Global Student

Peter: So, Jana, you told me that you'd been a student in three different countries and now you're teaching in Japan which is yet another different country. It sounds really interesting.

Jana: Yeah, that's right. Well, I did my undergraduate degree in Prague, in the Czech Republic and as a part of that I did an exchange program in Madrid for one semester and after that I moved to Sydney in Australia and I did my masters there and now I teach in Japan. So, yeah, you're right.

Peter: Wow, that sounds really interesting. I'm curious about the student life in these different countries. Do you think there are big differences in these countries in terms of student life?

Jana: Well, I haven't been a student in Japan but I can sort of compare from my experience. Yeah, I think it is quite different. In Prague it was a very serious study environment sort of thing and a lot of my classmates were a bit older as well so they were like really interested in the subject they were studying and it's more like autonomous learning. So everybody spends a lot of time in the library researching and reading and that sort of thing and the teachers were really good in their subjects but they were great experts but maybe they were not really good teachers.

Peter: Right.

Jana: So at that time I didn't really enjoy that environment. I felt it's too advanced for me. I would have preferred some, a bit more guidance maybe. But, yeah, Sydney was different too because there's so many international students so it was a whole different experience, not just about study but meeting people from different countries. And I guess Japan and Spain might be a little bit similar in a way.

Peter: Really? How come?

Jana: I felt in Spain it was more teacher fronted style of teaching so students taking notes and perhaps not participating so much and I guess it depends on the student but maybe some of them were not that interested in the subject.

Peter: I see.

Jana: And it's a similar kind of feeling I get in Japan.

Peter: OK. How about studying in Sydney? Was that, in that way was it really different? Were people more active and participating students?

Jana: I guess it depends on the student. Some students were more active than others but I suppose they were there by choice. You know, they wanted to experience studying in another country and expand their horizons so I think they were a bit more active.

Peter: You said about that people in Prague were really serious students. How about the students in Spain and in Sydney, Australia?

Jana: Right. Well in Spain I actually found it difficult to meet, to become friends with local students although you would think that, you might think that Spanish people are really friendly and open but actually it was quite difficult to get into the local life so I, most of my friends were other international students too to be honest. But I think they all had, you know, part time jobs and their own activities outside of school that they were interested in.

Peter: Hm. Also another thing that I'm curious about. If you can speak English, would it be easy to move between these three universities? Like can you use English easily like in Sydney and in Prague and in Spain? Or did you have to rely on other languages that you speak.

Jana: Right. Well, I was actually studying English in Prague so when I went to Spain I was supposed to be studying English in Spain which is maybe a bit strange but it was perfect for me because I was also learning Spanish at that time. So, yeah, I suppose you can move with English quite easily.

Peter: OK.