Prague Journal

Wednesday, March 2, 2005.

There were no tours or research presentations scheduled for this morning, so Rick stayed in the hotel room to work on math and I went to a session about “The challenges and opportunities of teaching,” which was really a discussion session with the German teaching assistants. Fulbright Teaching Assistants are not teachers, but they are assigned to German middle- and high-schools to help in classrooms, usually as native-English speakers in English classes. The discussions were supposed to encompass cultural issues, teaching techniques, and administrative matters. Instead, most of the time was spent talking about the poor administrative structure and lack of understanding about what they were supposed to do, as well as the low pay, given the high cost of living in most areas now. Nonetheless, some of the discussion was interesting to me, if nothing else than to give me a glimpse into this program and to give me a taste of German culture and education.
I was scheduled to be part of a panel on “European Dimensions,” to take place at 2pm at the Fulbright Commission building, a few blocks away from the hotel. I was surprised that over 40 people showed up, despite having to brave the very cold, snowy weather. There were seven of us on the panel, each representing a different country experience: a journalist in Bulgaria, a teacher in Stockholm, a researcher in Poland, a professor in Slovakia, a doctoral student in Spain, and a light-skinned blond catholic woman professor in Turkey (!), and me (representing the Czech Republic). I have no idea why any of us was chosen, nor why Hungary was excluded from the panel, since there were several good candidates from Hungary at the conference. Our presentations were very diverse; two were formal power-point presentations, and two talked mostly about adjustment and culture-clash issues. I spoke mostly about education and entrepreneurial activity and attitudes in the Czech Republic, comparing and contrasting some of the others’ experiences, including Dr. Mei-Pochtler’s portrayal of German culture and economic development from her presentation on Monday.
The panel discussion ended promptly at 4pm, and we quickly walked back to the hotel for an early dinner at 5pm, so that we could board a bus at 6:15 that would take us to the University of Kunste concert hall for a Music Gala at 7pm. The three-hour program consisted of Fulbright students and faculty performances: Bach and Debussy piano pieces; a Dvorak aria; a violin, cello, and piano ensemble (the composer, a Berlin professor, was in the audience to hear this World Premiere of his composition); a Schumann cello and piano fantasie, and a Verdi aria from La Traviata. After the intermission, a baroque cello solo of Bach’s suite for unaccompanied cello; two tenor arias, Schubert and a Negro Spiritual; Rodrigo and Villa-Lobos guitar solos; Bernstein and Victor Herbert soprano arias; and a piano rendition of Ravel’s Tombeau de Couperin (by a young Vietnamese-American student) that brought down the house. Needless to say, the program was quite eclectic and the performances were stellar.

posted by JWinn @ 10:00 PM