The first of my four weeks here in Prague is coming to a close- and with a bang!  Maddie arrives from Belgium tomorrow and I have to teach my first class!  I’m obviously looking forward to Maddie’s visit much more than teaching, but now I’ll have two big things to celebrate tomorrow evening…

The first week of class has been intense and challenging, but also a lot of fun.  We’re in class from 10:00am-6:00pm on Mondays. Then the rest of the week we have morning sessions together, but breakout teaching opportunities two afternoons.  The other afternoons we have off to explore Prague, relax and work on our next lesson!  Even though we’re only 4 days in I’ve learned so much already.  We’ve had some basic Czech lessons, learned to teach writing, reading, grammar and vocabulary sessions. We’ve had two 15-minute teaching opportunities and learned tons and tons about lesson planning and preparation.  Tomorrow I’m teaching a grammar and listening session to a group of intermediate English learners.  I’m definitely a little nervous, but I’ve done a lot of work to prep- so hopefully they learn something!

Other than class and preparation I’ve been hanging out with my classmates and floormates- cooking dinner, talking and learning more about the differences between Americans and British.  For instance, did you know the word “bung” means to fling or throw aggressively?  And apparently sweatpants are called “joggers”? So many fun and interesting nuances between the cultures.

Tomorrow after everyone complete their first round of teaching we’re going to have a big get-together at the Villa to celebrate the successful completion of our first week. I’m looking forward to relaxing, getting out of our rooms and getting to show Maddie around Prague! Can’t wait!!