A Happy Dead Week to YOU

A dead week is a slang term for the week before schools' final examinations in some English speaking countries.


The week is known because of its notorious strain. The tendency to save exam study until the last possible week. Specially for procrastinators...

Students prepare for the exams by pulling out all the stops all-night, study sessions often with the aid of stimulants such as coffee, caffeine tablets and energy drinks.

The late night studying for the finals gives the students a zombie look.

What do you think? How does dead week play out at our school? And what is the ideal dead week for students?

A month chock-full of events

Our school calendar is chock-full of exciting events and happenings. It is not easy to choose the most noteworthy event of the month.

Personally, I think the highlight was a speaking competition in each class. 
First, the competitors were a bit unsure of themselves. After a few tentative attempts some of them seize the opportunity and performed well.

In the end this competition was of benefit for all those involved even if they din't win.
I hope every student recognises that they have learnt some invaluable skills along the way.

The Bear Educational Theatre - helping English, having fun!

On 12. March we went to the theatre in Reduta. The theatre where the audience do not remain passive and is being actively involved in a play.

The show performed Frank Novotny and the Case of Present Perfect was fun. 
We enjoyed it, so we left the theatre feeling good about English as a subject, and about our own ability to understand the play.

In front of REDUTA

Burst through your bubble!

On March 2, 2015 students from 1, 2 and 3 year visited a film festival One World in Schools 2015.

Combating indifference, prejudice and apathy in Czech society is the goal of the 17th annual One World International Human Rights Documentary Film Festival.

It is annually organised by People in Need. Screenings for schools, One World in Schools, is an essential part of the film festival.

The symbol of this year's festival is a protective bubble wrap, which needs to be removed.

One World is calling to burst out of our protective bubbles by attending a screening of a documentary film about current topics and the panel discussion that follows. 
We also burst out of our own bubbles while choosing a film.

Students watched a film featuring an environmental theme THULE TUVALU.

Thule a Greenland town is the northernmost inhabited place on earth. Tuvalu is a Polynesian island. Melting icebergs in Greenland, rising sea levels, so soon inundate the low-lying Pacific islands. Places distant from one another more than eleven thousand kilometres are today fatefully linked. While experts argue over how to prevent climate change, the inhabitants of Thule and Tuvalu are facing today its irreversible consequences in everyday life.

The document closely follows the lives of several local families who realize that their traditional way of life and livelihood is moving speed of melting ice to change.

Students enthusiastically joined the panel discussion with a guest on global warming, sustainable development and some environmentally related issues.

Documentary films are a great way of initiating debates and promoting interest among students in human rights, global development education, the environment, racism, and other issues, whilst also enabling them to form their own opinions and attitudes.

One World in Schools 2015 is an educational programme. 
The programme works with teachers, pupils, and students – providing them with documentary films and other accompanying materials for learning about topical themes from today’s world and recent history.

Being inspirited by modern technological trends an audio-visual portal www.jsns.cz has been designed for teachers and students, where all educational materials of the One World in Schools programme online are available for downloading.

One World Film Festival http://www.jedensvet.cz

TRAVEL, STAY AND STUDY ABROAD or the importance of using a language and study it in a foreign country

As the date of the final exam for the 4^th year students is approaching I notice overriding concerns for being well prepared and go through all the topics which might be subject of the exam.

In February we focused primarily on English speaking countries. Students prepared excellent versions of different topics, presentations, short films and descriptions of places.

One of the presentations was particularly engaging. Why? What made it so absorbing?

It was based on personal experiences in abroad.

The student had stayed and studied at High School in Canada. It was a life-changing experience and one of the most rewarding things I have ever done, he said. 
Being immersed in an entirely new cultural setting could be scary at first, but it's also exciting. 

Cultural differences are more than just differences in language, food and personal habits.

Those who experience cultural differences personally can come to truly understand the others. That’s not just the matter of the language.

In addition, study abroad gives your language skills. You're surrounded by the language on a daily basis and are seeing and hearing it in the proper cultural context. There is no better and more effective way to learn a language than to be immersed in a culture that speaks the language you are learning.

THREE LANGUAGES IN A CLASS

The social event number one of the month, in February was a two-week study visit of guests from Turkey at our school.

Students and teachers had chosen our school for their educational stay and for further partnership. They were interested in technical subjects and languages particularly English.

First, some of the students were a bit reserved and shy. Later on, they participated in the lessons actively.

Eventually, we didn´t just use English in class.






We spoke three languages English, Czech and Turkish as a unique experience of mutually enhancement.

Giving examples in the images...

Hopefully, our partnership and further exchange stays will continue in the future.

DO MARKS MATTER?

We´re at the end of the first half term of the academic year, which means is it time for evaluation of our work and of half term reports.

It’s that time of year when students get their marks and with them, sometimes feel disappointed and frustrated. I think these emotions arise because students often have very different discernments of what marks mean. Their parents have unrealistically high expectations and they are not able to come up to them.

Nowadays, a lot of emphasis is put on the marks. Marks measure a number of things, but basically they measure if students can show that they have learned the standard covered in the subjects.

However, they do not measure all of students´ abilities and skills. This is often the hardest thing to explain to students who are very talented, but have received bad marks. As an example, you are very good at subject, but haven’t demonstrated your knowledge in a satisfied way and haven’t got the highest marks from tests and work. They don’t understand that failure is also a part of the learning process.

Marks are not a measure of students ‘personalities and skills.

Me personally, “I’m going to look at who the person is rather than marks.”

I don’t believe that marks show how much somebody knows. I’ve seen students with highest marks who are incapable to deal with some practical tasks. On the other hand, there are students who don’t care about marks they get, they just want to finish their school as soon as possible and to start working. They don’t have bad marks because they are bad students but because they just don’t care about it and they want to move on as soon as possible. And they want to find jobs more quickly and start to get working experience.

Nevertheless, if you want to continue your education you must have good marks. It all depends on what you think in terms of a career. Better marks can help you to graduate from university and get a better job, though I believe that the person´s skills, and knowledge is extremely important too.

Balance marks with a subject you enjoy…