{"id":1193,"date":"2024-07-01T20:56:00","date_gmt":"2024-07-01T18:56:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/zpravodaj.gymnsostelc.cz\/?p=1193"},"modified":"2024-07-07T20:56:40","modified_gmt":"2024-07-07T18:56:40","slug":"a-year-with-jasmine-su-a-native-speaker-from-the-usa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/zpravodaj.gymnsostelc.cz\/index.php\/autori\/marie-nekulova\/a-year-with-jasmine-su-a-native-speaker-from-the-usa\/","title":{"rendered":"A year with Jasmine Su, a native speaker from the USA"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

So where do you live in the USA?<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hello everyone! Right now, I live in Winton-Salem, North Carolina (although I moved there when I was 14 from Connecticut).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Can you tell us something about that place? <\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Winston-Salem is a small city (compared to the US) and I think it is really special! Only a small part of it can be considered a \u201ccity\u201d with tall buildings and square blocks, while the rest is more suburban and filled with houses, shops, schools, and parks. There is a university called Wake Forest University in the city. The university\u2019s campus is very beautiful because the buildings have a very nice Georgian-style architecture and there are plenty of grassy lawns and trees as well. My favorite place is under a really big tree (that I climbed a lot with my friends when we were younger) that has swings on it! Additionally, the university campus is connected to Reynolds House and Gardens. This is the small mansion that belonged to the Reynolds Family who founded the RJ Reynolds tobacco company (and produce camel cigarettes if you\u2019ve heard of those). Their house is now a museum with furniture from the early 1900s and is also an art museum. Their gardens are a wonderful park where I often walk my dog. Finally, Winston-Salem has a history that connects to the Czech Republic!! In the 1750s a Christian group (the Moravians) came from Moravia and settled in Winston-Salem. It is still possible to visit their \u201cvillage\u201d which is still preserved today. Two fun facts: Krispy Kreme, a large donut company in the US, is from Winston-Salem, as well as Texas Pete hot sauce, a somewhat famous brand of hot sauce in the US!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What did you study in the USA and how did you get to the Czech Republic?<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I studied Biomedical Engineering (this was my \u201cmajor\u201d or main field of study) and Scientific Computing (this was my \u201cminor\u201d or secondary field of study, so I took much fewer courses relating to this subject – it is something computer or data science). I was able to come to the Czech Republic thanks to a program called Fulbright. It is a cultural exchange program between the US and many countries. People doing a Fulbright can either teach English like me or do some sort of research. I have always been interested in other cultures and I was interested in teaching, even though I had never done it in a classroom like I do now. But, because I am someone who likes to try new things and loves meeting new people, it seemed like a really exciting opportunity. My family is from Asia, so I have been many times, but before this year I had only spent 10 days in Europe (Spain and Denmark, so not even the Czech Republic!) and I wanted to learn more about this place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Do you see any differences between Czech schools and American schools?<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Definitely! I have a whole lesson about this\u2026 so I\u2019ll try to keep it concise ;). The first thing that comes to mind is the different school structure. Usually in the US students spend 6 years at elementary school, 3 years at middle school, and 4 years in high school. There is no 8-year track (prima to oktava) and it is rare to have some specialty schools (like the st\u0159edn\u00ed odborn\u00e1 \u0161kola). Another one of the biggest differences that I noticed is the size and structure of each class. Unlike at our school, my school had 460 students who were in my same year or class. But, we obviously didn\u2019t have classes together all the time. Students could choose which classes they wanted to take including the level (regular or more advanced). This meant that there would be different people in my Biology, Chemistry, History, etc. classes. In America, it is also very common to have after school clubs. Every student generally had the same number of classes (and would go home at the same time), so they could also attend clubs or sports teams. Sports teams were very important at my high school and students would attend clubs in the hopes that it would help them with college admissions. Finally, students get to and from school rather differently. Just like in the movies, American schools have big yellow buses that transport students between their homes and school. Students usually decide which school they should go to based on where they live. This means your school is the one that is closest to your house, so it\u2019s possible to arrange buses that can go to every students\u2019 house. At the end of the day, there are still many similarities: middle schoolers are silly and make trouble while teenagers act like they are too cool to care\u2026 haha<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Did you have any ideas about (or perceptions of) the Czech Republic, before you arrived here, and was it different from reality? <\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I didn\u2019t know much about the Czech Republic before arriving. I knew there was a lot of beautiful nature and that Czechs enjoy hiking (which I have found to be true), but it wasn\u2019t until I got here that I found out about their passion for biking! Some other things that I\u2019ve noticed Czech people generally associate with after I arrived: gardening, beer (of course), making their own alcohol (I think it\u2019s pretty cool\u2026 and can be pretty good), singing\/music. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Can you recommend us any places in the USA to visit? Something special and not so touristy? <\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are so many places that even I haven\u2019t had a chance to visit because the USA is so big!! Also, from my point of view it\u2019s hard to think of something that Europe doesn\u2019t have that would be worth visiting \u2026 but, I will try my best \ud83d\ude42 Starting with my home state of North Carolina, I would recommend the Outer Banks. Recently, a popular TV show has been made about the beaches here, but it\u2019s mostly local tourists who visit, so I think that counts as not too touristy\u2026 It\u2019s a great place to spend a long vacation, rent a beach house, and enjoy the ocean, biking, kayaking, paddleboarding, and a kind of slow pace of life. One island here even doesn\u2019t allow cars, so you have to travel by horse, golf cart, bike, or foot (which now that I\u2019m thinking about it isn\u2019t THAT cool for you all, but in the US where it\u2019s impossible to get around without a car\u2026 it\u2019s pretty cool). I would also recommend any national . I haven\u2019t been to the biggest (and probably coolest) ones out West, but in Tennessee, the state where I attended university, there are the Great Smoky Mountains which has wonderful nature and a cute town called Gatlinburg. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

