Pavla Matoušková shrnula svou zkušenost z programu “American Language: Connecting English Teachers to the United States”, kterého se zúčastnila 12.—31. ledna 2015.

The program I have participated and I am reporting now is called „American Language: Connecting English Teachers to the United States”. It was held from 12 to 31 January 2015 in U.S within the group of 23 participants coming from all over the world. I really appreciate I have been given this chance.

The program provided me some of the new positive insights into American culture and history. The important one was a multicultural education at the schools we visited. I could see in one class the children with different cultural background. It was very enhancing to see teaching English and Spanish in one school all the children without any barriers and prejudices and having the feeling that it´s a normal way of life to share this environment with different cultures. Another new point I made in this project was the opportunity to use wide range of materials for the teachers from different sources (magazines, public companies, university websites, dictionary websites etc.).

What was a bit surprising for me to see in the U.S.? It was a huge difference in educational policy, budget system and accessibility to the education which differs in every state of America. The people in different states have completely various possibilities of education depending on the state budget and although it´s a problem of several years, this issue hasn´t been resolved yet.

The biggest impact on my professional life had a visit in The International School in Louisiana – public school with children from grade 6 – 12 where we had a chance to see the classroom teaching and then sharing the experiences with the teacher. This is a school where every child has a chance to be accepted (with different social and cultural background), the school provides the best they can provide to the child. Teachers try to support the children and offer them some free time activities and if the child is motivated enough and has the competences to attend this school, then it´s a wonderful opportunity to learn about intercultural differences, tolerance, respect and be ready for the future life in such a community. This is an issue I can introduce to the Czech system where the mix of cultures represents a big problem for the teachers and parents. Also, bilingual education in our schools is not very common and there is a fear of teaching the children at primary schools more than one foreign language. I would like to introduce the bilingual system which works in some of the American schools to our teachers and to show them the materials and the ways they could use.

Not just a school visit was an inspiration to me – there was a broadcasting service which we visited – Voice of America and we learned a lot about the possibilities offering the English teachers different materials and ways of learning foreign language. I can share this with the English teachers in our country.

To the contribution to my personal life – for me it was an unrepeatable experience to spend three weeks with the people coming from all over the world and to learn about their political, social and educational issues in their countries. Also, we all had to be very respectable to each other and we made very nice relationships within the group. I also more appreciate the country I am a part of because now I am more aware of the problems that the other people from the group have to cope with in their countries.

Over the three weeks in the U.S, I have launched a new relationship with the representative of the Publisher Merriam Webster Dictionary. We have also developed new professional relationships among some of the participants of the international group.

The most valuable cultural aspect of the trip was a home hospitality. There were three of us (a participant from Argentina, Senegal and me) having the diner together in the house of our guide in New Orleans – Mr. Robert Freeland. It was a perfect time to find out some new information about the social life in the city and also about the big issue of this region – the hurricane Katrina. I also very appreciate the possibility of visiting the museums in Washington, D.C. which offers a great chance to learn more about the culture and also about the context of the historical events of the U.S.

The schedule we were put into had a very tight concept. Unfortunately, the participants had just one day off during these three weeks. The purpose of such a tight program was to introduce us as most as possible from American history and culture, but without having a free time for relaxing it was hard to absorb all the information and to think about what we saw and experienced during the day or week. There was a lot of travelling which was demanding for all the participants. What I would like to point out is there was no session where the participants of the group could share their experiences and introduce to the others their educational system in their country and the specific problems they have to cope with.

In general, the program provided me a better understanding of the educational system in U.S. and of the specific issues the system has to cope with. I have learnt a lot about the importance of tolerance and respect among the different communities living together. I will be also happy to use some of the resources and materials in my future work with English teachers we have been provided and introduced in U.S. The only aspect I would revise is the concept of the program – I would prefer quality over quantity, focus on two or three topics and reduce the number of the places we visited in U.S.

New insights and approaches that the project provided:

Washington museums
Dr. Robin Bar – Linguist in Residence, American University
Voice of America – international multimedia broadcasting service
iEARN – International Education and Resource Network
Cleveland Elementary School – implementation of dual language (English and Spanish) programs in public school
National Museum of American History
Mennonite and Amish communities – visit of the village
Martin Luther King, Jr.Day – participation in volunteer activity in Boston, Madison Park Technical Vocational High School
Merriam Webster Dictionary – workshops in this Publisher
International Language Institute of Massachusetts – workshops in the school
Terebonne High School, Houma, Louisiana – meeting with the teachers of the Indian tribe
International School of Louisiana – observing the teaching methods in the classes and discussion with teacher
Classroom Visit: Suquamish Tribal School