Hi, my name is Sam and I am your new English teaching assistant from London. I am having a great time at Základní škola Havířov – Podlesí Mládežnická, where both the teachers and children are very welcoming. The school is clearly embracing the use of different languages in the class room. The 7 teachers that I have worked with so far have a very good level of English already, so I am aiming to help improve pronunciation and bring in my views as a native speaker when called upon. The children have been extremely open to learning English. I find the younger grades are like sponges and fearless when it comes to speaking English so given time they will flourish using this new skill. Grades 8 and 9 are very competent in English but sometimes they lack confidence in speaking up in class room – I am hopeful this will change once I have gained their trust. I think it is still a novelty to the kids that I am here as I am regularly met in corridors with kind words of „hello!“, „good morning!“ and „goodbye“ from all directions followed by laughter!! I’m sure this will diminish over the coming weeks and months as the children slowly bore of having a foreign language teacher.
More info about the project: http://janicka.scio.cz
