Czech Studies

Czech Language Beginners

You will gain the skills to speak Czech in everyday situations. We take an integrated approach to language learning, so you will develop all four language skills - speaking, listening, reading, writing - in your work in class and at home. Our emphasis is on communication and you are encouraged to use the language from day one.

Russian and Czech Cultures in the Age of Empire and Beyond

This module gives an overview of Russian and Czech cultures with a focus on the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. It will critically examine the concepts of statehood, empire, nationalism, totalitarianism and democracy by studying the two nations' different experiences through visual sources, literature and language usage. It thus introduces students to topics dealt with in greater depth in optional modules at Levels 2 and 3, and helps them to learn how to analyse cultural artefacts and sources of different kinds.

Czech Intermediate 1

Delivered through small-group interactive seminars and tutorials and assuming a good GCSE level in the language or equivalent, this unit aims to provide the linguistic and cultural skills required to operate effectively and accurately in all essential communicative situations encountered when interacting orally or in writing with native speakers during, for instance, a short stay abroad 

Czech Intermediate 2

Delivered through small-group interactive seminars and tutorias and assuming successful completion of the corresponding Autumn semester unit for this level (i.e. Intermediate 1) or equivalent, this unit aims to consolidate the linguistic and cultural skills to start interacting and socializing in a fairly authentic and spontaneous way with native speakers in a range of advanced but usually predictable situations which would be encountered during, for instance, a short stay or placement abroad

Czech Proficient 1

Assuming a one-year post-A-level study of the language possibly including a stay abroad, successful completion of the unit Czech Advanced 2, or equivalent learning experience at level B2 of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR), this unit aims to provide the linguistic and cultural skills required to operate as a near-native speaker in the target country, whether for professional, academic or recreational purposes, and to develop strategies and techniques to become a fully autonomous, life-long learner of the language and culture. Upon successful completion of the course, students should be able to: perform at Level B2+/C1- of the CEFR understand the majority of TV news, current affairs programmes, and films, and extended speech and lectures with a complex line of argument even when the topic is not familiar understand fairly complex articles and reports concerned with contemporary problems in which the writer adopts particular attitudes or viewpoints, as well as contemporary literary prose give a structured spoken presentation on a controversial subject related to their field of interest, expressing their views and opinions, and interacting in a persuasive manner with others write about academic, professional or personal subjects in a letter, essay or report, expressing their points of view at some length within a simple logical structure and in a homogeneous style demonstrate a critical understanding of cultural and social trends and associated behaviours in areas where the language is spoken so as to engage efficiently with native speakers in most communicative situations, including academic or professional ones demonstrate a strategic ability to study the language by themselves for specific purposes, assessing their long-term language needs and cultural interests, setting themselves goals in relation to these, and using specialist tools as well as experimenting with a range of resources and techniques to achieve these goals with maximum efficiency demonstrate advanced competence in a number of transferable skills such as IT skills, researching, presenting and analysing information, defending an argument and negotiating, intercultural and language awareness, autonomous learning, social media communication, etc.

Euro-visions: Imagining and Questioning Europe

What is 'Europe'? What does it mean to be European?   The module interrogates the idea of Europe for those who live within and outside its borders. It examines different ways in which Europe has been imagined and critiqued, through case studies that focus on, for example, language, culture, politics, or art. It considers different aspects of the emergence of a distinct pan-European identity and specific peoples within that general identity.  Europe, along with its component empires and nations, has always been defined against 'others' a) beyond its borders and b) those who reside within but are held not truly to belong (eg. Jews, Roma, Muslims). The module considers the history of such 'othering' and how it persists. This module will explore how the idea of Europe has been formulated and discussed in literary texts, language policies, and other socio-cultural practices.  It examines social, political and cultural dynamics to explore how the idea of Europe is inextricably tied up with historical factors such as geopolitical conflicts, colonialism and unfree labour. Students will critically evaluate existing discourses, including former or official policies, and communicate their findings to academic and non-academic audiences through discussions and written evaluations.