Looking Back on Our Summer Semester












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            * Looking Back on Our Summer Semester
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            We are Marta Bravo Pérez and Maria Castro Maquieira, two Erasmus students from Spain. We s

            Education at University of Santiago de Compostela and this academic year we were required 
            practical work.
            The beginning - 24th February 2013:

            We are really nervous. Today, we are going to find out if we can stay for the full year in
            or not our winter semester Erasmus study stay can be extended for an extra term. The past 
            (since September 2012) at Faculty of Arts of Charles University have been wonderful.  The 

            has allowed us to meet a lot of new people and also develop our skills in our field of stu
            Education.  However we now have to arrange a placement in a local school which is proving 

            difficult.
            Finally! Our Erasmus coordinator has given us the possibility to do the practical in Pragu
            we are allowed to stay in Prague for four extra months. A great opportunity to learn about

            system of a foreign country!
            Four months later - 24th Juny 2013:
            How Was Your Experience?

            After looking for suitable schools in Prague to do our practical we found a good one. The 
            Spanish and he allowed us to complete the practical in his school for a time of 2 months. 
            called “Škola svatého Augustina” (St.  Augustin School). It is a private school with a rel

            The centre is open for young children and offers early childhood and primary education (it
            a kindergarten and a primary school). One of the unique aspects of the centre is that chil
            opportunity to learn 3 languages (Czech, English and Spanish) since their early childhood 

            In the beginning we were quite afraid and didn’t know what exactly to expect. For example,
            if we would be able to participate in the school activities as much as we would like to du
            barrier as Czech is a very difficult language and so far we know only the basics!

            Fortunately, the things went very well. On the first day of our placement, the headteacher
            whole school building. It is a new building, with large and light classrooms and nice deco
            each of us joined a different class (Maria worked with the 3rd years and Marta with the 4t

            All the teachers were very nice and they helped us to integrate into the school life.
            First, some children were a little confused due to the presence of one more teacher in the
            slowly they grew familiar with us. We helped and participated in the life of the school as

            could. We were always present in the class and we also had the opportunity to teach the ch
            Spanish, which was a great experience although the first class was a bit difficult, but ev
            successful. Sometimes, we felt disheartened because we weren’t able to understand what the

            telling us. However, they quickly realised that we did not speak Czech and they learnt to 
            us through gestures and also with easy words such as “finished” (in English) when they com
            “gracias” (thank you in Spanish).

            They were not the only ones who were able to learn something new as we also learnt some Cz
            them, now we know words like maminka (mummy), slunce (sun), sníh (snow), had (snake) and s
            Although we would have liked to communicate more directly with the children, we gave and r

            much more universal: affection.
            This was an awesome experience. We knew from our courses at Charles University what the ma
            education in Czech Republic was; we studied the different methodologies and ways of the ed

            at the school we learnt directly from the teachers and also, of course, from the children.
            also helped us in our professional improvement because we were able to learn how a school 
            people work. We really recommend it, if you have the opportunity, to go on exchange and to

            in another country.
            We are now packing our things to go back to Spain. We have luggage full of notes from our 
            university, great memories and of course, beautiful drawings by the children from the scho