• What is the dialogue "Jožo has sometimes troubles" about?

At present, there is more and more talk of a sociological-pedagogical communication problem in Czech schools, which is caused by the continuing increase in the number of pupils and students for whom Czech is not the maternal language. The sensible and swift integration of foreign children (migrants, asylum seekers, ethnic minorities) into the Czech educational system is a prerequisite for the utilisation of their natural potential and is to the benefit of our society.

Individual Czech schools approach the education of foreigners in various ways. Some schools do not regard this problem as serious or even refuse to admit to having such a problem, especially if there are few such children at the school or if ambitious parents look after their education (e.g. in the dialogue with Suong there is a “Czech granny”, i.e. a tutor who helps her with Czech, homework, etc.).

Foreign pupils often prefer everyday spoken language. This is completely understandable, because in contact with their fellow pupils and friends they don’t come up against the other form of the national language. The written forms, which a foreign pupil has to learn in Czech lessons, are yet another hurdle for them when it comes to expanding their already extensive knowledge of Czech declensions.

However, it is now necessary to inform teachers of the methods and forms of teaching Czech to foreigners, the success of which is directly conditional upon the information a teacher has at their disposal regarding the structure of the source language (the foreign pupil’s native tongue), since this can fundamentally contribute to the systematic creation of the communicational competence of these foreign pupils and students. This is especially so in Czech classes, which require a modified curriculum, different from the preparation for native speakers and formulated with consideration for the relationship between the source language and Czech.

• What is...?

The education of foreigners (section 20) under the New Education Act 561/2004 Coll.: This Act came into effect on 1 January 2005 and already speaks generally of the education of foreigners; it permits everyone without differentiation the right to have access to education under the same conditions as citizens of the Czech Republic. Given the closer relationships between the member countries of the EU, the children of these countries have certain rights, the aim of which is to assist with the practical exercise of the right to freedom of movement within the framework of the EU. These rights include, for instance, free tuition facilitating their incorporation into basic education, including the teaching of Czech adapted to the needs of those pupils, and, depending on the possibilities and in cooperation with the pupil’s country of origin, support for the teaching of the maternal language and culture of their country of origin, which will be coordinated with the regular curriculum in our schools. This free tuition and the training of those teachers who will implement it is organised by the appropriate regional authorities (depending on where the pupil lives and in cooperation with the school authorities). The Ministry of Education stipulates in the form of a legal implementation regulation the form, contents and organisation of the free tuition. (A foreign pupil from another EU country is registered for the tuition on the basis of a written application from their legal guardian, and the school headmaster/mistress is then obliged to find a place for them within 30 days of the application being submitted.) However, the Act does not address the issue of the education of foreigners from countries other than the EU, which in practice can create further problems.

The Common European Framework of Reference for Languages: This provides the general basis for the compilation of language syllabuses, directives for the development of curricula, examinations, textbooks, etc. throughout Europe. It sets out what pupils and students must learn in order to use a language for communication, and what knowledge and skills must be developed in order that they be capable of operating effectively.
The teaching of Czech as a foreign language has thus far been organised only for foreign adults who can attend language schools (be they state or private) where they can take an examination in Czech according to the level of knowledge, skills and communication competence acquired (at levels A1, A2, B1, B2, C1, C2). Most pass the examinations at the lowest levels (A1, which leaves out the grammar, or A2). Children cannot be taught in language schools.
The most extensive experience of teaching Czech as a foreign language (mainly for foreign adults) is enjoyed by the tutors and teachers federated within the Association of Teachers of Czech as a Foreign Language (for more information c.f. www.auccj.org), with its base in Prague and a newly opened branch in Olomouc. This website contains a list of textbooks for foreigners. Several books exist for foreign children, though none so far has the endorsement of the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports, which would allow teachers to use them in schools to teach young foreigners. At present, methodical manuals are being prepared for the teachers of these pupils and various manuals for working with foreign children.
The Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports has instructed the regional authorities (c.f. the new Education Act valid from 1.1.2005, paragraph 20, and Decree 48) to prepare for the training of teachers who are going to tutor children from the EU. At the same time, the Decree specifies the length of language tuition (70 hours – neither the regions nor the schools have the money for more hours) and the level to be attained in Czech (A2, which, in my opinion, is not feasible given 70 hours). The language tuition does not relate to other foreign children, who are placed directly in classes amongst Czech pupils, often without any knowledge of Czech whatsoever.
The old Educational Act allowed for foreign pupils in their 1st year at a Czech school not to be examined in Czech, while the new Education Act does not concern itself with this issue. Does this mean that a teacher will have the same criterion for a foreign pupil whose maternal tongue is not Czech as for a native Czech?

• Topic

Communication in the school environment (the “school dialogue”) has been influenced by new factors since 1989 and after the entry of the Czech Republic into the EU. Designating the components of this dialogue presupposes not only access to research into speech activities as such, but also research into other factors no less important for the formation of all communication contacts in the school environment, namely the pupil - teacher contact and the pupil - pupil contact, since the personalities of the communicants (teacher - pupil, native - non-native user of a certain language) reflect the influence of their social, geographical and religious background, which is manifest, for instance, in various norms of conduct and behaviour, by the use of various sign systems, etc. These represent a communication stumbling block which can have a negative impact on the course of the school dialogue and on the school life of the collective, or, as the case may be, on the formation of the relationship between the majority and minority group.

