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As an avid traveler, I need to speak English in order to get by.
I recently spent six weeks traveling through Australia where I was frustrated by my lack of knowledge of the language, and the embarrassment I felt whenever I tried to speak it. I desperately wanted to improve my English-speaking abilities, and so, being a middle-aged woman, I decided it would be a good idea for me to go to a language school where the students were of a similar age (that is, 45 years and up). Unfortunately, the courses at that school went at a very slow pace, and the teaching was unpleasantly reminiscent of the communist regime. I soon realized that my grasp of English wasn’t improving, and that I needed to move on.
The turning point in my mastery if the language was my decision to enroll in an intensive summer course at the Caledonian School. For the whole summer, I attended the course from 9:45 to 1:00 every weekday at the school’s Dejvicka branch. My class had six students in it, which meant there were a lot of chances to talk. That was good for me because I was enthusiastic to speak as much English as possible. Every week we had a different teacher, who was either a native speaker or a Czech fluent in English, and they were all fantastic. Every day we went over and practised a different grammar point, and the use of Czech was absolutely banned in class. The classes were dynamic and entertaining, and made use of games, quizzes, puzzles, skits, listening, and conversation. Every teacher had their own style and methodology, which meant the course was not at all monotonous. I found it very satisfying to spend the summer in an English atmosphere. I was also pleased because not only did the course teach me new things, it also deepened my interest in learning, which is exactly what I had needed and had been looking for.
To finish, let me recount a funny story. One day, when I came home from the course, my dog Ron, as usual, was anxiously waiting for me to take him out. As I led Ron out the door, I automatically started speaking English to him, expecting him to understand. When Ron didn’t obey my commands as usual and just stared at me with a bewildered expression on his face did I realize that I had trained him in Czech, and had absolutely no idea what I was saying to him when I spoke English. His confused behaviour, started me laughing uncontrollably, and I would like to thank the Caledonian School for helping me speak so naturally without even realizing it!
Dana and Ron, summer intensive courses 2009, branch Dejvická
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