Czech Short Courses Levels

Course description: Level 1 is for people with no previous knowledge of the language or minimal knowledge such as some greetings and the alphabet. The course runs over three ten week terms and each session is two hours long. The course includes all four skills: reading, writing, speaking and listening. The course will cover the following:

Topics: the alphabet and pronunciation, greetings, numbers, family, food, shopping, orientation, flat/furniture, people’s characteristics.

Cultural references: typical food, simple proverbs, polite exchanges, basic aspects of living in or visiting the Czech Republic.

Functions: introducing oneself, understanding numbers (prices, telephone numbers), describing your family, ordering food and drinks in a Czech restaurant, basic shopping over the counter, understanding directions, describing your house or flat, describing people and things.

Grammar: grammatical gender, basic conjugation, accusative case, basics of genitive and locative, past and future tense, personal, indefinite and negative pronouns.

Study materials: New Czech Step By Step by Lída Holá or Čeština Express by Lída Holá and Pavla Bořilová; teacher’s materials.

Course description: Level 2 is for people who completed Level 1 or who have some knowledge of the language acquired through regular visits to the country or through self-study. The course runs over three ten week terms and each session is two hours long. The course includes all four skills: reading, writing, speaking and listening. The course will cover the following:

Topics: sports, hobbies, leisure time, human body, GP appointment, travelling, cooking, chores, asking for directions, geographical terms, biography, personality traits, weather, communication – emails, SMS, letters, clothes.

Cultural references: typical leisure time activities of Czech people, geography of the Czech Republic, acquiring a basic awareness of Czech music and understanding simple lyrics.

Functions: talking about sports, talking about one’s hobbies, describing the human body, describing simple symptoms to a medical professional, talking about your travelling experience in past and future, describing everyday chores and obligations, using names of countries and cities, describing people’s life stories, describing people’s character in more detail, talking about weather, sending emails, SMS and letters in Czech.

Grammar: genitive, dative, accusative, locative, instrumental in singular, nominative in plural, prepositions with various cases, aspect of verbs – perfective and imperfective, conditional and imperative, comparison of adjectives and adverbs.

Study materials: New Czech Step By Step by Lída Holá or Čeština Express by Lída Holá and Pavla Bořilová; teacher’s materials.

Course description: Level 3 is for people who completed Level 2 or who have sound knowledge of the language acquired through extensive visits to the country or through self-study. The course runs over three ten week terms and each session is two hours long. The course includes all four skills: reading, writing, speaking and listening. The course will cover the following:

Topics: family relations in more detail, offices and institutions, restaurant, looking for a flat or house, short story, transport and travelling, jobs and professions, CV and application forms, holidays, traditions and celebrations in the Czech Republic and abroad, wishes.

Cultural references: typical Czech holidays and traditions, music and culture, Czech humour.

Functions: speaking about more complex relations within a family including problems, challenges and family events, managing official conversation in an institution, filling in a form, socialising in a restaurant, advertising or reacting to an advertisement, buying or selling house or flat, understanding simple short stories and extracting important information, speaking about travelling, speaking about professions and work experience, writing a CV, speaking about traditions and holidays in the Czech Republic and in the world, writing holiday/Christmas and other cards.

Grammar: revision of all cases in singular, accusative and locative in plural, personal, possessive, demonstrative, interrogative, indefinite and negative pronouns, aspect of verbs, diminutives.

Study materials: Česky krok za krokem 2 by Lída Holá and Pavla Bořilová; teacher’s materials.

Course description: Advanced is for people who have completed Upper Intermedaite or who have good knowledge of the language acquired through living in the country or through using Czech regularly. The course runs over three ten week terms and each session is two hours long. The course includes all four skills: reading, writing, speaking and listening. The course will cover the following:

Topics: people and things, less common objects of everyday use, shopping and services in more detail, gender in society and other societal challenges, invitation to a Czech family, sports and games, health and lifestyle, culture and arts, film and TV.

Cultural references: regional customs, arts and crafts, films, essential literature texts, Czech humour.

Functions: describing all objects of everyday use including modern technology, managing communication in services, ordering repairs, extracting important information from articles, speaking about challenges in the family and in the society, communicating with a Czech family in their home environment, speaking about sports and games, discussing health and lifestyle in Czech, speaking about culture, following films and TV programmes in Czech.

Grammar: colloquial Czech, time expressions, aspect of verbs, the expressions když and až, verbs of motions, object-centred constructions with accusative and dative, word formation (prefixes, derivation), possessive adjectives.

Study materials: Česky krok za krokem 2 by Lída Holá and Pavla Bořilová, teacher’s materials.

Course description: Advanced Plus is for people who have completed Advanced or who have very good knowledge of the language acquired through living in the country extensively or through using Czech regularly through work or personal relationships. The course runs over three ten week terms and each session is two hours long. The course includes all four skills: reading, writing, speaking and listening. The course will cover the following:

Topics: specialised topics of interest, newspapers and magazines, internet and modern technology, society and values, problems of the planet, Czech history, literature, politics.

Functions: understanding and using colloquial language, discussing current affairs, politics, societal issues and other topics in Czech, expressing preference, supporting an argument, public presentations, expressing gratitude, sympathy, appreciation; expressing regret and indifference; defending and accusing.

Grammar: colloquial Czech, revision of conjugation and declension, revision of aspect, conjunctions, irregular declension, declension of numerals, reflexive and descriptive passive, verbal substantives and adjectives, ortography.

Study materials: Česky krok za krokem 2 by Lída Holá and Pavla Bořilová, teacher’s materials.