For this reason, high demands are placed these days on the specialist preparation of teachers. Although spoken subject matter represents a very extensive and diverse element in the teaching of Czech as a foreign language, it is also necessary that teachers be informed of the socio-cultural background of pupils and students from abroad (most often in the position of immigrants and asylum seekers) and of the mutual connections between language systems, affiliated languages, as well as very dissimilar languages.

A sophisticated system does not yet exist for the teaching of Czech as a foreign language to pupils of various ages and origins, who frequently do not start their attendance at Czech schools from the 1st year, but later (and who often start going to school during the course of the school year).

The instructions issued by the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports intended for junior and secondary schools are very general and are understandably aimed above all at administrative issues, and not at the issue of the curriculum. The most extensive experience with the teaching of foreigners in ethnically-mixed classes is enjoyed by basic schools whose premises are within close proximity to refugee camps, as well as by schools with a greater representation of minorities living permanently in the CR (e.g. the Roma ethnic group). As far as pupils of a foreign language origin are concerned, it is important that teachers provide and develop in foreign pupils firstly verbal capabilities and the ability to understand the teacher, and only then writing skills. For this reason, foreign children should not start taking dictation tests at the same time as Czech pupils, but much later on.

Methodical instructions for the inclusion of foreign pupils in the educational process:
Most important factors:
1. The age of the child.
A foreigner who is incorporated into institutional education at a preschool age will best adapt to the Czech environment. Although children younger than school age (up to nine years old) have problems with the transition to communicating in Czech, these soon disappear. The greatest communication barriers caused by a lack of knowledge of Czech upon entering school are, as might be expected, experienced by pupils who are older than school age and secondary school pupils.

2. The motivation for the child to learn Czech.
Families with a positive relationship to education and who want to live in the Czech Republic over the long term seek private tutoring for their child (e.g. Chinese and Vietnamese businesspeople), are interested in what their children are studying in Czech schools, and establish social and work contacts with members of the majority population.

3. The length of time the child resides in a Czech environment before beginning to attend a Czech school.
When teaching Czech to pupils of other nationalities, it is also important whether this is a national minority living in the CR permanently (e.g. Slovaks, Roma, Poles, Germans), or whether the people involved are foreigners arriving in the CR for various reasons over the last decade (mainly Russians, Ukrainians, Romanians, Vietnamese, and Chinese people). A special group comprises children from Czech families repatriated from Kazakhstan and Romania, since many of them know some Czech because they have picked it up from their family. After approximately two years in a Czech environment, the foreign pupil communicates by and large without problems.

4. The child’s maternal language.
Children whose maternal language is Slovak face the least significant communication barriers. Fewer problems are also faced by children whose maternal language is one of the Slavic languages, or by children who are non-Slovak by origin but can speak a Slavic language, e.g. Russian or Serbian. However, this is not always the case. For instance, Vietnamese girls are frequently very conscientious and diligent, often attaining better results in Czech than their Czech peers at secondary school. They are encouraged to be self-disciplined when studying by their parents, who regard education as a priority and are willing to pay for it in the form of private tuition. But Vietnamese children themselves realise the importance of their education, since they themselves do not want to do what their parents do, e.g. run a market stall; they want to find better work.

5. The knowledge of the communication code common to the pupil and teacher, including socio-cultural differences.
It has been shown that under current conditions it is a good thing if the teacher can speak English, Russian or another language, since communication can then take place in these languages.
Generally, the adaptation of foreign pupils is made more difficult not only by ignorance of the teaching language, but often a different socio-cultural model of conduct and a different educational system in the country where the pupil comes from (that is, if they even attended school in their country of origin).
The final assignment to a specific class is usually determined by a combination of the factors outlined above. Above all, schools should avoid the mechanical assignment of pupils according to age.
By integrating a foreigner into the collective of the class and school, their social isolation is prevented. In this respect, it is necessary to ensure that:
a) foreigners do not sit together or in a group;
b) they are constantly involved in the teaching, the life of the class, and school and extracurricular activities.
It is not advisable to accumulate a large number of foreigners in one class. The maximum number is recommended to be 3 - 4 in a single class (unless it is a school which has been specially established for foreigners). It helps to encourage immigrant pupils to cooperate with Czech pupils. A method which has been shown to work is the “patronage” of a Czech pupil or pupils of the immigrant pupil during school and extracurricular activities. The choice of patron requires great care and attention. It should not automatically be the pupil with the best results, but a pupil with the ability to empathise and the willingness to cooperate over and above the framework of education.
It is a good thing to assign a foreign pupil to regular classes only after they have taken an entry (preparatory) course in Czech, e.g. in the form of attendance in a top-up class or something similar, and not to automatically assign the pupil to the same year as the one they were attending in their country of origin, but with consideration for the level of their mastery of Czech. In the best-case scenario, a pupil can enter a higher class more quickly than their Czech (younger) peers. However, large differences in the age of the foreign pupil and the rest of the class are also undesirable and result in problems of a social character.
It is necessary to approach the teaching of Czech as though it were a foreign language (i.e. from the point of view of a foreigner) and to utilise the available textbooks for teaching foreigners Czech (modifications will be necessary for a lower school age). Depending on the composition of the group, teaching will take place either by the direct method (in linguistically-mixed groups of pupils), or using the grammatical communication method (in the case of pupils of Slavic origin or pupils with a knowledge of Slavic languages, usually Russian).
The teaching of Czech to immigrant pupils is not only a matter for the Czech teacher, but all the teaching and non-teaching staff of a school, the reason being that Czech functions as a meta-language in the other subjects being taught. If a foreign pupil does not master the teaching language, they will not be successful in other subjects.
As far as examinations are concerned, neither the new Education Act nor any decree is specific on this point and it is basically up to the teachers what means they use to evaluate foreign pupils. One thing for sure is that examinations should be more lenient, although if this were to happen in a multi-ethnic class, the Czech pupils would be annoyed since they would receive worse marks than a foreign pupil for the same results. And if the teacher has no support from the law, it is very difficult to answer the objections made by Czech pupils.

