Methods of Language Coaching in Czech Lessons

What Has Changed

Since I became a full-time Czech teacher, my lessons have changed a lot. At the beginning of my teaching journey, I studied traditional didactic methods, and at first, I enjoyed it and it made sense to me. But the more students I had, the more I started wondering: “Is it really the best method to teach from a textbook and reuse the same lesson plans and exercises for every student?”

First of all, after a while, it just wasn’t enjoyable for me anymore. And secondly, I saw that traditional methods worked for a certain percentage of students, but for some, they didn’t work at all. And those students—the ones for whom the methods didn’t work—motivated me to look for something different.

I started experimenting with other methods and communicating more with my students. I stopped asking only about grammar and Czech phrases, and started asking how they feel when speaking Czech, what exactly they’re afraid of when they have to speak, and what works for them and what doesn’t. It became very important for me to understand what my students' lives are like and what exactly they need to be able to do in Czech. Based on that, we started working together on a new lesson plan.

My student is, first and foremost, a human being — not just a student in a classroom.

I don’t feel like a TEACHER, but rather as a MOTIVATIONAL LANGUAGE PARTNER on the journey toward better Czech.

When I started applying this new approach (mindset) in my lessons, I quickly saw how much more effective the lessons became — 100% more effective — and after such lessons, we all felt good, full of energy and motivation.

I already knew that motivation and a positive mindset are extremely important in every area of life and that they are also incredibly helpful when learning a language. Unfortunately, they often aren’t given priority in lessons — and that’s what I wanted to change. And because I didn’t want to just experiment, but really learn methods that I knew would help apply Czech in real life, I decided to enroll in a course.

Language Coaching Course

And so, in the autumn of 2024, I completed an official language coaching program for language teachers, which gave me new motivation and meaning to do what I do.

When I then saw in my lessons how the methods I had learned in the course were truly helping — how my students suddenly started actively communicating in Czech and genuinely enjoying it — I decided to take another course to practice and deepen what I had learned in the first one.

And so, at the beginning of 2025, I completed an advanced follow-up course, and I completely fell in love with using coaching methods in language lessons.

What are the language coaching methods that I now apply in my Czech lessons?

We map out your real-life situation and your Czech language priorities, and then we work together to find what works best for you specifically — and we apply that to our lesson plan.
I often ask you about communication situations you’ve had and how you felt in them. When we talk about emotions, we can identify fear or frustration and start working with them. First, we reduce them to a minimum and then transform them into motivation and joy.
We regularly monitor your progress — I give you feedback after every lesson, we sometimes record lessons (with your consent), and we track our entire language plan — which we co-create — in a shared Google document. That way, you always see where you started and where you are now.
If something doesn’t work well, we talk about it right away and look for a different method, topic, or task that will be more practical and enjoyable for your real life.
The goal of this collaboration is not to master grammar theory perfectly or to do regular homework — the priority is to integrate Czech into YOUR life so that it becomes your everyday JOY, not an OBLIGATION.

What specific methods can I offer you?

If you enjoy reading, we’ll find texts on specific topics that interest you, and then we’ll talk about them together. You’ll see new words, phrases, and grammar in a real context.
If you prefer listening, we’ll look for an audio or video channel that reflects your interests and needs.
If writing helps you more, I’ll motivate and inspire you to write texts based on your real life and situations.
We’ll practice real-life situations — the ones where you actually speak Czech — in a safe lesson environment through role plays.
Do you enjoy playing computer games? That, too, can become a topic and a method that supports your communication in Czech.

These are just a few examples — because what’s effective is slightly different for everyone. I’m here to help you find what works best for you.

And it doesn’t matter whether you live in the Czech Republic, the United States, or somewhere else entirely — I have tips for how to integrate Czech into your life, no matter your situation.

Do you want to read Czech texts, listen to Czech podcasts, and watch Czech videos, but don’t know where to find adaptations suitable for your Czech level?

Send me free E-BOOK

AI, when you’re learning Czech

Do you work with artificial intelligence? If not, I’ll show you how you can learn Czech effectively, interactively, and very enjoyably with AI!

You no longer have to read just the classic textbook texts—you can read whatever you want, adapted to your language level.

At the end of my blog post about Jessica Brown, I wrote about why it’s important to read texts that you enjoy, not just the ones in textbooks.

My student’s reaction

And do you know what my student from England, who has been living in the Czech Republic for quite a while, recently told me?

“I didn’t used to have the courage to use Czech because I thought I didn’t speak it well and that I was making embarrassing mistakes, and that frustrated me. But I have a Czech family and friends, and I didn’t feel good when they had to speak English because of me. I felt bad that I had been living in the country so long and wasn’t communicating in Czech. I tried many methods, but they didn’t work because I didn’t believe in myself and was afraid to speak.

And last year, I started having lessons with you, and that helped me a lot because we talked about the fear of speaking and how to overcome it, how to have a positive mindset. You also showed me that I already know a lot — that was very pleasant because I hadn’t seen it before. I only focused on my mistakes, and that wasn’t positive. Now I have motivation again! I’m no longer afraid to speak, and I can have normal Czech conversations about my life with Czech friends.”