Language Learning Life

More Words than Pictures

When I was teaching there were many photograph-able moments of cute kids and classroom activities and adventures. Now I am spending a good part of my day behind a desk staring at things like this:

Or this...

  But my favourite recently was this:

Can you guess what the words mean?

...

Pretty vs ugly

My camera phone does not take very good pictures and this photo doesn't not do the real picture justice.

ošklivý = ugly

It is a dog from an advertising campaign for a Czech pop called Kofala
Made us laugh super hard especially when our teacher tried to imitate the commercial.

So we have our fun moments in amongst all the learning.

Studying Czech is hard work but already after a month I am seeing some improvement in all areas of my Czech abilities.

We had our first progress exam last week and I scored a Czech 2; basically a step below excellent.
The grading system starts at 1 and goes down to 5. 1 being high mastery and 5 being failing. So a 2 is kind of like getting an A- or a B+
My downfall is my spelling skills... there is no mercy for forgotten accent marks or wrong endings, since these things can change the meaning of the word entirely.
For example byt means apartment and být means to be. That little mark over the y is very important!
Learning curve.

I love puzzles and I see Czech as one giant puzzle with many rules and exceptions and tricks and loops to get through to master the trickery of it all. A puzzle waiting to be solved every day!

What is New

Change is Coming!

On August 16th I celebrated my Prague-iversary of 7 years living in Czech Republic. When you meet new people they ask where you are from and how long you have been living in Prague. When I say almost 7 years the following statement often is "So you speak Czech?" Sheepishly I have to admit that I don't. Not for a lack of trying. I call myself a false beginner. I have quite a bit of vocabulary floating in my brain along with a few grammar tricks and pronunciation cues, but nothing that would be conversational worthy.

Language study is a full time job and it has been my dream to take time to immerse myself in learning the language, but this is something that full-time teaching does not afford. Therefore, this fall I will be hanging up my teaching hat and putting on a student one. It is exciting and terrifying all at once. I will be taking a 10 month intensive course at the Charles University Language Centre. There is no way I will be fluent when I am done but I will be well on my way to building a stronger foundation and be ready for those encounters with the lovely babičky (grandmas) on the bus.

My new place of work and study for the next 10 months! 

The school is a 25 min commute from my front door to the school's front door.

In other news I will also be taking on the role of local member care coordinator for our CISP TeachBeyond team in Prague. Ben, our fearless leader, will be taking a year sabbatical in the States and I was asked to fill in for the year. This job will entail working alongside our CISP HR person to help our new teammates coming to Prague and helping out with any on the field needs our team members may have. From Visa paperwork to cross cultural woes, I will be there to help with transitions and making Prague a new home.

Our Czech TeachBeyond Team 2018 - 2019 

Please pray for me as I take on these new roles and start a new journey of learning. Going to school also brings along a price tag. It will cost me an extra $600 a month to attend classes. Please pray for God's provision for this extra expense. If you are interested in giving towards my language learning project please visit my partner page at the top for information about how you can give.

Taking One Step Back from Teaching to Take Two Forward in Learning

Summer Fun

Denmark Adventures

As a gift for my birthday my parents gifted me a trip to Aarhus, Denmark to visit family. My Great-Grandfather on my Father's side was from a large Danish family. He was one of 11 siblings, which makes for many cousins. I got the opportunity to visit with some of my Grandmother's cousins and they showed me a marvellous time! Denmark is a beautiful country and I believe it is what you would get if Manitoba and the coast of British Columbia had a baby. Beautiful wheat fields next to the seaside.

So without further ado here are some snapshots of my adventures: Warning there are a LOT of photos, I just couldn't choose a few.

Day 1-2: July 12-13: Arrival Visit with family in Skæring and explore local estate Gammel Estrup

Local School Playground

Lunch Danish Style

Ornate ceilings 

Round room requires curved bookshelves

Star Explosion! - A must have meal that was such a treat!

The North Sea just a couple blocks away - such a treat to go swimming in the sea!

Day 3 Visiting more family and trip to Ebeltoft

3 brothers who are cousins with my Grandmother

Day 4 Church and trip into Aarhus to see the circle bridge and monument to WWI soldiers

Flag up means the Queen is home

Day 5 Discovering Aarhus: museums, churches, views from shopping centre rooftops, trips back in time, and Queen Margrethe II of Denmark wardrobe in Den Gamle By

 

 

ARoS Aarhus Kunstmuseum is an art museum

 

 I didn't take any pictures of the displays of her clothes because they were all behind glass and without a flash it just didn't do them justice but it was quite a display of finery.

Photo courtesy of https://www.dengamleby.dk/from-the-queens-wardrobe/

Day 6 - Happy Birthday to me! Was a glorious day with a special breakfast, a trip to a seaside cottage and birthday dinner with family including a Danish Birthday song.

 

Day 7 - Trip to see where my great-grandfather is from and visit some more family

The white is not sand it is sea shells!

 

Day 8 - Last Day - Day of Rest - last day at the beach and time with family

For my birthday I got a lovely jar of Danish honey. Problem I was travelling only with carry on and the challenge faced was how to get a 300mL jar of honey on a plane. Here is how you get around liquid limits. 300mL --> 3 containers of 100mL in a zip lock bag BAM that is how you get a 300mL jar of honey on a plane. Seems rather ridiculous but you do what you got to do. :)

Cousin Henning even made labels to make it look more legit.

It was a very restful holiday and it was such a blessing to spend time with family I haven't seen since I was 15! Many thanks to the Henning and Birgit for taking me in and showing me their lovely country and to Per and Kirsten for the lovely meals and visits.