When in London a school starts to teach in Slovak...

This is a question often asked by parents of children born into mixed families living abroad, and also by Slovak parents who have emigrated abroad. Knowledge of the language is important not only when the family is planning to return to Slovakia, but also to maintain contact with relatives and friends who remain in Slovakia. What can please a grandmother more, when living at „home“ in Slovakia, she gets a call from her grandson in London and can have a nice discussion with him about what he did over the weekend – in Slovak?

The answer is the first non-profit Slovak weekend school in London called – Slovaklearning. Almost four years ago, this school was started by parents who wanted their children to know how to read, write and speak the Slovak language – they were assisted by the Office for Slovaks Living Abroad and the Slovak Circle in Great Britain.

„The realization of the idea to its present form took approximately two years. It required an infinite number of meetings, the search for appropriate premises and qualified teachers – and plenty of patience and time, but especially the determination of the individual project initiators,“ says one of the founders, and the current school principal, Lola Kaššovic.

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She came from Slovakia, from the village of Neverice, to Great Britain in 1996 to learn English. Her children – eight-year old Beatrice and nine-year old Dian were both born here. „If they are ever asked what nationality they are – they proudly reply – Slovak,“ she adds. „I have been with them since birth, I spoke Slovak with them, Slovak was their first spoken language. They naturally started speaking English when they entered nursery school and it became their first language. Since the day they were born, I was wondering how they could learn the Slovak language really well, to read and write and to know the grammar, pronunciation… Since I have always had to work full time, I knew that I would never have the time for teaching them all this.“

Other Slovak mothers I met had similar problems and concerns. Then her path crossed that of the Slovak Circle in the UK, which currently funds the school. Together they requested help from the Office for Slovaks Living Abroad for an initial grant to purchase books and equipment. The new school opened in November 2006.

„We first started in a temporary location, in the Czechoslovakia House in West Hampstead and we continued looking for a suitable school premises. The school later moved to a nursery school building in Victoria, but soon the number of students in the school increased and we needed more space,“ explains the Slovak school principal.

In February 2008, we moved into the Mayfair Library building on 25 South Audley Street. But soon these two rooms, which they rent here, will not be enough, and Lola Kaššovic is once again looking for larger premises for this September.

Every Saturday afternoon 32 children, ranging in ages from five to ten years, come to the school. Each of them has at least one Slovak parent. These parents wish to have their children improve their knowledge of the Slovak language and to have contact with other Slovak children. Many children also come here who are planning to return to Slovakia and will need to write various school entrance exams and therefore learning the Slovak language will help them in their future studies. But the principal warns - „Our school is just a weekend school with part-time attendance, so we cannot follow the curriculum of Slovak schools, therefore we cannot guarantee an education that will meet the various testing requirements of schools in Slovakia.''

The school provides 3 hours of classes, we teach the Slovak language, basic subjects, Slovak culture and traditions. All the instructors are qualified teachers from Slovakia, who before moving to Great Britain, taught at elementary schools in Slovakia. Most of them even taught in primary schools in London, and therefore have British school experience as well.

They help children deepen their knowledge of the Slovak language, broaden their vocabulary and improve their pronunciation, writing and reading skills. The children are divided into five groups, and they learn from Slovak textbooks and workbooks, use the same workbooks children use in Slovakia. They are divided by their level of language proficiency, and not by age.

''The smallest group is made up of children who started with no knowledge of Slovak, because their parents did not speak in Slovak with them, for these children Slovak is essentially a foreign language and they are learning it from scratch,“ explains Lola Kaššovic.

An essential part of teaching is also learning about Slovakia, its history, traditions and natural beauty. And this teaching is not only in theory. During classroom hours, they practice a variety of crafts – tinkering, pottery, jewellery and embroidery work. They have fun with traditional games and Slovak folk songs, or painting eggs, making gingerbread ornamentation or putting on puppet theatre plays. They also learn about different customs, so they know why on Easter boys spray water on the girls, why they burn Morena, why they build Maypoles and who is sv. Mikuláš (St. Nicholas).

All teaching is done in the Slovak language, although sometimes, especially with younger children, the teachers must turn to English. Instructions are then repeated in both languages so the children understand what needs to be done.

School is not just about learning. For children, it is also a place where they can meet their Slovak friends. The fact that they like being here, is seen in the „School Anthem“ that the children themselves proudly wrote:

In the Slovak school we learn and play,

on Saturday at 2:00 p.m. we all arrive.

We are the stars of the Slovak language, geography we know

during the third hour we create something.

We live in London, but we know the Slovak language

our Slovak buddies we always meet here. 

We are happy here, for us the world is small,

where else could we meet each other? 

Enrollment applications to the school and all the necessary information parents can obtain by visiting www.slovaklearning.co.uk.

Contact: Lola Kaššovic, Tel: 0207 2338286 M: 07940445842, E: info@slovaklearning.co.uk

Address: Mayfair Library, 25 South Audley Street, London W1K 2PB



Author: L. Kaššovic
Photo: L. Kaššovic

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