Of Course

Settling into Prague for me was less about being in a foreign country, and more about redisciplining. After a relaxing summer off, I found myself, within four days of moving to Prague, bombarded with syllabuses and orientation forms, lists of assignments and mounting expectations. Our first day of class was therefore given over to scaring the shit out of us with every single thing that could stand in the way between us and a successful completion of our certification. We went to the pub immediately after class, as if we were all filing into a field hospital.

The course itself featured two distinct phases. In the mornings, we were subjected to two hour-and-a-half long information overloads called lectures. They covered everything from the linguistic history of the Angles to what to do when your students cross the line from polite to downright creepy. The afternoon activity, started from our second day of class, was a trial-and-error experiment in teaching. Dubbed "Teaching Practice" or TPs, we had the pleasure of teaching some very eager students, as well as watching our fellow classmates attempt to do the same. Then, we faced the business end of a harpoon as our instructors listed (usually several times for emphasis) every single thing we did wrong, right down to the way we gestured when giving instructions. It was exhilarating and humiliating.

Of course, all of this was supposedly in good fun, but that didn't seem to trickle down from the instructors to us students. Instead of dutifully preparing lessons, I often found myself pounding away on a keyboard at night and thinking, "What am I going to do wrong tomorrow?" Lindsey, ever the eager student, took to consulting her instructors regarding the content of her classes, the structure of her lessons, and even scripted some of her lines for the class. I took the opposite approach. Often I was as surprised (or confused) as my students about what had just come flying out of my mouth. For example, alluding (incorrectly) to Marvin Gaye's expression "get it on" as a phrasal verb.

As a result, Lindsey passed with flying colors and top marks. I passed. The end.

One thing I will say for the course is this: it made it easy to make friends. It was a rallying point among our classmates. Seriously, nothing brings people together better than something that we can all bitch about. It is the single most unifying force known to man. As a result, we forged some pretty quick, and supportive friendships with people we probably would have never even considered existed. It's shocking and a bit dramatic, having gotten to know these people, to think of it that way. Nonetheless, here I am in Prague, having supported, proofread for, consoled, critiqued, and even hugged a group of twenty complete strangers for a full month.