A Strange School

Schools... they are here to educate each of us. But to some degree, even sometimes schools are quite incomprehensible. Take this one school. Let's call it... Dark. It's an "English school". Why do I quote it? Well, for just that reason. They "say" they are an English school, but I am still a bit wary about it. Let me tell you my story.

I got a phone call a few days ago before I started teaching one of my classes. A lady was on the other line. She was calling me in response to my resume I had sent to their office. )Note: I sent my resume to several different places, and it was all basically the same: some note, my resume, and a current photo, maybe I included an educational essay I had written. And mind you, everything was written in clear English.) This lady is on the line and doesn't bat an eye before she starts away in her native language, Czech, expecting me to catch everything... I did... She quickly proceeded to explain to me who she was and for what company she works for and that she is "in charge" of prospective employees. She asked me a minimal number of questions about myself and told me that before anything, I would have to come in and take an "English test". A perplexing moment for me when I think that it's clear that through everything I sent them, and them obviously knowing the fact that I am a native speaker, that I should also come in and take an "English test" (you will find out my use of quotation marks soon enough). I thought it quite funny and continued on and was actually quite looking forward to such a possibility. I thought it would be some normal grammar sentences and I would be in and out in 15 or 20 minutes.

After our conversation, I went and looked at their website to find quite a credible school. They have flourished quite well after 15 years or so of existence and have even expanded to 13 different cities around the nation. Sounds quite good. But one thing did strike me as strange. The fact that there wasn't any English version to this website. I find it odd that such a prestigious English school wouldn't have even a small English translated version, since clearly, they ARE an English school.

But I digress. I travelled the next day to Prague to take my exam. I was quite excited and eager to for my exam, but still not totally understanding the exact reason and importance to know how well an American can speak English. I arrived to a healthy greeting of a few of the office workers (none of which spoke English). They explained to me the test and I was off to work. But... what was this?... an English test?... with so few English words?... I looked quizzically at this test, and jumped into it. The first part... translation. Translate from Czech to English... ok, I can do that, but I don't really understand the importance of why I should have to. Next, translate English to Czech... still not sure why it's important for teaching English in an "English Only" classroom. But, ok. Next part, translate the following 35 sentences from Czech to English. Ok, now this is ridiculous. I can speak English perfectly. Fluently even. Why do I have to translate from Czech to English? I did, and quite well, I think.

Then come the essay questions... in Czech... Quite unnecessary for me I thought. But I continued. The entire process was a bit ridiculous I felt, but an experience, nonetheless. Thankfully, it's over now, and I don't know if I will ever fully understand the process to employment at this "English school".

Like a Dutchman

Hey all. So, as the world continues to turn and life slowly passes by, so as similar likenesses occur in my life as well. Last week, as we had a 5 day holiday from school, me and Joseph and Blanka. It was really an unbelievable experience. We took ourselves a small little trip to a small little country which has two names... one of which is Holland and the other of which is The Netherlands...

First to mention that I never would have would have considered this country to be one of the last European countries that I would have visited, but it's true that it is. And second, I never would have thought that this country could have produced one of the best remixes ever with Counting Crows and their song "Holiday in Spain". Check it out here.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yzQtEk9CzCA


We got here and we stayed in a factory. You can see a few of these pictures first.






It was actually quite a scary place, and after staying here, and walking around and taking a tour of all the halls and empty space where could be creeping all sorts of freaky scary people, it makes it much easier to walk around my school in the night time. Not scary one bit.

So our first real day we went to Alkmaar which has one of the best and oldest Cheese Markets in Holland. Holland, which has the famous cheese cities such as Edam and Gouda. This was a really amazing day where we got a chance to see so many different kinds of cheese and taste so many kinds. It was surprisingly an amazing experience. You don't really ever think about how important or how good cheese can be. You just kinda buy it whenever you want a ham and cheese sandwich, and life goes on. But this was a great day and time by all.

After this we drove around this part of the country and saw the countryside which included a cheese farm which we toured as well as many small villages with canals and windmills, sheep, farms, and goats. It was truly time that you never want to forget and want to experience over and over again.














The last day we spent in Amsterdam visiting such places as the House of Anne Frank, the famous flower market in Amsterdam and the Heineken Brewery. Also, we saw really narrow houses, and lots of boats and canals in a major city. I was surprised to hear that Amsterdam is the first European city which has English (a non-native language) as its second official language.

Anyways, the pictures are the most important part here. After such a long time of working and laboring, this was a much needed and relaxing trip. And although I'm looking forward to the last coming months of work, holidays are always a nice thing to experience. :)