Have you ever had an hour of freeform conversation? It is definitely an interesting experience. We went from dorm living (Czechia vs. U.S.) to history to comic books and their convoluted universes. It was interesting to learn that most people here only know Batman, Superman, and Spiderman. Next week SHOULD be more structured, or, in the very least, have a specific topic (Personal Log, 21 May 2018).
The following week was not more structured, and picking topics just seemed too ingenuine. Often our meetings just consisted of discussions comparing our experiences. The excerpt above came from my first day at work, where I met with 3 post doctorates who I would meet with on and off throughout the summer. They had been meeting with my mentor prior to this to practice their conversational English, and Stephanie thought it would be a good way for me to meet new people. By the end of my first week, I had 3 regular conversation groups set up, ranging from 3-5 people each. In most of them, the groups knew one another, but there were a few people that didn’t.
It was definitely an experience I hadn’t had before and it was one of my favorite parts of each week. We couldn’t always meet, and sometimes we would combine groups so it wasn’t just one-on-one, but I know I particularly enjoyed the time, and I hope that each of the people in the groups got something out of it as well. I think one of the most interesting things is that there were no topics off limits. Honestly, one of the most entertaining meetings I had was an hour discussing why water closets are called restrooms or bathrooms in the United States.
These were also some of the times I felt the most comfortable in Prague, and so I felt I was taking too much advantage of a situation where English was the dominant language of the situation. While it was my working language, even sitting in the office I was often surrounded by discussions in Czech. While this was completely expected, I fell into a particular type of comfort talking in my native tongue about really nothing at all. This made me fear that I was speaking too much in many of these instances.
One of these occasions was most likely due to the groups getting used to one another, especially the group that was composed of people that didn’t really know one another. It also occurred when I had a few sit downs with a group of interns working this summer. Though, in that situation, as I answered questions they asked me, I would be careful to ask them to answer them in return. This was much later on in the summer, though, so maybe I was conscious of overspeaking.
Overall, the weekly English conversations were some of my favorite times each week. It was a way to relax during the work day, and we often spent the time in the coffee shop located in the library or a food truck just a few blocks away. The experience actually made me even more interested in learning the language so I could possibly have similar experiences while conversing in Czech at some point.
Raven K 