Czechast: Women Educators In English Speaking Countries 2

This episode of Czechast brings you stories of women in Calgary, Canada, London and Manchester, UK, who organize teaching Czech language, culture and history to kids far away from the old country.       

Czech School in Manchester|Photo: Czech School in Manchester

Originally, I thought about producing only one episode based on the interviews I recorded. But since I spoke for several hours to these women - and yes, they were all women - I decided to break it up into two parts. I think it would be a shame to let their stories go unheard in Czechast. Take Pavla Matásková: she came to Manchester in the North of England at the beginning of the 1990s. She found work, new friends and family. But even in Britain she still felt the need to start a Czech school:

"We started very small at the very beginning. Gradually, the school grew into a community."

Czech School in Calgary|Photo: Czech School in Calgary

Andrea Navarro Željazková came to Calgary in the Canadian province of Alberta a few years ago and started helping the Czech School there as an intern. Today she takes care of the administration of the school and explains:

"We have 5 different classes. One is online and the other four take place on our premises. Two of them are for children who are in elementary schools from grade one to grade nine. And then we have a class of students who want to learn Czech as their second language."

As I record this episode, the Czech Ministry of Education officially recognizes and supports 15 schools in Europe and America. I got in touch with several of them in English-speaking countries and got to speak to their founders. Here are their stories.