How would you rate your stay in Tel\u010d?<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

My state in Tel\u010d has been absolutely wonderful: 10\/10!! The town is just as cute as the pictures that I found on the internet, and I have managed to discover other places that are not on the internet that I find spectacular. Exploring and getting to know Tel\u010d has been one of my favorite parts of this year. And being able to show my friends and family this place, and watch them fall in love with it as well has been amazing. The people here are also the best, and I\u2019m so thankful to everyone who has given me a bit of their time while I\u2019ve been here to show me around or just keep me company even outside of school hours. I am also thankful to live near the bus\/train station\u2026 because I DO travel a lot and that is insanely helpful.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How would you rate this school year?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This school year has also been really good! I would probably rate it a 9\/10, just because it wasn\u2019t always easy. It definitely took me a solid month or two to figure out how to teach since I had never done it before, and before I had made friends and figured out this place, it was a bit difficult. But, I learned a lot through the process and I have gained so much because of that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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What was your best experience?<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is the hardest question ever!! Overall, I would say meeting people this year has been the most rewarding part of it all. I have been able to try and experience new things. For example, this year, I have biked more than ever in my entire life, seen Czech festivals and traditions that I had no idea existed, and spent the longest time with people who grew up completely differently from me, and that is thanks to everyone who took the time to talk to me (or maybe let me force them into that haha). Something that I am really happy about is the fact that I was able to learn a little bit of Czech. It has been really rewarding to see my Czech improve (you never know when I can kind of piece together your Czech conversations\u2026 so be careful) and also learn songs in Czech! Some of my favorite memories from this year have involved singing Czech songs which I have now committed myself to start learning\u2026 even if I don\u2019t always know what the words mean, I\u2019m slowly learning. This leads me to the last thing that I enjoyed most about this year (sorry I have so many) which is learning! I\u2019ve learned so much about Czech people and culture, teaching, myself, and Europe as a whole (from my many travels). These are things that I will take with me for the rest of my life and share with everyone that I meet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thank you very much Jasmine for sharing your expeariences with us and we are glad that you are here at school with us.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This year we have a special guest at our school. Her name is Jasmine Su, she is from the USA and she agreed to answer a few questions for us about her expeariences in the Czech Republic.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1194,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[111],"tags":[25,28],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/zpravodaj.gymnsostelc.cz\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1193"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/zpravodaj.gymnsostelc.cz\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/zpravodaj.gymnsostelc.cz\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zpravodaj.gymnsostelc.cz\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zpravodaj.gymnsostelc.cz\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1193"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/zpravodaj.gymnsostelc.cz\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1193\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1198,"href":"https:\/\/zpravodaj.gymnsostelc.cz\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1193\/revisions\/1198"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zpravodaj.gymnsostelc.cz\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1194"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/zpravodaj.gymnsostelc.cz\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1193"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zpravodaj.gymnsostelc.cz\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1193"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zpravodaj.gymnsostelc.cz\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1193"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}