TRAVEL AROUND CENTRAL EUROPE AND STUDY CZECH

Alec Hills - May 11, 2009
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The Czech historical city of Olomouc once again lures numerous language enthusiasts for the popular summer courses of Slavonic languages. Study Czech, Russian or Polish and travel around Central Europe.  The city of Olomouc is located in the Eastern part of the Czech Republic. Its rich history left its visible mark on the face of this charming city. In fact, the overwhelming multitude of monuments and landmarks turned Olomouc into the largest historical town monument reserve in the whole country.

The local university, one of the three biggest and most renowned universities in the country, is an appealing magnet for students from all over the Czech Republic. However, the infamous charm of the city has been gradually attracting more and more international students as well. Those, who would like to enjoy their summer abroad, discover new places and most importantly, learn some unique and charming language, are welcome each year to the Summer School of Slavonic Languages, run by the Palacky University in Olomouc (the second oldest university in the Czech Republic, founded in 1573). The Summer School organizes courses of Czech for foreigners, accompanied by courses in Slavonic philology, Russian or even Polish. Basically, anyone who admires the Slavonic culture is welcome to participate in the program – professors, lecturers and students. The schedule is quite full as usually – the mornings are reserved for the language courses and several useful and interesting optional lectures are also available during the afternoons (100 hours altogether, four proficiency levels, four teaching languages: English, German, Russian and Czech). The academic content of the program is naturally balanced by numerous sightseeing tours allowing the participants to explore the Czech history and culture practically by traveling all over the country including Prague.

Furthermore, the programme includes various cultural events like the popular Film Club (video-shows of Czech movies), Folklore Night (with Moravian national songs and a live folklore music band) and Theatre Workshop supervised by professional actors with particular emphasis on communicating in Czech.

The intensive language course lasts four weeks (Jul 18 - Aug 15 in 2009) and takes place at very attractive surroundings – in the building of Artistic Centre of the University. It is a treasured historic and representative building with numerous original rooms, including film and theatre hall, ateliers, concert hall – the Chapel of Corpus Christi, atrium, spacious yard, all available for Summer School courses. At the end of the course, each student can take an international exam and receive the Certificate of Attainment in Modern Languages (ECL).

The Olomouc Summer School is the first and only one in the country that offers the possibility to obtain this international certificate in Czech that is valid in all EU member countries. Furthermore, the participants have rewarded credits, thus they may transfer them to their home academic institution. The setting of the course, together with the high-standard academic quality, the carefully designed cultural content and the activities offered to the students make the Summer School an extraordinary educational event well worth the international attention it has been gaining.

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