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Looking to improve student writing

English College in Prague planning teacher forums

By Julie O'Shea
Staff Writer, The Prague Post
January 23rd, 2008 issue

VLADIMÍR WEISS/THE PRAGUE POST
Back to basics: Staff at the English College in Prague plan to hold academic writing seminars for teachers this year.
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In an effort to bridge the communication gap between primary and secondary schools, especially when it comes to academic writing skills, the English College in Prague is planning to host occasional  teaching forums in the coming months.
“It‘s really a problem,” says school spokesman Jakub Oliverius. “Schools are not communicating with each other. … We are doing our students a disservice.”
The biggest area where Oliverius and his colleagues feel the country’s education system could use some improvement is in the English writing department. These days, students are being pushed to write in English as if they are native speakers, which, according to Oliverius, might be an unrealistic expectation if these kids aren’t taught basic grammar from an early age.  
“The Czech style of writing is very different from the Anglo style of writing,” Oliverius points out, and yet, “English is becoming a standard.”     
Richard Noakes, the new head of the Prague 9 school’s English department, says there is an easy solution to all this: Students simply need to be taught how to “change their perspective” when it comes to writing. It’s up to their teachers to show them how to look at their writing from an outsider’s prospective. They will be better writers if they are able to do that, Noakes insists.
“Students, for the most part, write for themselves,” he notes. “They are writing how they speak,” which sometimes can amount to something that resembles “text-message speak.”
These kids, Noakes says, need a common approach, and that approach — learning what constitutes a topic sentence and how to deliver an effective conclusion, for example — needs to be taught starting in primary school. It’s a concept that Noakes calls “cross fertilization,” and it’s something he’s eager to impart to others in the Czech teaching profession.
Czech students “are intelligent.” Noakes says. “You teach them from year one, and they won’t have to ask you how to reference.”
Zdeněk Pracný, the head of the department of high schools at the Education Ministry, insists the country already has some pretty good standards in place when it comes to academic writing.  
“Language education in high schools is supported by a curriculum framework,” Pracný says. “Last year, there were many workshops [and] trainings for teachers that dealt with evaluation of written work.”    
The English College in Prague is hoping to add to this. The private school sent out invitations to more than 200 schools last fall, inviting teachers to a seminar on writing. The response, unfortunately, was only lukewarm, Oliverius admits, and administrators were forced to scrap the plans. However, Oliverius remains hopeful that, by organizing smaller, more intimate group forums on the subject, there might be stronger interest.
At least two English teachers at Barrandov School in Prague 5 can’t wait to attend a forum.
“I have very little information about writing essays,” says Pavla Škodová, who has worked in the teaching profession for the past two decades. She applauds the English College’s efforts, adding that attending an academic forum there would not only help her to improve the tools in her academic toolbox, but it would also help her to improve her English skills.
Kateřina Darebná, who has been teaching at Barrandov for five years, agrees.
“English is the most widely taught language in our school,” Darebná says. “I would like to help and share my experience with my colleagues and share information which I acquire during my training course [at the English College].”
In the meantime, Darebná already has a jump start.
“I am exchanging teaching ideas with teachers in other countries by writing e-mails and exchanging letters with students,” she says. “I am also studying and researching teaching methodology.”
This kind of self-starting mentality is exactly what Noakes is hoping to instill in other teachers through forums and seminars.
What he wants to tell his Czech counterparts is that they should strive to turn their students into “intelligent and informed” citizens “who make informed choices.”
How do you go about doing that? By placing less emphasis on grades, for one thing, Noakes says.
Students “fear failure in relation to grades,” Noakes says. Instead, the focus should be on “how English works.”
“They are bright kids who want to learn,” Noakes says. “They are coming from a system that is high-level. They need to understand where this is coming from.”
Those interested in attending a writing forum at The English College in Prague can contact Oliverius at 283 893 113.   
— Naďa Černá contributed to this report.  

Julie O'Shea can be reached at joshea@praguepost.com


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