As we promised in the last issue of our magazine, we are bringing you yet another interview with an English teacher. The lucky one this time was Mrs Olga Havlíková.
What inspired you to become a teacher?
Well, maybe who, not what, because I didn’t mean to be a teacher, I never wanted to be a teacher. But actually after my bachelor studies, during my master studies, I prepared to write a thesis in translation, I wanted to be a translator, I wanted to spend time sitting with books and dictionaries all around me and translating stuff, however I started attending teaching lessons, or seminars, and there was a person, who made it really enjoyable and funny, and I realized, wow, teaching doesn’t have to be as boring as it was when I was at school, and then when I actually started writing my final thesis, I realised it was quite boring, just sitting and translating, with no one around, just you and the books, talking to no one. There was nothing entertaining, just the computer, you and a pen and loads of books and I knew that wasn’t what I really wanted. So it was my teacher, actually, who inspired me.
Why did you choose English?
German was very boring at university. I was always a German girl, I started German at the age of eight, I studied a German, actually Austrian, secondary scool, all the subjects taught in German language and English was just my second language. But because I wanted to study both languages at university, I had to go abroad after my maturita exam, because my level of English wasn’t as good as they wanted. So I went abroad, I went to England for a year, and when I came back, I realised the level of German went down a lot, so then actually I learnt German again, or I revised a lot of it. And when I was accepted to study both subjects, I realised German was a boring language. The studies were boring, the way they taught it at university was boring and I didn’t enjoy it, so I stopped after bachelor’s and I stuck to English
What is the most interesting thing about teaching?
The fact that you meet people. You meet young people, you are in contact with younger generation. I teach a language, so I don’t just give them facts, but I learn a lot about the students as well, a about their characters, about their individuals, sometimes even problems, you know. And that’s it, the fact that I’m inside a group of other people and we share comments and we discuss things and all that stuff, it’s not about teaching, I don’t think I’m telling them something unusual, I just talk to them, that’s it.
What do you think is the most difficult?
To get them motivated, definitely.
Why do you think learning languages is important?
Because no one speaks Czech, just us in the Czech Republic and these days, wherever you go, you need at least one other language. I’m not really saying it’s English, which is the most important. In this era, German language is very useful as well. But if you want to travel and you want to be independent, you don’t want to ask anybody to translate simple sentences for you, to check time, to ask how much something is and so on, you should know at least some basic phrases. And it’s actually not difficult to learn the basics.
Which were your favourite subjects at school?
Well, languages, definitely, I loved German language a lot, I did, then English because my secondary school teacher was quite good. I liked PE, I like sports a lot, so I enjoyed PE lessons, but I really hated the rest, like chemistry, physics, all that stuff.
You said you studied abroad, what did you do for a living?
The main purpose, why I went abroad, was to improve my English. Actually, when I arrived, I realised I was able to talk to people, I was able to find the right bus, I was able to look after kids, they understood what I’d wanted them to do, so that was quite positive for me, but the main purpose was really to attend some courses and get a CAE certificate, so I was a regular au-pair, but attending courses, getting my certificate, that was it.
What do you think about using English words in Czech?
It’s modern, everybody does it. I don’t really like it, I’m a patriotic person, I love the Czech language and I love the Moravian dialect, because that’s where I come from. I quite struggle speaking Czech in this area, because my Czech language is really different. I think we have enough Czech words, lovely words, but I do understand that it sounds better, it’s, you know, cooler to use English words.
What do you like to do in your free time?
I like jogging, but I don’t have much time to go jogging, because my daughter is too young to join me and she is too young to stay home alone, so most of the time, I enjoy spending time with her. But not me doing something and her playing somewhere, but we like doing something together. Even if we go gardening together, I teach her to do this and that, or we just create something out of paper or sand, whatever, just doing something together. It’s not just a waste of time, in the evening you feel wow, that was a great day.
Is there anything you’d like to say to your students?
Don’t be lazy. That’s it, just don’t be lazy, because some of my students are and they stick to a certain level of English and they don’t want to move any higher. They feel like „I know enough, if I go to meet an Irish guy at a camp, I can understand, I can talk to him“, but still the level isn’t what it can be. Fine, the native speakers understand, but the students may make much bigger progress and they usually do. As soon as they realise I’m understood and that’s fine, so why should I learn more vocabulary, why should I learn more grammar, this is just enough, they stop learning. So just find more motivation and don’t be lazy! It’s all about laziness. But anyway, thank you guys for being here. It’d be boring without you!
We’d like to thank Mrs Havlíková for her time and we hope that next time, another teacher will talk to us!
