Teaching in Czech

Teaching English as a Foreign Language

I have now finished my three weeks of teaching at an elementary school in Plzen, Základní škola Plzeň, Západní 18, and it has been a really amazing experience, giving me a completely different insight into how learning happens in another country. There were so many differences to schools within the UK but they seemed to suit the learning and teaching styles here really well.

For my time at the school I was seen as an English teacher so I taught a variety of grades, from 7 year olds to even teaching some secondary school aged children too. As it was the last three weeks of term I think it was slightly more relaxed than it would have been normally, at least for the younger classes. Therefore this gave me the opportunity to teach using songs, games and fun activities which was lovely. 

One song which I had seen in my recent school placement was the Gorilla Snot Song. In my year 3 class it had always been an activity that they had found hilarious and because of the lyrics repetition I thought it might work well in my English teaching. Each time I introduced it to a new class I gave everyone the words printed out, and then would slowly go through the pronunciation as they read and repeated after me (this was slightly different depending on age and ability). Once they had got the main words we would all go through it again together, I would then sing the song to the class to give them the tune and then gradually I would add the game element to it. 

It became a regular activity in my teaching as both the teachers and children loved it. It was great to see the words become more clearly pronounced, accents become more defined and the understanding of what the song meant increase.

This video was only from the second time this Grade 3 class had a go but the teacher's enthusiasm for English seemed to really benefit and further their learning.

Gradually I built up a collection of activities that I could use in my teaching of English. It was so interesting to see that applying the language and actually speaking showed the most effective improvements to their confidence. 

Teaching the secondary school was quite a different experience from the younger grades. It reminded me a lot of how I was taught GCSE French because the lessons revolved around textbook activities. So when teaching these ages I always had to use this as the fundamental tool, but fortunately the teachers were still keen for me to apply this learning to some games and activities too. The confidence in using the language seemed so different from the younger years but perhaps that came from their age and the fear of making mistakes or embarrassing themselves in front of peers. 

General Differences from Czech to England

The school day was the first noticeable difference. In my particular school the day varied in length starting at either 7.30am (when they had swimming on Tuesdays) or 8am which would then finish between 11.50am and 12.35pm. 

At the beginning of the school day the children would come into the school at anytime to get settled but the class teacher would not enter until 8am. It was really nice to see that the children didn't have to be watched every second of the day and could easily be trusted to keep themselves occupied. This was also the case at the many breaks through the day. After each lesson the class had either a 10 or 20 minute break where they stayed in the classroom and had snacks, then the teacher would also go off to one of the many staff rooms and do the same. This seemed to give the children time to relax and regain concentration for the next lesson, however I still find it strange how they never go outside to play. From this I imagined that the class would be similar to one in the UK after a wet break, although it was rarely like that and the children seemed settled into the routine.  

Physical differences in my Czech school were the non-uniform and indoor shoes. The lack of uniform didn't seem to make any difference to the teaching, learning or the children's attitudes. In fact I don't think I even saw it being mentioned or remotely discussed between the pupils, it was just the way things were and part of the relaxed attitudes that surrounded this school. (The teachers dressed similarly and were called by their first names too). Indoor shoes was a concept that just comes from the hygiene of not wanting to sit on a floor that is regularly walked on dirty shoes I think, and is something that I have seen in the homes of Czech people too. So many Crocs around that I seemed like the weird one for not wearing them!

The last week of term, before the school broke up for the summer holidays, was another big difference. I was aware that they were all 'off timetable' for the week but at the time I had thought that meant that more relaxed activities would take place and that pupils stayed in their own classrooms for these (rather than moving around like some had done for lessons previously). However, I assumed incorrectly! For the majority of the week the children were just left in the classroom to entertain themselves really. Some children brought in board games, others played on their phones or iPads and others just chatted their way through the week. The lovely class teacher was busy preparing things for the next school year, and clearing out the classroom to be redecorated so only popped in occasionally to get things.

This seemed to be the format throughout the school but again the children were trusted enough to get on with things and enjoy their last week. Despite all of this, the atmosphere within the classroom was calm and there was a lack of the restlessness that you might expect. On two occasions the teacher led activities, once was when she needed file boxes painted for a next class so everyone joined in with that and then on Thursday we all spent the day outside playing games such as handball, skipping and tug of war.

The last day was very different too. The school only come in for the first period 8am to 8.45am and were all dressed in party clothes, all with a present in hand for the teacher. Then each child is called to the front of the classroom to be given their grades and certificate, and they then handed over their presents. My class teacher, Misa, received sooo many flowers that they filled a whole box on the floor. Once every child had been awarded their grades she cracked open a few bottles of child friendly champagne and we toasted 'Na zdravi!'.

My time at the school was a great experience; teaching English as a foreign language for the first time, building relationships with the children, teaching a variety of ages and seeing a very different perspective to learning. I now have a week off, and then start teaching English in a summer school program for another three weeks... exciting!

