Hey everyone! I'm 16 and I'm leaving in a few weeks to spend 10 months in a small town called Trebic (anyone from there or know anything about it? ) I wanted to know about high schools in the Czech Republic. Are they public or private, or does it depend on where they are? What sort of classes do they offer? What's the grading procedure? etc. etc. I really don't have a clue regarding anything about high schools, so any feedback would be great! thanks in advance!
Going there must be very exciting for you as well as scary! Do you speak czech? How long will you be there? Are you going as a forienge exchange student or are you parents moving there for some reason? It sounds like a great experience for you!
Hi welcome to this board and welcome to the Czech Republic. I haven't been to Třebíč yet, but it looks like a nice small city, here's a map It's very hard to answer your question about Czech high schools, there's so much of it I can tell you. It would be better if you could specify your questions a little bit. Anyway, I'll try to answer something. As far as I know there is big difference between the meaning of public and private school in American and British English, actually the meaning is contradictory. In Czech Republic most kids go to public schools (you don't pay for them and which I believe are called private schools in British English). There are private schools as well, but they're mostly in bigger cities like Prague or Brno, mostly because people have more money there and they can pay for the school. I don't know what kind of school will you be going to. If you give me name of the Czech school I can probably tell you more. There are basically three kinds of high school. One is called "Gymnazium" and you basically learn everything there, from Maths to Biology and Chemistry. Then there is "Odborná škola", it's school where you learn some kind of thing more deeply, i.e. you learn how to make movies, how to shoot movies, how to do programming, how to be accountant and so on. And the last one is "Učiliště" where you learn manual works, like repairing cars, becoming cook, carpenter and so on. Also in most Czech school there is approximately 30 students in one class (at least in big cities). Grading system in similar to the American one I believe with the exception the we don't use letters as a grade, we use numbers. 1 for an excellent and 5 is the worst you can get. Also you can get a middle grade like "1 minus" which is worst than just 1, or you can get "2 plus" which is better than 2, but worst than "1 minus". If you have any specific questions, just ask.
Do czech children still finish school at age 15 and then go onto what my husband referred to as "college"? If so, then this 16 year old would be too old for regular school correct? Here in the states, we usually do not finish high school and go to college until 18 years of age.
The povinná školní docházka begins at the age of 6 or 7, it depends whether you have been born in the winter or in the summer. You go to the základní škola for 9 years, so you finish it at the age of 15 or 16. After that you go to the střední škola which is similar to high school in US I believe. I wrote about the concept of střední škole above. So this boy would go to a střední škola.
thank you, thank you, thank you! everything you've all said has been so helpful. i'm going as a foreign exchange student for a school year, and i don't speak much czech.. at all. there's a language camp-type thing i'll be attending for the first few weeks, though. i believe the school is called 'catholic grammar school' if that helps. ps - this 'boy' is actually a girl .. maybe i should have mentioned that. i'm emilie, by the way!
I'm really sorry for making you boy. :cry: You have your name and sex written in your profile, I should checked your profile before writing that. I'm really sorry for that. Actually dzurisovak started calling you boy, so I thought that you are boy and didn't check it. I'm really sorry for such a stupid mistake. If there's anything I can do to forgive me the mistake, let me know. Anyway, grammar school is how gymnazium is sometimes translated. All what I wrote about gymnazium in my previous post applies to you, i.e. you'll have all the general lessons like maths, physics, geography, bilogy, computers and so on. You're 16, right? Are you going to first or second year in this czech school. I mean, are you gonna be freshman or sophomore? If I can ask you, what kind of language camp are you going to? You gonna learn basic Czech and so? Anyway, if you'll have any questions now or in future either about your school or czech language or just about something else, just ask. I'll be happy to help you.
