"Work with Czech“ (29.06.2020)

The International Office, in cooperation with the Language Centre, is offering a 3rd edition of the intercultural event for its international employees and PhD students. The main topic will be Czech culture, and how to navigate it as a non-Czech person. We would like to look at attitudes, values, activities etc. that would be considered „typically Czech“, as well as what is considered to be polite behaviour in the Czech Republic and what is expected  of people in certain situations. We will look at possible sources of misunderstanding, frustration or even conflict, or just interesting differences between life in the Czech Republic and outside it.

Through talking about cultural differences, we hope this seminar will contribute to increased cultural awareness in order to bridge any cultural gaps and improve communication.

The seminar will be called „Work with Czech“ and will take place on June 29.

3 lecturers (one Czech and 2 non-Czech) from the Language Centre and the International office are involved in this project:

​​​Zaan Bester has lectured in the fields of Academic Writing, English for Specific Purposes, and Academic  Literacy Testing for the past 18 years. Her Master’s Degree focused on the understanding of implied meanings in Intercultural Communication, and her PhD investigates bias and social justice in academic literacy testing. Her other interests include Blended Learning in the classroom and staff development.

Here is an interview with Zaan if you want to get to know her better.

Caroline Novák-Jolly has been working as the Euraxess coordinator at the International office for 4 and a half years. She is French and lived in Spain and in Ireland before moving to the Czech Republic in 2014. From those experiences, she has learned a lot about interculturality and she personally knows how challenging it can be when moving to another country. She decided to offer this seminar to help the international PhD students and employees of UPa to be become more familiar with the Czech culture and to get some tips and advice so that they can make the most of their adventure in Pardubice.

Here Caroline´s interview if you want to get to know her better

Marketa Denksteinova has lectured in the fields of English for Specific Purposes and Intercultural communication as a part of soft skills competence for the past 16 years. Her field of expertise lies among using new media in language leardning and increasing the intercultural awareness among university students.