For those of you struggling to make heads or tails out of restaurant menus and street signs, have no fear: Akcent International House Prague has created a new system that will help you learn "survival Czech" in just one week. The program, cleverly titled "Czech Out There," is a kind of intensive immersion-therapy crash course. New classes begin Feb. 12.

Students participate in two 90-minute sessions every day for a week. The first hour and a half is spent in the classroom learning basic grammar and vocabulary about a particular theme: transportation, shopping, going to the doctor, eating out, etc. The second hour and a half is spent "out there" on the streets of Prague, putting to use what was learned in the classroom.

Michal Zídek, head of Czech-language studies at Akcent, claims this learning method is efficient and effective.

The program is not traditional, but it's focused on practical Czech and teaching students what they need to get by, Zídek says.

"We are really pushing people to survive," he adds.

"It was a great problem for me to communicate with Czech people and speak 'live' Czech when I came to Prague," she recalls. "Within the first few days I'd been in a panic. Written Czech was OK because of the common Slavic vocabulary [between Czech and Russian], but, when it came to oral speech, it was [tough]. I had to rent a flat, visit the police, go shopping and do a lot of things — and I understood nothing of what people told me."

Borozdina jumped at the chance to participate in a test run of Czech Out There a few months ago. The experience of talking with "real" Czechs was a good one, she says. "That helped me a lot."

Borozdina says that she has always felt comfortable talking with strangers, so stage fright didn't pose a problem for her in this course. However, this isn't the case for everyone trying to learn a new language.

"This really pushes you to use your Czech," Zídek says. "Sometimes students are scared."

Lisa Büescher falls into that category. She also participated in the trial course a few months ago and found the experience of asking random people on the street questions "very uncomfortable" and "so embarrassing."

The class did, however, teach her a great deal about the language and the people. "I hated the exercise on the one hand. On the other hand, I only had positive experiences," says Büescher, whose job in Germany sometimes has her working in Prague for months at a time. "The Czechs I spoke to were really friendly, helpful, open-minded and funny. I think in general it is a good idea to force students to really use the language as early as possible to make them lose their fear."

To help them approach total strangers, students are taught a few basic phrases on the first day of class to help break the ice. When approaching someone on the street, students explain they are learning Czech and ask the stranger if he can help with the homework.

Students are also taught "Slowly, please" and "How do you write that?" They are given cheat sheets of vocabulary and phrases to carry with them and workbooks for taking notes.

"We were afraid of the reaction of the Czech people to the questions," Zídek admits. But "we were really surprised how positive it was."

Büescher and Borozdina, the two test-course students, agree that having a script of phrases helped a lot.

"That was a good idea, I think," Borozdina says. "With that phrase you're positioning yourself very distinctly — you are not a Greenpeace activist, not a charity collector, you just need ... help with homework, and that is all."

Czech Out There is based on a similar program Zídek and Lída Holá, another Akcent teacher, adapted from a United Kingdom–based course for people looking to learn English.

The Czech version, Zídek says, is more basic.

Zídek recognizes that there are many different Czech courses available for expats in Prague and that the "Czech Out There" method isn't perfect for everyone. If someone's ever been stymied at the post office though, or lost with no idea of how to ask the person next to them for directions, he said, this course could provide quick and welcome relief.