One of the other participants who, thanks to the unique HAPPY SCHOOL 2020 project, participated in an amazing mobility to the English town of Scarborough was also Pavol Oško. Pavol is engaged in the field of logistics, in the partner company HARMONY ACADEMY, in IPA Slovakia. Read his engaging narration about a place that, thanks to its high professionalism, great tutors and wonderful seaside environment, is known all over the world in the field of language learning.
Although we humans are very intelligent creatures, we often have difficulty coping with our past decisions, which we regret in the present. I (didn't) make one such decision during college. Thinking that my knowledge of a foreign language was too poor to study abroad, I did not even apply to Erasmus.
In May 2019, my colleague Marcel gave me a rectification deadline in an exam called "Erasmus+". He offered me the opportunity to take part in a study stay at the Anglolang Academy of English in the English seaside town of Scarborough. Without hesitation, I said an unequivocal 'yes' and my colleague Danka and I started to deal with all the necessary formalities.
Our company IPA Slovakia specializes in consulting in the field of industrial engineering. But at the same time, it brings together inspiring people from different industries and companies. One of these is HARMONY ACADEMY. Troika is a magic number. The two companies also joined forces with PLUS Academia to form a national consortium, one of the successful collaborations of which is the Erasmus+ KA1 individual mobility project called HAPPY SCHOOL 2020. The common goal of all partners was to create an environment for school life (HAPPY SCHOOL), which is defined as a school with an international dimension, high quality and availability of services and a lifelong learning system of the entire organization.
"A school with an international dimension, high quality and availability of services and a lifelong learning system of the entire organization."
An important job of us, consultants working at IPA, is also to educate clients from other companies, conduct seminars, trainings and organize conferences. Therefore, the term "lifelong learning" is concise for our work, so learning from the best – expert teachers who educate full-time – is the way to improve us.
Such specialists certainly work in Anglolang. At first, I was skeptical about what I would take away from courses aimed primarily at language teachers. Already after the first day of study, it became clear to me that very much. And we had the first afternoon course called "Effective Use Of Technology in Teaching" with a young teaching lecturer. The screenwriter and director of others was Dan. I was looking for an apt word that describes his approach to students, passion for work, optimism, great (English) humor, an overview (not only) of modern technologies... Dan is a fanatic in the best sense of the word. And he can continue to proudly use a coffee cup that says "The Best Teacher in the World." I learned his tips on applications and the use of technology during the courses.
Alison did not lag behind qualitatively with her speech, which even the actors in London's "Royal National Theatre" would not be ashamed of, and the part of the study day called "Language development" was also enriching. However, she would definitely refuse to perform in London. She has a charming local patriotism towards the Scarborough area, so all she needs is a scene in front of the board. Alison's speech and communication with the students were another inspiration for me to make myself a better tutor.
"The last but not the least" of a fantastic trio of my teachers was Linda. She tirelessly took care of our linguistic progress by explaining phrases, correcting our grammatical errors, or pointing out where we should put emphasis on pronunciation.
Other personalities from whom I took inspiration not only for work were classmates. People from Spain, Bulgaria, Switzerland, Hungary, Czech Republic, Germany, Austria, Oman, Japan, Italy. School systems in different countries often have significant differences. But we found a consensus in the common goal of each teacher / lecturer – to pass on experience, knowledge, advice in overcoming obstacles, to teach students of all ages to teamwork using individual excellence and abilities.
Education is a process that continues beyond the school door. And so we learned a lot about English culture and life. Varied cultural life was in pubs. Live music every night. In our country, the most popular were "Open Mic Night". During them, local musicians who do not live by music come to the pub. Each plays three to four songs and leaves room behind the microphone for the next one. A pub is a place where family also gathers. Grandparents, their children with partners and grandchildren will make the meeting more enjoyable by playing cards.
"Education is a process that continues beyond the school door."
Even in England, urban life differs from the size of the city. Leeds is a bustling cosmopolitan city, Scarborough a smaller town with a long tradition of holiday destination for the English. We also managed to visit the historically famous York, as well as other smaller cities such as Beverley and Hull. What suited me the most was Scarborough and, above all, the surrounding nature. On weekends, we walked a fraction of the Cleveland Way (the entire route is 109 miles long). The trail stretched along the coast, and the views of the coastal cliffs were literally breathtaking. Even the images of the English countryside were authentic, as in films or novels by English authors. A great experience based on cultural differences was a taxi or bus ride in the opposite direction. Of course, for English gentlemen, we are the opposite. For me, the cultural characteristics also include the gastronomy of the country I visit. When we had the theme of "food" at the gymnasium, the teacher told us about "English breakfast", "Fish'n chips" and about English drinking tea with milk. We tried everything and something more.
Two weeks of study enriched me with new language and professional skills. I believe that thanks to them I will be a more beneficial member of the work team in our company. They enriched me in human terms thanks to conversations with classmates from different countries. Once again, I became convinced of the words of the musical classic that people are not bad at all, only humanity is (occasionally) terrible. And finally, a small nice tip: let's try to smile at unknown oncoming passengers the next time we walk through the city. English ladies and gentlemen of the age full of experience gave me such smiles. At that time, even a cold rainy day was more pleasant. Erasmus+ mobility has therefore improved not only my use of English, but also my thinking in that language significantly.
Pavol Oško, IPA Slovakia
