english teaching success story

i think the months of december and january and all the uncertainty and stress about finances, jobs, and visas has all culminated to make up this week: the most successful week we’ve had since arriving in the czech republic.

• i received notification that my trade license (visa) is ready to pick up– legal to live and work in europe!
• obtained two new lessons: convinced one student to sign on for eight more weeks of lessons with me after a trial lesson!
• made verbal plans with landlords to remain living here in this beautiful flat for at least SIX MORE MONTHS for an amazing price. (something i’d been worried about since we moved here)
• finally achieved post office success after weeks of confusion: received a kindle from my mom.  will come in very handy during the times that there are no english books to be found.
• realized at the rate we’re going we will soon be in a position to save a little money for things like trips in the spring and summer.

(town hall at night)

yesterday, i participated as a judge and moderator in the english olympics– a city-wide competition for the brightest high school students that puts them through rigorous trials with english speaking, comprehension and reading.  it was a very interesting experience and was so glad to have happened upon the opportunity to be a part of it.  there were 28 participants, narrowed down to 9 finalists who had to participate in a “presidential debate”, moderated by myself.  it was fun to hear them speak out in english about many social issues within the czech republic today.

one of them said that they wish the czech people could have the option whether or not to buy insurance like the U.S. has, rather than mandatory health insurance for all citizens like CZ has now.  another spoke about homelessness and how this comes with the citizens of a country having more freedom, rather than CZ which is much more socialized with a little less social freedoms than we enjoy in the U.S.  it would seem that people here in europe generally enjoy having subsidized health care and other programs in return for less personal freedoms.  did you know it only costs 30 czk (about $1.50) for one night stay in a hospital? and 30czk for a visit to a general practioner? people can afford to take care of themselves properly without going into debt.  what a concept!

the winner was a 16 year old boy who was able to exhibit a good speaking style with a wide vocabulary and incorporated a lot of quick and clever humor into his speeches. thennnn i came home and passed out for basically the rest of the day.  phewwww

before we moved here, i had obviously no idea what kind of success we would find, but it would appear that moving here (away from prague) was a good idea. for now, it continues to snow and snow and snow.