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Czech Language News International Czech Association of Teachers of Czech (IATC-NAATC) Language Fall 2019 Number Fifty-one ISSN 1085-2960 News President’s Message At the end of this anniversary year, we’ve all got plenty of celebrations to look back on, thirty years after the Velvet Revolution. It’s an intriguing point to have reached, because we are now far enough away to critically evaluate the promises, fulfilled and unfulfilled, of that now faraway autumn, but it is still recent enough to be in the living, adult memory of the older and middle generations, and for each to have his own clear recollections of what hopes and dreams there were, and what promises were made and then either kept or broken. The Czech intelligentsia always seems to relish a good bout of critical self-examination, and this year’s events have been no exception. The current issue, unsurprisingly, contains some reflections on those bygone days. First among these is an interview with Magdaléna Platzová about her new book Máme holý ruce, which is based on her diaries from 1989 and her memories of that period. Hana Waisserová writes about a visit she took with her University of Nebraska students to Prague’s samizdat library Libri prohibiti, whose provocative name evoking of the pre- 1989 era – who bans books these days? – sounds exotic to modern ears (although perhaps not so much in other parts of the former Soviet bloc). But you will also find several pieces looking more towards the future. An article on Czech language instruction at the Centrum pro integrace cizinců, by Kristýna Horáčková, considers the specific needs and situations of recent arrivals to the Czech Republic who are trying to learn Czech as a foreign language. Those who use language corpora for research purposes probably know that the Czech Republic is a world leader in this area, and an article by Barbora Hrabalová and Pavlína Vališová presents the new UčKo corpus that will be of special interest to those of us who teach Czech as a foreign language, as it contains the contents of a number of commonly-used beginners’ Czech textbooks. If this corpus is eventually made public, it could even allow us to start answering provocative questions like: what sort of language is it exactly that we’re exposing our students to and expecting them to use as their models, and what relationship does it bear to ‘the real thing’ that students meet outside the classroom? At any rate, to find out, read on, and enjoy what’s left of this anniversary year; there won’t be another till 2028… Neil Bermel University of Sheffield 1 Table of Contents Our Hands Are Bare. Interview with Magdaléna Platzová ........................................................................................ 2 Thank you, Samizdat! ................................................................................................................................................ 4 UčMat ........................................................................................................................................................................... 7 Najít si práci... Centrum pro integraci cizinců .............................................................................................................. 7 Holá-Bulejíčková-Převrátilová, Česky krok za krokem. Pracovní sešit 1-12, 13-24.................................................... 10 Učebnicový korpus........................................................................................................................................................ 12 Members News ............................................................................................................................................................. 14 Announcements ............................................................................................................................................................ 15 thing I could write on the topic and would A note by the editor: enjoy doing would be a book for young people, Magdaléna Platzová’s book Our Hands Are Bare. for teenagers and somewhat older youth, born Diary of a Student from 1989, based on her long after the revolution. I was seventeen in memoir, was published this fall in Prague. It is 1989, and this would be a natural point of view written for younger generations of Czechs who from which to tell the story. I also thought that did not have a direct experience with the time has come when it is very important to Communism and November 1989. CzLN tell young people what the events back then decided to interview Platzová, as we believe were all about. To tell them that our life in the that her book is a useful source for teaching totalitarian country was not worth much, no recent Czech history and culture. Similarly, matter what they are told about it now, and Hana Waisserová’s article that follows, based that some values are worth fighting for. on her visit with her US students to the samizdat library Libri Prohibiti in Prague, serves as a reminder of this unique, publicly accessible institution. Libri Prohibiti, a private and independent library, collects and makes available to general public samizdat and exile literature. We hope you enjoy reading this issue of Czech Language News. Veronika Tuckerová Our Hands Are Bare. Diary of a Student from 1989. Interview with Magdaléna Platzová Veronika Tuckerová Magdalé na Platzová, photo Tomáš Krejčí. Harvard University To what extent did you base the book on your Your book, Our Hands Are Bare. Diary of a diary? What other sources did you use? Student from 1989, was published this November. Can you tell us how you came to I did, in fact, write a diary back then, and I used write it? my notes quite a bit. They helped me find the voice of a seventeen-year old girl, including her The book was not my idea. An editor from the language. But back then, I mostly wrote about Albatros publishing house contacted me and feelings and things related to the people said that they would like to publish something around me. Concrete events are mentioned on the occasion of the anniversary of the Velvet only briefly in my diary. And especially during Revolution. But they did not know what. I the revolution I hardly wrote anything, there thought about it and realized that the only was no time. I only wrote brief interjections, 2 but they are important for the authenticity of after November 17th, until the election of the the text. And it turns out that young people president: how the Communists first played who have read the book so far can relate to it games and then started to retreat, and the very well. For older people , it evokes emotions opposition felt stronger with each passing that they may have already forgotten. I also had day. And then suddenly, I think it was to research sources for all the main events. The December 2nd or 3rd, the breakthrough came; book is not a textbook, but the events are the Communists were completely defeated. All important. From the beginning, it had an of a sudden, they accepted all the Civic Forum educational purpose. demands -- they retreated by their own will. Perhaps they became afraid of the wave that Which historical sources did you find was rolling in on them. They had very guilty particularly interesting? consciences and were afraid of repercussions. So they commanded a retreat. Film recordings were especially effective at enabling a return back in time. For example, How does your account differ from that of other the television news from before the revolution people? immediately throws you back into the daily reality of Absurdistan. There are also Who wrote about these events? Placák, recordings from Wenceslas Square and from Dousková, Topol -- my account is completely Letna, and also some footage from the week different. It is genre literature. Something like commemorating Palach, made by the secret The Catcher in the Rye, narrated by a young girl police. When you watch it, everything comes during a revolution… back. In comparison with my usual writing, it was The book Deset pražských dnů was also very pure joy to work on this. I enjoyed the research interesting and useful; it contains collected as well. The most difficult part was to find the written documents from November 17th to right tone, the right voice, to get on the right 27th, 1989. It contains a lot of documents, track. Afterwards, I was surprised how various declarations, comprehensive reports pleasant and liberating it was to write from the about the demonstrations. It also includes point of view of a seventeen-year-old. Maybe I interviews with the main figures of the haven’t changed that much after all. revolution. At home I found some old issues of Informační servis, the predecessor of Respekt, This November, you led discussions with young created during the revolution. I discovered a people in Prague. How do you feel about these small archive among my papers, including the discussions? How did the students react? What of original copy of the strike declaration by the your 1989 experiences was the hardest to relay students at Arabská High School which I and mediate to the young generation of today’s attended at the time. world? What surprised you most when you returned to I felt good about the discussions. Students were 1989, whether through your own memories and able to connect the past that I told them about diaries or through the documents? with their own contemporary reality. They understood the book as a challenge to take What surprised me perhaps the most was how action against things that threaten their own prepared
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