Are you interested in knowing the possible Pathways through your English
language studies before and after joining The English College in Prague? Look at this interactive diagram to see information about:
Entrance, Setting & Courses
Changing classes/moving sets
External exams in Year 4
Entry to the IB
English
Whether teaching native or non-native speakers, our overarching goal is to enable each student to develop their knowledge of and skills in the English language and to encourage a lifelong enjoyment of reading, as well as the confident use of the language on a daily basis. Through the skills of analysing literary and non-literary texts our students become familiar with the use of English in wide-ranging contexts and acquire a solid grounding in academic english and the ability to produce well-crafted written texts for a variety of purposes and audiences.
We offer comprehensive English support to all our non-native speakers. We assess their needs when they join the school and support them throughout their years at ECP. All subjects taught in English contain an element of language teaching, as teachers introduce vocabulary, explain definitions, and put the usage of terminology into context. Out students learn to use English with subtlety, accuracy and humour, as well as technical proficiency.
Just three of the reactions to the ECP Václav Havel Scholarship concert last week. And they were right. But the concert was not only a great musical event. The donations have now been counted and the VHS team are delighted to announce the result. This year’s concert has raised a very impressive 130,000 CZK towards a scholarship for a second Václav Havel Scholar! And the team wants to say a big ‘thank you’ to the whole ECP community for their donations.
Challenges
Kryštof Folbrecht, our Prince of Wales Scholar, was co-host of the concert. He says: ‘Moving the Václav Havel Scholarship Concert online was obviously a big challenge for our team. But with every big challenge comes even greater opportunity. We had the chance to connect with musicians from so many different places and backgrounds. This made the concert much more accessible for everyone who wants to support this cause.’
Donations and support
‘All the performers, teachers and students working on this project gave it their best. We are excited that people have again, if only metaphorically this time, come together to support the Václav Havel Scholarship. Thank you, we are very grateful for your donations and support.’
Breaking down prejudices
Selma Kaymakci, our other co-host, says: ‘There has been so much work and effort put into this concert and Roma awareness week, from every single person on the team. We raised awareness and encouraged discussion within the school community about the importance of the project. This year, we really did not expect to raise such a large amount of money because the concert was held online. So I would like to thank everybody who has contributed financially. With your help, we are one step closer to reaching our goal and to breaking down prejudices.’
Thank you
‘I would like to thank everybody on the team. Without them, the concert would not have been possible. Firstly, I would like to thank Linda who brilliantly prepared all the Roma awareness week plans and materials, overcoming a few challenges on the way. Thank you, too, to Karolina and Eileen for helping to prepare the assembly. To Anise, who helped with translations, contacts and the assembly. To Martin, who helped with the website and translations and to Tatana who created the beautiful posters. Last, but not least, huge thanks go to Kryštof who edited the whole concert in less than a week despite all the technical difficulties. We are also grateful to Ms Švejdová who stuck with us during everything and to Ms Hatinová who helped us to put the concert together.’
The 2020-21 Václav Havel Scholarship Team
Putting Something Back
Dr Brown says: ‘I would like to congratulate Kryštof and Selma and the whole Václav Havel Scholarship Team on an amazing concert. When the English College Foundation established the College, back in 1994, one of the guiding principles of our first Chairman of Governors, Lord Holme, was ‘putting something back’. He would have been delighted to see how willing our students are to work together as a team for a common goal. They put on a great concert, which was not only very enjoyable, but which showed us why it is important to provide another scholarship for another Roma student.’
We often say at the ECP that helping others is in our DNA. This is a lesson that Katie Chlumská certainly learned during her time here. In the latest addition to the Careers Video Library, Katie has recorded a fascinating account of her experience working with NGOs. She combines a collection of wonderful photographs from working in the field in the Palestinian Territories, Nepal, China and Somalia with some very useful advice for current students.
ECP’s support for good causes
After graduating from the College in 2008, Katie achieved a BA in International Relations at Exeter University. She followed this with an MA in Global and Comparative Politics at Queen Mary University of London. It was while at university that Katie converted her love of helping other people into a passion for development work. It all began at the ECP through raising money and awareness for the good causes our students support. You can read more about ECP’s charity work on our website.
Visit to speak to students
Some of our students will remember Katie coming into school in 2018 to talk about her work at the time. She was Deputy Head of the Abaarso School of Science & Technology in Somaliland, an NGO school funded by the Horn of Africa Education Fund / USAID.
After three years in Abaarso, Katie returned to Prague. She was offered a job at the Ministry of Education in the International Affairs, EU and ESIF department. Here, as a project/financial manager, she is able to put her practical experience in the field to good use. Although currently taking a break from frontline development work, Katie says: “I may be working behind a desk at the moment, but I am still fulfilling my need to contribute positively to the community, though it is a very different kind of help, and less ‘hands on’ than I have been used to. And while I am glad to be with my family in Prague during the pandemic, we’ll see what the future holds.”
