Czech Language Summer School Ostrava: Czech Is Going Abroad
The Czech Language Summer School brought people from all over the world to Ostrava this year. Students from India, Kazakhstan and the Netherlands came here to study Czech.
From the left: Ankur Agarwal from India, Stephanie Neuvirt from Great Britain, lecturer Zdeňka Suchá, Berik Dulatov from Kazakhstan, Anna Gorshkova from Russia, Vice-Dean Michaela Závodná.
Foreigners find Ostrava a bit exotic thanks to the exceptional industrial sights. It might be one of the reasons why the Ostrava Czech Language Summer School is interesting for students. The students were happy in Ostrava thanks to the fact that they could use their Czech skills much more often than if they were in Prague.
This was the sixth year of the Ostrava Czech Language Summer School, which is organised by the Czech Language Department of the University of Ostrava Faculty of Arts. Students from all over the world come here to study Czech during the intense three-week course. This year, the Summer School was attended by five students from five different countries and two continents. The lecturers strive to teach students the basics of the language, Czech life and customs, history, literature, prominent Czech personalities, and even Czech films, which are very popular with the Summer School students. The films help them learn about the peculiarities of the Czech culture. This year, they chose from eight movies and voting for Pelíšky (Cosy Dens), Musíme si pomáhat (Divided We Fall), Občanský průkaz (Identity Card), Účastníci zájezdu and the classic Czech film from the sixties, Hoří má panenko (The Fireman’s Ball). The students selected the movies based on annotations that they received at the beginning of the course. The other films on the list were Cesta do pravěku (A Journey to the Beginning of Time) by Karel Zeman, Tmavomodrý svět (Dark Blue World) by Svěrák, or Městečko by Jan Kraus.
In addition to the lessons, which take place both in Czech and English, the students also explored their surroundings. Each year trips are planned within the Summer School and this year’s itinerary included trips to Kroměříž, Pustevny and Dolní oblast Vítkovic. But the most interesting thing for the students was a lecture by Lucie Radková about substandard Czech language where students learned what it means, for example, “jít na malou”, “být v tom”, “chlastat”, “benga”, or “pupkáč”. Lecturer Zdeňka Suchá said that they enjoyed learning the new vocabulary, which they used a lot. All course attendants took the final test and received a certificate on passing the course.
Updated: 27. 09. 2018
