New Golden Amos Crowned in Prague
In the Czech Republic, after a fierce battle, judges selected a new Zlaty Amos. Seven finalists competed to win the crown for the most popular teacher in the Czech Republic, the Golden Amos - named after the great 17th century Czech philosopher Jan Amos Comenius. Kate Barrette was at the competition final in Prague and has more:
But it wasn't a musician who made the high school students from Jablonec nad Nisou starry eyed and hoarse from screaming. It was their math teacher, Lubos Blahout.
Mr. Blahout was one of seven finalists in the competition for the most popular teacher in the Czech Republic. The four men and three women, nominated by their students, competed against one another on Friday - sparring in skits, comedy sketches, and musical numbers for more than two hours.
Marie Stepnickova from Gymnazium Joachima Barranda, woed judges and affirmed her students' adoration with her wit and her fiddle. Similarly, Martina Ciklova, an elementary school teacher from Ostrava, composed and sang a song. Other teachers led impressive puppet shows. One group of male students even performed a strip tease.
But at the end of the day, only one teacher could officially win the competition. And after all the hard work, tension and hopes were high.
It was an emotional time both for the students and the teachers, and by the end there were tears all around. Some were tears of disappointment; but for students of Lubos Blahout, the math teacher from Jablonec nad Nisou, they were tears of joy. The man with long curly hair who has been known to dye it red when he loses bets with his students - took the crown.
Mr. Blahout's students gathered around him to congratulate him. Two of them spoke to me about how they were feeling.
I asked one student whether these activities were helpful in learning math.
"Not for me exactly but for other students it really is."
Mr. Blahout was also really happy about his victory.
"It's fantastic, I'm very happy, I've done a lot for this and I'm so glad I managed, that this has turned out, and the effort was not wasted. I'm teaching in such a way so that it's fun for the kids, so they feel they would be missing out if they didn't come to the lessons. So they look forward to me coming to class, bursting with energy. That's why it's fun for me."
