I am an údernik!

I was at the family cottage last Saturday. I took Maminka & her supplies for a long summer break, but also decided to try and cut the grass. Not as easy a job as it sounds, as it pretty much resembles a meadow on a slope. And it was hot. Very hot. So hot, even my sweat was sweating! 

However, other than some breaks for food & plenty of drink, I worked solidly from about 9.30 and amazingly I managed to finish cutting the whole lot, which I really did not think I'd have the time to do! Maminka came to me & said, 'Seš údernik!' I had no idea what it meant, but I was one! 😀 She explained that it was a Russian term, and it meant that I'd worked 'something like a slave', but that wasn't totally it...

The next day, Petra & I met some friends, and we discussed it with them - one of them being an English teacher - but they were also not so clear. So, a quick search on the internet & we came upon this wonderful expression! 

Basically, an údernik (udarnik in Russian) is a 

'superproductive enthusiastic labourer'! 

I know, it sounds a bit like 'supercalifragilisticexpialidocious', but I think it absolutely typifies the intensity of my effort, not only to get the job done, but to enjoy it!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vZ9Mh0yOj6k

The Book of Wikipedia informs us that: "An udarnik (Russian: уда́рник, IPA: [ʊˈdarnʲɪk]; English plural udarniks or udarniki), also known in English as a shock worker or strike worker (collectively known as shock brigades or a shock labour team) was a highly productive worker in the Soviet Union, the Eastern Bloc, and other communist countries. The term derived from the expression "udarny trud" for "superproductive, enthusiastic labour".

Finally, after all these years, I have discovered my super-hero identity! 😊

Maturita mistakes 2020 - better late than never

Maturita mistakes 2020 - better late than never

Before I post some of the finer mistakes from this year's Maturita, it occurred to me that I hadn't posted last year's honourable mentions - so, here they are! 

In the exams, grammar can be a frequent problem. In spite of many warnings, we still hear this: 'On the picture...'

Teacher: 'How much time did you spend on your homework?' Student: 'Probably less than I should.'

'In Canada, they have the famous beaver - Justin Beaver!'

And sometimes, context is so important:

'When I was ill, I was 2 weeks in bed with my grandma...' !!!!

An old favourite - hard to keep out of the exams! 

'Many informations...'

And sometimes, perhaps with the pressure & stress of the exam, some basic facts just get plain messed up...

'David Beckham, the famous tennis player...'

When talking about different languages:

'Sign language is for blind people...'

There are so many students who seem to have met famous writers, and have received the book directly FROM them!!

'I read a book from Hemingway.'

And when talking about food, one student informed us that...

'For breakfast, I have milk and snowflakes.'

We were also informed that...

'In Hudson Bay there is low gravity, so you can go there and lose weight!'

But seriously, sometimes students do educate me with information which I really didn't know before. For example, about the Library on US/Canada border 😊

And another student, when talking about Health problems, told us about the condition, known in Czech Republic, as 'Rosickyitis' 😊

And another old favourite...

'I like to listen music...'

(Meanwhile, inside me...)

And when discussing Shakespeare, remember to use the correct word...though, there might have been some truth in this statement...

'He was bored in Stratford upon Avon.'

When talking about travel:

'We can travel from France to England by berry.'

And finally, sometimes, it gets so tense 😀

                           Reflections on the English Maturita 2021 – part two

Some personal joys

What makes a teacher happy? For me, it would be seeing (& hearing!) someone love the language I have been trying to teach them, though in many cases, I’m sure they just do fine without me :) I realise that in those cases, I just facilitate their use of the language.

Here are a selection of personal joys that I experienced during this year’s exams. Of course, I won’t mention any names, but I’m sure they or their close friends will know who they are.

Firstly, there was a large group of students who I gave 2 stars to, my own little marking system :) There were some 1 stars, and 1+, but a lot of 2 stars. For me, that means a very high level of English, but also it was interesting to listen to, informative (they sometimes taught me things I didn’t know) & creative. I always stress to our students that there are many ways to introduce or discuss a theme, and I certainly experienced that this year – consistently! Even with ‘geographically based themes’, some students could develop an interesting angle, which I hadn’t considered before.

Most students were able to express their theme with enthusiasm & energy, even if the topic was 'not their cup of tea'. It’s a drag that we have to give marks – for me, it’s enough that they can communicate coherently & clearly – and I believe they all did that.

