Thoughts on Czech Maturita - Geography - Out of Africa!

And so to the last exam! Just to give an idea to non-Czechs what it's like:
I arrived at 13.00 - at 13.15 I went to the exam room & chose my History question  - after 15 mins preparation I tried to talk for 15 mins on the subject. Then I had a 20 min break, then chose my Czech Literature question, 20 mins to prepare, then 15 mins to talk. Then a 25 min break, then chose my English question, 20 mins to prepare, and then a 15 min talk. So, finally, after a 15 min break, I went into the examining room & chose 'Africa' for my Geography question!

Immediately, I felt very confident. It's a HUGE topic, and my teacher (Mr Sis, who some SGO students have since told me did his 'praxe' at SGO) encouraged me to say whatever I knew about Africa. My 15 minutes preparation time flew! I filled up an A4 piece of paper with lots of random details about Africa - geography, history, trivia etc.

I came to the table & told Mr Sis & his colleague that I had a bit of a goulash - it wasn't so structured! 'I like a good spicy goulash!' was his encouraging reply, and so I vomited it all out! :-) 

It went well, though I was a bit vague on some of the more 'geographical terminology, and my lack of expertise in Czech was always a handicap. The other thing I noticed was that right from the start of the exam, the table started to fill up with all of the teachers from the other subjects, as the final marks panel would meet to decide my (& other students!) fate after this, my final exam! I felt I was playing (more like performing!) to an audience! 

It is a great feeling to realise, after over a year of stress, pressure, and hard work, that you are running the final lap of some great race...and that actually, you are going to do it! This is probably how Ussain Bolt feels, running to the line in the 100/200 metres, and being able to look over your shoulder, and to know that you've got this race in the bag! Well, that's how it felt. And I began to get casual...and to talk some rubbish...

I wanted to mention the film 'Out of Africa', but I couldn't remember the name of the film in Czech. So, I asked my examiners if they knew it - they didn't. Then I asked the examining panel & the other teachers - and one of them remembered it (a famous film starring Robert Redford & Meryl Streep) - 'Vzpominky na Afriku'! :-) 

And I blathered on... 'In Africa, there are lots of animals. There are lions, rhinos, giraffes, and tigers, and....' 'Tigers? Aren't they in Asia?' said Mr Sis. 'Oh yeah, of course...!' 

And...'In Africa there are mosquitoes, which is why I don't want to go to Africa, because they like my blood.' 
Well, I got some laughs, at least. 
But it was over...
Mr Sis was very kind - I got a 1 (though I thought a 2 might be good)...and the ordeal of the Czech Maturita Exams was over for me!

Thoughts on Czech Maturita - English :-)

This was the ONE topic that I didn't really have to prepare for - indeed, I teach ALL of the subjects through the year, it's my 'native language', and I also have a certificate to examine in this subject!! :-) How hard could it be?

Well, the didactic was easy enough. I finished with 1/2 hour to spare (I had to finish early, as my parking ticket would have run out before the exam...I had no choice, the car park was limited to 2 hours! :-)), and only 1 question gave me some concern (a trick question, to do with maths, of course!), and I duly corrected it & got 100%! However, I must say that it was extremely EASY!! Indeed, I heard that the lowest marks were 75%, and 1 teacher tried it with some younger students, and they ALL passed! My wife felt beforehand that a monkey could do it. Well, I deserve a banana, I guess ;-) Compared with the intricacies of the Czech Didactic, this was a walk in the park, with a picnic.

The essay was an interesting lesson in Mathematics! It seems to me that the main aim is to be sure of how few words you can use to express yourself, perhaps in order that the teachers don't have massive essays to correct (unlike the Czech one!). The themes were ordinary, unadventurous...boring. My main aim was to fulfill the tasks within the word range...which I thought I did... However, I later discovered that I only got 33/36! Somehow, I dropped 3 points...and as yet, I have no idea why?! Even some of my students did better than me! :-) I aim to look into it, not because of my pride/ego, but because I am curious HOW I lost 3 points? Too many words? Surely not my spelling?? It seems I lost 1 point on the longer essay, and 2 on the shorter one. I will take it as a lesson in humility :-)

However, the oral exam was FUN! :-) I had to do the State Exam (consisting of an introductory topic - Interpersonal Relationships, then comparing pictures on a theme (shopping), then 5 minutes on the main topic (Australia), and then role play (buying things for a trip to Italy). My wife, who was watching, said that I didn't let them get a word in edge-ways! It was like a chat show performance :-)


However, what was really cool was that one of my examiners was an ex student of mine (Lucie Lugerova)! Isn't that amazing? How many students ever get to examine their teacher, especially for a serious exam?! A very nice touch.

The time flew quickly, and I think we all enjoyed ourselves :-) A '1'.

Thoughts on the Czech Maturita - Literature

Thankfully, Petra was with me to help me compose myself after the traumatic History exam - next up was Czech Literature - and I picked J.R.R. Tolkien - Fellowship of the Rings! :-) What an awesome choice. The confidence I felt was fantastic after the nerves of my 'blank wall' experience! A book that I knew well, and a film that I've seen many times :-)

My 20 minutes preparation time flew by quickly, and armed with an A4 paper full of relevant notes, I breezed through the exam. I can hardly believe that I did that, and that I'm able to write that I did that!! Yes, there were some grammatical errors - I have never professed, and likely never will, that my Czech is perfect - but my ever-patient teacher was looking for detail & information, and that I had a grasp of the main themes, context etc, which I clearly did! 

Petra said that she could see that my teacher was very happy with my performance. What my History teacher failed to see in my performance, my Czech teacher gained! Out of all my exams, this was the MOST rewarding, and it gave me a real buzz. I knew then that I could do this! 

To get a 1 at the end, for this oral part, was a great joy - and a reward for both my teacher & I. Indeed, she mailed me the week before to say that having done the harder written exams, this would be the cherry on the cake - and it was :-) 

Interestingly, 4 students from my school failed in Czech Literature - and the reason? Simple - they didn't read the books! (One of the books was '1984' by George Orwell, which I find very hard to understand...!) 

And when I reflect back on previous failures in Czech Literature, it has always been the SAME reason - failure to read the book, or even watch the film! :-O Stunning...So, dear students who are reading this, and whose exams await them...learn the lesson! When you choose, yes, voluntarily choose! - your list of 20 bests, then make the effort to learn something about them, and all should be well ;-) Failure to do that is a bit like playing Russian Roulette with your exams...