Sorry to point this out gementricxs, but if you read the post you will see that I never called mlewerns a boy. I was very conscientious about that when writing my post. :lol:
Oh, I'm sorry dzurisovak, you're right. I started calling Emillie boy, sorry to both of you. I don't know why I thought that you started with that. I got confused when you wrote then this 16 year old, I don't know why but my brain automatically translated this as tento (masculine form) instead of tato. It's what English teachers call L1 influence (Language one, mother language, influence) I believe. Most of the time I read or write something I use the word this with masculine words (don't know why, but that's probably true), so I automatically translated it as a 16 yr old boy. I'll be more careful next time. Sorry again to both of you.
I have visited Třebíč a few times. It seemed like a nice, quiet little place (spoken by someone who grew up in U.S. suburbia). I'm not sure where you're coming from (that is, whether "Pennsylvania" means "rural Pennsylvania" or say "Pittsburgh"), but for me it definitely had small-town feel to it. There's a pretty town square, and in general some nice architecture. If I recall correctly, the town is generally shaped like a shallow bowl, with the old town roughly in the center, an older residential area on one side near the train station, and newer (panel house) developments on the other, with a river running down the middle. The people I met there also seemed to be really nice people (even in comparison to the rest of the Czechs, who I think are generally great people). There's a town website. Although it's only in Czech, you might find it interesting to browse and look at the pictures. Also, I found the website of the school you're attending (unfortunately, also only in Czech). Gementricxs was right about it being a gymnazium. Anyway, feel free to ask me other questions either here or via PM. I'll warn you, that my memory is a little rusty, as this was 10 years ago ...
What exchange program are you going with? Is it AFS or Rotary? If it's AFS, I have already talked with two of the girls who are also going this year. One is near Opava, and the other is near Prague. I went with AFS last year, and I lived in Olomouc. (Olomouc = raj) My friend was in Trebic earlier this year, I think. Gementricxs, your english is great! I didn't speak almost any english my last few months in OL, and when I came back, I had really bad english. Fakt, rikala jsem veci v anglictine, ale mely ceskou gramatiku. Mamka mi nerozumela. Jeste mam spatnou cesku, ale kazdej den se ucim, a pomalu to jde :wink: Emca
Ahoj Emile, I was so excited when I read your post, because I am 17 and in a week and a half I am also going to the Czech Republic as an AFS Internationl student. For a few months now I have been trying to find others who are going away, as in New Zealand it is only myself and another boy who are travelling to the Czech Reoublic and it is very hard to find information and people who have experienced the Czech Republic as an international student. So, I was very excited when I fumbled across this awesome website and saw all the support that people are willing to offer. SO, have you left yet? Or are you going with AFS and leaving end of August? I would really like to know what your exchange programme is, because I also am to attend a camp when I first get there, and how crazy would it be if it was the same one! :shock: You must be excited about the trip.. and don't worry I know hardly any Czech, despite my attempts to learn...... I will be living in Prague with a family consisting of a dad, mum, sister (16), sister (13) and a brother, and will be attending a gymnazium also. I hope to hear from you, Amelia
Thanks so much for all the help, everyone! I'm so excited to leave and I appreciate all the advice! Amelia - It's great to hear from another exchange student! I'm traveling with the Rotary program and I was scheduled to leave August 14th, but there were complications with my passport and visa, so now I'm scheduled to leave TOMORROW! :shock: From the United States there are maybe about ten or so students also travelling with Rotary. Some of them are already there, and some of them (like me!) are still waiting to leave. I don't know about the name of the camp; all I was told was that it was a sort of a daily immersion and language study. Sounds fantastic. You're so lucky to be hosted in Prague! I've always wanted to live there. I'm going to be in Třebíč (which I may have mentioned earlier on the board), which is, at least, within driving distance of Prague. I'll be living with a dad, mom, three older brothers (too bad they're all married or in college :wink: ), and a sister, who is 17. My email is MLEwerns@yahoo.com if you ever feel like chatting! -Emilie
In Germany, a Gymnasium is a high school, and I imagine it would be similar in the Czech Republic. To Emilie: I'm 17, and I was supposed to go to the Czech Republic this summer but we couldn't get passports in time :x If you are able to go, tell us all about it!
