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Skoda, New Life by Lyn Hakin I left my beloved Isle of Man home on a grey January day, excited by the prospect of my first teaching job and new life in the Czech Republic, but heavy-hearted leaving my beautiful island and the wonderful friends made during seven years in the Isle of Man. I arrived in Prague after an uneventful flight, to deep snow and freezing temperatures, and was met by two of my new teaching colleagues, both English, and the Czech Director of the school in Jicin, where I was to teach English to young adults for the next six months. Jicin is a small town about 70 km north-east of Prague. It took us about one and a half hours to drive there in the Director's battered old Skoda. It was late evening and, as the countryside was shrouded in darkness, I was unable to see much of new environment that night, apart from the endless snow gleaming in the car's headlights. I've been here for over three months now, more than half of my allotted time here, and the ice and the snow have given way to sunshine, blue skies and brilliant green countryside. The first part of my stint passed very quickly, but time now seems to stand still and the weeks ahead until June seem to stretch endlessly into the future. I'm longing for radio broadcasts in English, shopkeepers who can understand me, sliced bread, a television to watch and the smell of the sea. On the plus side, I enjoy fresh, crusty bread rolls each morning, half a litre of good, strong beer for the equivalent of 30 pence and the hospitality of the locals who bombard me with invitations to visit their houses for meals, or to go for beautiful walks with them in the surrounding countryside. I'm finding the teaching of English to appreciative students quite rewarding. My main class is a small group of 18-20 year olds on a one year intensive English course and I teach them five mornings a week. It can be frustrating at times, but it has its lighter moments. These particular students were probably at our equivalent of GCSE standard when I met them. One of my first tasks was to set them an exam based on their previous term's work. Most of the students did quite well, the top marks being over 80%, but one girl whom I had noticed was not writing much during the exam gained only 4 marks. At the top of her answer sheet she had written "I havn't [sic] it all becos my head is ill". For the essay question, she had written "I not understands one word in question". She has since left. Another amusing incident occurred during a lesson when we were reading an article written by Geoff Capes on his hobby of budgerigar breeding. Apparently, just before a show, the budgies are washed and then dried with a gentle hairdryer to make their feathers fluffy. The only problem was with the word "fluffy" and I was asked to explain what it meant. I was trying to describe the type of fur a baby animal would have, while one enterprising student looked up the word in a Czech-English dictionary and helpfully translated to the rest of the class, who promptly dissolved into howls of laughter. The nearest word in the dictionary had been "fluff' and translated into the type of dustballs you find under the bed. We were all imagining the baby duck I was describing covered in dustballs! Teaching English also reveals what a contrary language we all speak and take for granted. I've genuinely been asked why we cut up something to make it smaller, when it would be more sensible to cut it down. Why do we describe a person as tall, but a wall as high? Why do we have fair hair but a pale colour? Pronunciation is also a nightmare. Any native English speaker can recognise the difference between cow and low, between most and lost, and knows how to pronounce cough, plough, dough and ought, but how do you possibly explain to a foreign student? The Czech Republic is showing definite signs of becoming Westernised, after the 40-odd years of Communist rule ended with the "velvet revolution" in October 1989. Since then, students have been allowed to learn foreign languages other than Russian; popular music, television programmes and films from all over the world are the new way of life and shops stock a wide range of previously unavailable goods. For the majority of people, however, the purchase of these goods is beyond their financial means. The average weekly wage is the equivalent of around £35, half of that being spent on housing. Many people grow their own fruit and vegetables and chickens for eggs, as they simply cannot afford to buy them in the shops. Despite the
financial hardship, the Czechs are incredibly patriotic. During one of
my lessons, I asked the students what they would buy if they won the lottery.
They wanted the usual things like new clothes and holidays abroad. But,
without exception, each one wanted to buy a house in this country and
to secure the financial future of their families and their future families.
I wish each and every one of them the ability to do just that, with or
without the luck of the lottery. First published in VISA issue 26 (autumn 1997). |