• Stories and examples

The foreign pupils in our dialogue, as is the case in many Czech schools, have to face the fact that the teachers at school do not yet possess a systematic specialist or methodological knowledge of how to work with pupils and foreign students. These teachers frequently have to rely only on their own abilities and experience (they think up teaching approaches, verify their effectiveness, they work using trial and error and learn from their own mistakes), and place too great an emphasis on the written form of the language, on literary language, etc.

Story 1
As a result of an Italian company doing business in the CR, a fourteen-year-old boy named Antonio found himself in year 8 of a Czech secondary school, to which the headmaster assigned him on the basis of his age, even though the boy spoke Czech very poorly. The Czech teacher was reviewing the category of aspect in the grammar class. While the Czech pupils had mastered it, Antonio didn’t understand what was involved. The teacher tried for 25 minutes to explain this difficult category (especially for foreigners and especially for non-Slavs), but without success. She could not draw upon knowledge of a foreign language, which would have allowed her to compare two language systems and explain the analogy. Antonio could not understand a simple rule, which in certain cases does not apply, to the effect that if something repeats itself the imperfective tense is used, and in the opposite case, the perfective, causing the teacher to come out with a completely demotivating statement: “Foreigners will never learn our aspects!” This sentence woke up the bored Czech pupils, while Antonio sat gloomily until the bell rang for recess.

However, Czech teachers do not have it easy, since they have foreigners in their classes who have not yet adapted, and often have to concentrate individual attention on them, to the detriment of the Czech pupils. On the other hand, the presence of foreign pupils communicating in Czech can in a very natural way enrich the educational process with intercultural relations.

Story 2
The opening of a Japanese company in the Czech Republic meant for the family of the director that his thirteen-year-old son would have to attend a Czech secondary school for two whole years. Nobody in the family understood a single word of Czech, and their attempts to learn at least the basics came to nought. The family had an interpreter at its disposal (and the Czech management in the company received free English lessons). Thanks to the interpreter, the headmaster of the local secondary school registered the thirteen-year-old Japanese boy to year 1, since the boy couldn’t even say hello in Czech. This became a problem. The Japanese pupil did not want to study, and annoyed the teacher and his considerably younger classmates. After three months of this, the headmaster decided to hire a tutor, a girl held on the books of the labour office, who bought a Japanese-Czech phrasebook. The girl helped the teacher of the 1st year control the older foreign pupil. At the end of the school year, the Japanese boy only knew a few Czech swearwords, but had no interest in learning anything else. Both the school board and the Japanese student are looking forward to his leaving the school.

• Sources

References:

Balkó, I., Zimová, L. (2005). O jazycích, zemích a kultuře našich spolužáků, Ústí nad Labem.

Bischofová, J.(2005). Socio-kulturní aspekty při výuce češtiny jako cizího jazyka. Praha.(www. auccj.org).

Čechová, M., Millerová, Z. & Zimová, L.(2006). Metodická příručka o práci s žáky-imigranty ve výuce. Ústí nad Labem.

Śindelářová, J.(2005). Socio-kulturní zázemí žáků a studentů-imigrantů přicházejících ze zemí s odlišnou kulturou. Ústí nad Labem.

Internet:

Nový školský zákon č. 561/2004 Sb o předškolním, základním, středním, vyšším, odborném a jiném vzdělávání. Praha 2004. (www. msmt.cz).

Rámcový vzdělávací program pro základní vzdělávání. Praha 2004. (www. vuppraha.cz).

Rámcový vzdělávací program pro gymnaziální vzdělávání. Praha 2005. (www. vuppraha.cz).

Průcha, J.: Multikulturní výchova; problémy spojené s její realizací. Dostupné na webové stránce RVP Metodický portál VÚP.( http://ludum.rvp.cz/clanek/53/32).