Experience and problems of teaching Czech as a foreign language to students of medicine

The Institute for History of Medicine and Foreign Languages at the First Faculty of Medicine of Charles University also teaches Czech to international students in the Masters programme of General Medicine, which has been provided in English language since 1992. As all subjects in the programme are taught in English, the input level of command of Czech language is, naturally, zero. During the past two decades, several changes have been done to adjust the teaching to its main aim, which is the ability of communication with Czech patients. However, some problems still persist, including the students’ lack of motivation and productive skills, their nearly complete lack of linguistic background, limited efficiency of language immersion, and strong negative language transfer. The presentation deals with the said problems as well as with the measures that we are taking to manage them, including improved organization of classes, introduction of bedside Czech classes, placing aids at our website, and introduction of the TANDEM programme of collaboration with Czech students.