ECP Community Spirit
You can see Katie’s video here. She has very generously, in true ECP spirit, offered to answer students’ questions about her career. So if you would like to know more about her work, you can email her on: [email protected]
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For the sixth year in a row, a group of students, ECP scholars led by Mrs Švejdová, has been working on raising funds for the Václav Havel Scholarship, which is intended for a Roma student.
Every year, the team prepares a benefit concert, an auction and a Roma Awareness Week, thanks to which our students gain better knowledge of the Roma community.
New initiative
The work on all related events was thwarted by coronavirus last year. However, the students were not discouraged and continued to work for this cause throughout the year. Instead of a concert and auction, they prepared an arts competition for Roma children called Tříkrát co. Thanks to the competition, they managed to get not only pictures for the planned auction but also valuable contacts. The competition has thus become a new tradition.
The first scholarship holder Marek Horváth, who graduated from The English College in 2018. He spoke very nicely about the scholarship via Romea organisation here. At the end of the interview, he invited potential applicants for the Václav Havel Scholarship not to be afraid and to apply to study at our school.
Concert programme
Students have also created a new website for the scholarship available in Czech as well as English language. This year, the scholarship team has decided that despite the current situation the concert will take place, although it will be only in a virtual form. The students addressed a number of Roma musicians – known as well as unknown ones. They also contacted important personalities of the Roma community and the outcome is an hour-long programme where ECP students will perform as well.
The students have expanded the Roma Awareness Week to include a Cultural Diversity Week. This move has enabled them to prepare a programme focusing on the issue of integrating different groups into the majority society in greater depth. Students will have an opportunity to discuss positive discrimination in a debate. Other activities for students will include Angeline Aow’s lecture on diversity in education and a showing of the film Girl on a mission.
The week will culminate with the aforementioned concert. We hope it will bring great satisfaction to the entire Václav Havel Scholarship team for their hard work. We believe that this year we will be able to raise the remaining amount to cover six years of study at ECP. Most importantly, we hope that we will be able to find a suitable Roma scholar. We will be very happy for your support of our efforts.
You are welcome to send any contributions for the scholarship to bank account number: 481831023/0300. Thank you.
Our theme for this year’s Literary Festival was, perhaps, more meaningful than ever as we have all found ourselves with more time to read than usual during the current pandemic… For many of us, reading has provided a real escape, has contributed to our sense of well-being and is definitely something that we want to celebrate!
Speakers
Kathryn Evans, award winning author of Beauty Sleep and More of Me, opened the Festival with a motivating presentation entitled Resilience and Reading. She discussed her favourite books and the positive impact that reading has had upon her.
International best selling author, Ross Welford took the day forward. He not only did incredible magic tricks, but also gave tips on how to improve creative writing skills. He was very popular with the students. They enjoyed taking part in the writing exercises and loved his answers to their questions.
The Festival came to an end with a session by Rob Bradley – freestyle rap world champion, poet, song writer and author of Reasons to Write Rhymes. He astounded all by performing an ‘on the spot’ rap using 60 random words suggested by the students. Rob went on to share his literary journey and to stress the importance of self-belief and following your creative passions.
Student activities
Throughout the day, in between presentations, the students completed a range of reading related activities. This led to them gaining points for their houses. These included making a reading den, creating a book trailer, writing and reciting poetry, writing a short story or creating a book illustration. In addition, they produced reading related websites for their houses and fabulous twitterboards based on literary characters. Two teams from each house competed in a Big Book Quiz. It was quite a day and the results from the students were outstanding! We’re already looking forward to next year! Mrs Selbie- Librarian
Watch this book trailer produced by Sofie Balharová from Year 2
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The beginning of the new term has flown past in a flurry of creativity as students from across our House Teams (Aqua, Ignis, Terra and Ventus) rushed to make the deadline at the end of January for their Cultural Olympiad submissions. Normally a large whole school event at Salesiánské divadlo, we had the challenge, this year, of not only making it happen virtually – but also complying with the current state regulations on social distancing, and digital submissions. No easy feat for our creatives!
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Over 100 students from across the College rose to the challenge and produced an incredible array of solo and group performances, finding inventive ways to imaginatively combat the restrictions with multi screen videos, creative Google Meets and impressive home studio recordings. This year, the theme of ‘Time’ inspired all the submissions, with innovative, imaginative and resourceful responses. The categories included Performance and Visual Arts. A panel of external professional judges added a touch of glamour to the proceedings, and the virtual format of the event lent itself to showcasing a wide range of support messages from across the school – see our Opening Montage – an entertaining watch.
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Results
On the afternoon of Friday February 12th, all students took part in a watchalong event of 2 Parts. It was an entertaining extravaganza of humour, wit, creativity, cringe and, of course, talent, led by our in-house MC Mr Hillier. After a closely fought battle, Ventus emerged the victors by just 1 point! Kindest thanks to our Culture Captains – Monika, (Aqua) Bibi (Ignis), Josephine (Terra) and Sofia (Ventus). They worked tirelessly under extenuating circumstances to steer some excellent participation from their teams. They showed superb creative leadership and were impressive all-round Ambassadors for the Arts. Well done to all involved. Ms MacLeod, Head of Arts
By Beatrice Doubová, Aqua – Winner of the Visual Arts Category