But if I must highlight some specific students, it would be the following:

Student 1

I had an online consultation session with this student, a couple of weeks before the exams. During that session, it was clear that they struggled with the ‘geography’ & fact based topics. For their oral exam, they chose ‘Washington & New York’!! It really pleased me to hear that they had studied the topic, but also learnt how to deliver it in a structured & enjoyable style. This particular student has a habit of creating words (‘unidenticated’ was a neat creation!), but that aside, it was an excellent exam.

Student 2

This student was an extremely high level – turbo-powered, cruising with the language! The theme was ‘Shopping, money & economy’, and we were introduced to the world of economics, Bitcoins & cryptocurrencies! Advanced vocabulary was thrown around like confetti as they espoused on the theme in intricate detail. Faultless. Indeed, we all wished we’d had more time to discuss the subject more – 15 minutes wasn’t enough! :)

Student 3

This student was a good worker. I had them in regular lessons, and also in a seminar. I always admired their determination & enthusiasm, and their passion for things that were important for them, but...there were always mistakes in the grammar, the tenses, etc etc...and usually they would end up with a ‘2’. But not this day! They had ‘London & other interesting British cities’. I confess, I expected the regular problems – but 15 minutes later, my jaw was dropping in respect. Not only was the subject comprehensively covered, but the mistakes were almost non-existent! Sure, there were a couple of problems with articles etc, but my colleagues & I all agreed that this student was the biggest surprise during the exams! The pronunciation was much improved. Later, I asked this student what was the key to their success – the answer: Netflix!! A saturation of series on Netflix! And they said that finally, the penny dropped with the ‘music’ of the language.

I don’t kid myself. I’m not the answer to a student’s problems with learning English, and neither is a book. When a student learns to swim with the language – after much splashing around, and sometimes a bit of sinking, finally, they get the rhythm & they swim – and you know what? It’s beautiful when they do. And such moments become a treasure to me.

Student 4

This student had the theme of ‘Cooking & Eating Habits’, and also took the theme to another level. We covered themes such as Genetically Modified Food, pesticides, connections with illness, vegetarianism etc. One of those exams where you just wish you could have more time to discuss the topic – which is surely the goal of communication?

Student 5

This student had ‘Health & Diseases & Healthy Lifestyle’ – not only did they give an excellent presentation, but there was a massive improvement in their speech. I’d had contact with this student before in an Olympiada, and while their knowledge was never in doubt, their clarity of speech was sometimes unclear. One of my colleagues had had similar problems with this student, and had suggested to them (with some persuasion) to record themselves, and not listen to that recording for at least 3-4 days, and then try to listen to it. It was an epiphany for them to realise that they could not understand what they’d said! This is a great teaching technique! And they took it to heart, and we heard the difference. An excellent talk!

To all of the students I have worked with during this last year, you have my respect. Whether I have singled you out (anonymously!) or not, I have enjoyed working with all of you & only hope that you can carry the gift that you now have in English with you, as you go onto the next adventure in your life.

Marks and exams are never the final judge of your English. Your language ability can always increase, and I really believe some of you will do excellent things with it in the future! I wish you every success in that!

Mr E

 Reflections on the English Maturita 2021 – part one

It’s been a long time since I wrote on this blog. It’s not that there hasn’t been anything to write about, but the effort of looking at the screen (again!) after weeks of online lessons was a click too far. However, the creative writing juice is flowing again, so here we go…

I will probably work my way backwards – a bit like the film ‘Memento’ :) 

The Maturita exams finished last week. Amazingly, for the first time in a very long time (indeed, I’m not even sure if it’s happened before!), no one failed in ANY subject! Of course, this needs to be weighed with the fact that the Czech Literature oral exam was not compulsory, and also the Language State Exams – but this shouldn’t detract from what has been an exceptional performance by our students. Considering the amount of doubt & fear engendered by the Media & the Government as to the overall capability & quality of online teaching provided by teachers & endured by students, there were concerns among the public (not with us, I assure you!) that we would not be up to the job. Our results are a resounding poke in the eye & rebuttal to that suggestion! I will only comment on the English Exam results, but for the statisticians among you, here are the bare facts:

93 students did the English oral exams

81 got ‘1’

7 got ‘2’

5 got ‘3’

Let that soak in for a minute. 87% of the students got the best mark possible. No one worse than a ‘3’. And lest you think we made it easy for them, we most certainly did not. Over the years, we have had some outstanding students at this school, in all subjects – and especially from an English perspective. Many of them are still memorable to me even now, after 14 years of teaching here. But this year has been unique in many different ways. Considering that this year’s students have had the Coronavirus situation to deal with over the past year & more, involving a huge amount of online teaching, which hasn’t suited everyone, I think they have done amazingly well.

