Being an English lawyer living in Prague means being very busy at work.

This also means having almost no time for oneself, let alone for
learning a foreign language. Howard is one of the students, however, who
shows us that even the impossible can be done! In short, where there’s a will there’s a way. 

We hit it off immediately when I started to teach him approximately a
year ago. His British dry humour made me laugh, and I knew he would be a great student to teach. He works 16-19 hours daily, and to be honest, I
have been doing the same in the last few years teaching non-stop even
at weekends; that was also one of the reasons we became such a good
team. Having such a busy student means teaching on Skype only during
unpredictable gaps in his already overfull schedule.

I prepare all my lessons beforehand, usually in PowerPoint, and then
convert them to an interactive whiteboard online. This allows students
to contribute actively, for example by filling gaps in texts, matching
words and pictures, and describing pictures. We can also compare results from previous lessons, as I never delete student work. We listen to
songs and watch short videos where Howard gets to practice a small clip
of Czech in real life. I also use a textbook and workbook, but the most
powerful and invigorating seems to be the interactive whiteboard –
teaching actively online.

So far we have practiced all basic phrases and daily routine
vocabulary. He is able to conjugate all verb classes according to the
correct verb pattern and even the irregular ones such as ‚jet-jít-chodit-jezdit‘  with instrumental case of noun, e.g.  ‚jet metrem, jet autem but chodit pěšky‘.

We have also practised nominative and accusative of nouns and
adjectives according to the correct genders which are basic to using
Czech, e.g. ‚Líbí se mi nová Škoda.‘ but ‚Mám rád vepřovou šunku‘. He
puts his lessons into practice outside our online lessons while
shopping in the centre of Prague or ordering food or making reservations
in restaurants. As a fan of Czech jokes, Howard has surprised me a few
times by telling a joke which I had never heard. 

Howard, regardless his overburdened work life, belongs to the class of students that are truly fun to teach. 

Misa Loos, LOS Consultant