The English College is an academic school and therefore effective teaching and learning is our priority. Teaching does not take place only in the classroom, but also elsewhere. Almost all Faculties organise educational trips in Prague – as part of Prague Programme – and also around the Czech Republic. This gives students an exceptional opportunity to connect what they have learnt in school with real life situations.
Czech
Every year, the Czech Faculty takes students on a literature trip, such as the Mácha or Karel Čapek Trip. Students visit the places connected with the author’s life, read texts written by or about the author; they read their correspondence, but above all, they discuss their unique life stories and the impact of their literary work. Discussions that take place in a beautiful natural setting have a very special flavour and make these trips unforgettable both for students and their teachers.
English
Whilst opportunities for English language and literature trips in Prague are limited, we take Year 1 students to the Old Town to research and produce brochures and guides for tourists. In October, students from Years 3-5 are invited to travel to the UK to attend the Cheltenham Literature Festival. Cheltenham celebrates the written and spoken word, presenting the best new voices in fiction and poetry alongside literary greats and high-profile speakers. It is a fabulous trip which gives students the opportunity to experience the regency spa town of Cheltenham as well as meeting some of the greatest contemporary thinkers and writers.
Arts
Various trips and excursions are organised by the Arts Faculty, under the Prague Programme. The faculty makes excellent use of the cultural institutions available in the Czech Republic and further afield. Trips in the Visual Arts have previously included Dresden, Vienna, Venice, Rome, Amsterdam and Paris – allowing students to enrich their cultural appreciation and expand their visual understanding by viewing both traditional and contemporary art forms.
Modern Languages
Studying foreign languages would not be effective without exploring cultures and countries, where the languages being studied are spoken. Young people naturally love meeting their peers despite the language barriers, which is a good basis for an exchange programme.
- For many years we have been organising a French Exchange and we have established a strong relationship with the Lycée Notre Dame de Rezé in Nantes. We have also in the past few years established exchanges with Instituto Velázquez in Seville, Spain and St. Raphael Gymnasium in Heidelberg, Germany. Every year our students spend a week with the Spanish/French/German families and at a different time in the year their students come to Prague and enjoy the hospitality of our ECP families. During the visits, the host school prepares a diverse cultural programme for the students, through which they explore the local region and enhance the intensity of their cultural visit.
Humanities
The Humanities Faculty organises a number of trips each year. These are mostly day trips to local places of interest, such as the annual visit to the Škoda factory, which is run by the Geography Department or our History students’ walking tour of renaissance sites in Prague city centre.
Science
As an integral aspect of both the IB and Pre-IB courses, students monitor, analyse and evaluate conditions in several local ecosystems. They investigate how changing abiotic factors affect the abundance and diversity of local flora and fauna. This helps the development of their knowledge and understanding of human effects on ecosystems and inculcates a wider appreciation of both the fragility and resilience of natural systems.