolf statue. The students described these as things they keep with them when they take tests, when they travel, and just on normal days for protection and luck. Even if students did not describe their items as such, when their classmates asked them questions, the query, “Does it bring you luck?” came up frequently. The idea of an object granting luck and giving protection is clearly shared among many.

Coming from a culture where you don’t often hear people speak seriously about talismans and objects bringing protection, it has been interesting to listen to the students speak about their small faiths in these objects. We know there is a growing Christian community in the Czech Republic, but we also know that there are many, the majority, who are not Christian. Listening to my students, I just kept thinking these talismans, these objects, were perhaps how they were filling their Faith-void. 

I am not writing this to make a statement about the evil-ness of talismans and superstitions. And certainly not about Czech faith. I have been here just three weeks and would never presume to have anything more than an incredibly shallow, surface-level knowledge. But I am writing this to share an observation and a prayer. That these young people can learn that aside from short-term comfort and shallow confidences, talismans are not needed, that there is a Protector who brings never-ending comfort and strong confidence. I don’t know if Jadon or I will be called on to specifically share the Name and Love of Christ with any of these students, but I pray that we can lay a foundation and that we start them asking questions. When objects fail to live up to the faith we put into them, where can we turn?

Monday, September 8, 2014

First Week of School Completed!!


Written by Jadon

We made it through our first week of school! And have now enjoyed a very much deserved weekend.

Last week, both Brittany and I met with 11 of our 15 classes. That’s roughly 150 students each! And, since classes did not officially start until Tuesday, today (Monday) we have four new classes each and somewhere between 40 and 60 new students each!  But classes are going well, and we are trying our best to learn all their names.

Our time hasn’t been all business, however, since we really only had to have two “lessons” (really they were more like ice-breaker activities) planned for this last week, and, going forward, we will only have four preps a week (which is the only possible way that having 15 classes can be remotely manageable).

Anyway, on Tuesday we stopped at the McDonalds on the way home from school to get celebratory drinks and pastries from the café, since we had made it through our first day teaching in Prague. Then on Wednesday, we decided to spend some of our afternoon exploring the city.  We managed to find Old Town Square—a very touristy area—and explored the area a bit, even being lucky enough to eavesdrop on a tour guide talking about the astronomical clock (picture below). We missed hearing and seeing the clock on the hour, but when we circled back to head home, the clock had just struck the hour, and the square was packed full of people, so maybe finding it at 4:30 was actually a blessing. (To see the rest of our Old Town pictures, visit this link: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.904090124677&type=1&l=63bb617aa6)

This clock not only tells the time and the locations of both the sun and moon in the sky based off the the zodiac constellations, but also many other things that I can't remember now...
 
On Saturday, in the park across the road from our flat, there was a free open-air opera.  It was a Czech opera titled Čert a Káča (The Devil and Kate), and though we knew we wouldn’t understand a word, we decided we couldn’t miss the opportunity for a picnic and free opera so close to home. So, we grabbed our lunches and headed to the park. Except the park is very hilly/mountainous, and it was a good 30 minute walk from the park entrance to the opera viewing grounds, most of which was like climbing a small mountain. But there were tons of elderly people climbing with canes or ski poles, and families with small children in strollers that the parents were pushing or dragging up the rocky incline, and at least one pregnant woman, so we kept going. And it was a lot of fun (not the climbing, the opera). It was long and in a different language, but we are really glad we went.

And now it is Monday again, and we have another week ahead of us, even though our bodies would rather stay in bed.  But that is just the Monday morning blues.

Praises:
-We have made it through the scariest week of school without any major occurrences
-We have found a church that we really like, and that has lots of members in our age range
-Our Internet is still working
-We are continuing to adapt and relax in our new home and environment

Prayer Requests:
-We still have many students to meet for the first time, and that we can slowly start to remember all   their faces & names
-Continued strength, energy, and courage for both the school year and our new environment
-That we would continue to make friends outside of our workplace