As an English speaker, I have been hugely impressed, not only with the quality of English, but also the range of themes and creativity (& sometimes humour) shown in their talks. It has not been a duty to listen to them and give a mark, but often it has been a real pleasure & a stimulating experience. Selfishly, this is a great reward after the trials of online teaching! One worth waiting for. I sometimes think I have the best job that these is…

What I’ve given you here is the basic skeleton of the English Maturita – in the next couple of blogs I will put some flesh to these bones & share some of my personal joys, but also some of the funny mistakes which showed up (including a couple of old favourites!).

Life during the time of Coronavirus - A personal perspective

So, how has this time of Coronavirus affected me personally?

As I write, CR is loosening restrictions more & more, that most people think that we're 'getting back to normal'. However, I'm not sure what normal means yet, as there still might be repercussions - we will see. But as I look back at this time, some things stand out...

Spring 

We enjoyed the most amazing spring in CR! It has been probably the best that I have experienced since we moved here in 2001, but the fact that I could personally enjoy it was even more special! I love spring - it really is my favourite season. Normally, because of the demands of my job, I wouldn't have been able to enjoy it as much as I have done, but I adapted a routine where I would work mornings & evenings & keep the afternoon free, in order to take advantage of the wonderful weather, and all that goes with it. As a keen birdwatcher (twitcher!) it was fabulous! I was able to enjoy walks & some cycling trips (I've cycled twice as much as I have done in the past by this stage of the year!), and fitted in some birding with that. It really was a delight to see spring develop & unfold like a symphony - I could savour each movement.

It was a change of lifestyle that suited me. I was even able to take advantage of having a regular siesta after a busy morning! (Surely my favourite Spanish word - a great idea!) I found it refreshed me, and then having shifted some endorphins around after a good 20-30 km bike ride, I had the energy to continue working later on.
Spring was surely the greatest gift which the Coronavirus restrictions gave me 😊

The land of Zoom & FB chats
Of course, one of the main negatives was not being able to see friends & family face-to-face. We usually have a family get together, each 6 months, and the last one was due in Prague in March, but this was cancelled. So, we 'zoomed' a few times. I did Facebook chats with students, individually, and then groups, and when the groups were too big, then I moved them to Zoom.
I also enjoyed a couple of cyber-beer-chats with friends.
We even had our church meetings on Zoom, which was awkward to begin with - and some continued to struggle with it. It wasn't as good as face-to-face, but it was certainly better than nothing, and we had to learn how to get the best out of this medium. I'm glad it's over now, though we still continue to pray on Zoom each week.
However, I did start to get 'zoomed out', and became nauseous at the sight of a computer screen. I really missed the face-to-face, live interaction with students & friends.

Travel plans
Initially, a big disappointment for us was cancelling our travel plans. After losing ISLI, it was gutting to know we wouldn't be able to go to the Scottish highlands in July - we knew this back in March. It was something we were both really looking forward to, and we'd had our Airbnb booked & flights etc...but, it's not the end of the world 😉

However, our Plan B - the High Tatras in Slovakia - one of our favourite hiking/stomping grounds, is now open, and we'll be going there in early July. Bit by bit, the borders around CR have opened up in an effort to get the economy flowing again - are we being too hasty? Again, we shall see. We're expecting the Tatras to be very busy, but we know the area so well that we've been able to line up some hikes where we don't think there will be many tourists 😉

The bigger picture
This has been a very unique & unusual time - we can only guess how significant it will be in the future. I think it's been a wake up call - for people to think about what's really important in life, to challenge some of the values, and dare I say, even idols that we have created for ourselves. Shopping, sports, entertainment, travel - just to name a few - it leaves us with the question: What does my life consist of?

One of the biggest dangers, I think, is that many people will just try to 'get back to normal', or 'move on to the next thing' - but I think it's important before we do any of that to at least reflect on the experiences we've gained from this time, and to reevaluate & perhaps reassess what our life is about. Do we have a bigger picture - or do we still have a narrow field of vision?