Reflect... BEd Year Two

Looking back through the blogs I have written during this year of uni I surprised to see that I had actually only written two, and in both cases they were produced after assigned tasks during my ICT module.

Despite finding writing the two useful for my understanding of the topic I suppose the 'set task' format of them kind of put me off writing in my usual style about what I had been learning in general. So I thought it might be good to reflect now on my second year of the BEd, my recent placement and plans for the summer.

Second year of the BEd genuinely seems to have flown by... lots of involvement in the Plymouth Education Society as treasurer and events secretary, plenty of lovely normal student life and then a huge variation in the types of modules looked at, with a big focus on assignments that led me to think about content of these in an applied approach and how they relate to teaching, planning or policy. 

For my second year Placement, I was in Exeter at an inner city type school within a year three class. Despite its fair share of behavioural issues and children from a range of backgrounds I would class it as a pretty normal school (or maybe that is just based on my own school experience?). I think it did have a slight reputation around Exeter, but my host family accommodation was in a 'better off' area of the city so their opinion was probably a bit bias. I really enjoyed my time at the school and as always when on teaching placement seemed to learn lots and experience a range of new things.

One thing that I had a chance to get better at during the six weeks was my understanding and use of differentiation. My class contained quite a vast range of levels and each of the ability groups were completely different (and then again within these too). At first... actually make that the whole time I was there... I found the most time consuming part of my planning was deciding how to take the class input into the group activities, pitching at such a range. It was so easy to plan an activity at home in the evenings (without the class teachers' guidance) that took the higher ability group 10 minutes, whilst the lowest ability group would struggle to get their heads round what the task actually was. Through my time at the school, with plenty of advice from the two teachers that shared the class, I became more confident at getting the learning right for each child and also using staff effectively to support or guide the ability groups.

There were lots of other interesting things about the school. Extracurricular opportunities available were set up and run by children (very different in comparison to my first year placement school where every night of the week different staff ran at least three after school clubs). Another was the great range of teaching styles I was able to observe, from teachers the head teacher identified as satisfactory to others which were constantly seen to be outstanding. 

Third year placement gets under way after 4 weeks of being back at Uni in the autumn term which is exciting, but seeing as its May that seems like a long way away! 

My focus right now is that I am off teaching in the Czech Republic on Wednesday, for seven weeks. I have never really had this opportunity before, but for once this trip was reasonably affordable so I managed to save up the money myself. I am really looking forward to whole thing... first a bit of Praque, then teaching in a 6 - 15 year old school in Plzen and once their schools have broken up for summer I'm off to teach English in a summer school too so quite a variety! No idea what to expect but just hoping to learn and experience lots about learning and teaching in a different culture. 

Definitely could have reflected on a million other things from my second year on the BEd but constrained it to this so you weren't reading for years, perhaps another blog post in a few weeks time once I've got my head round Czech life!

@HannahSheltonTT

How Does Perception Affect Learning?

Researching this question was definitely a challenge for me. I don't think I even fully understood the definition of the word 'perception', let alone that in relation to learning. Looking at the theorists and theories involved, such as Gibson, Gestalt and Gregory, seemed to confuse me more as I couldn't really gather their main points. After some more perseverance with the ideas I have used this blog post to summarise and give myself a clearer understanding on what is involved in the concept.

Hulse, Deese and Egeth (1975) define perception as a general term that refers to awareness of objects, qualities or events that stimulate organs, and can also refer to a person's experience of the world. Therefore, when someone perceives something through their environment, they learn it and then try to put it into practice. 

Learning is often viewed as gaining knowledge or skills through experience, practice or study. Therefore, the two concepts together seem to form ideas of our responses to the world around us, through this gaining knowledge and understanding.

There are lots of different types of perceptions that are argued to affect learning, such as kinaesthetic, visual and auditory. Kinaesthetic perception is important in many areas of early childhood learning, but as children grow older, most of their learning will take place through visual and auditory perception (Illumine, no date). Moreover, another way these perceptions can affect learners is through the visual aspects and the related skills. Gibson (1966) saw an importance in visual perceptions in his study of optics, textured gradients and affordance. However, he only went as far as to explain 'seeing' but little into assigning meaning and did not look in depth at learning or memory.

Gregory also studied perception. He argues that the topic involves making inferences about what we see and trying to make a best guess. His ideas relate to learning in the classroom as he also found that prior knowledge and past experience are crucial. Therefore, when we visually look at something we are developing a perceptual hypothesis that is not just based on what is in front of us, but relies upon prior knowledge as well.

Apologies for any confusing points I may have made in this...

...but we do have seminar time to go through everyone's blogs tomorrow (on perceptual theories in learning) so hopefully I will gain a further understanding there in the discussions, and possibly be able to add more clarity to my writing here!

@HannahSheltonTT