BMCC Professor Founds Innovative English and Computer Science Tutoring Network in Prague

March 27, 2003

BMCC PROFESSOR FOUNDS INNOVATIVE
ENGLISH AND COMPUTER SCIENCE TUTORING NETWORK IN PRAGUE

March 27, 2003

Skola America operates on a barter system

Borough of Manhattan Community College Professor Richard Chorley (Computer Information Systems) has founded an innovative new tutoring network, Skola America, in Prague. Skola America offers computer, accounting, business, and English courses.

“The name Skola America combines the Czech word for school with the English spelling of America,” Chorley said. “I chose the name because most students are fascinated by America and all things American—especially the English language,” he explained.
What makes Skola America unique, however, is that it operates on the barter system.

Skola America originated in the summer of 2001 when Chorley was teaching C++ at the Continuing Education Department of Karlova Univerzita [Charles University] in Prague. Although he taught the course in English, “I was surrounded by hundreds of Czech and Slovak students wanting to improve their computer skills as well as their English and German language skills,” he recalled. “But, I was also surrounded by the Czech bureaucracy with its formidable regulations for foreigners to work legally in the Czech republic and the rigidity of the Czech universities’ scheduling.”

Chorley soon discovered that among his colleagues were several retired Germans and Americans living in Prague wanting to teach computer science, business, accounting, German, and English courses on a part-time basis, but they were frustrated by the governmental rules and university scheduling restrictions.

“One day as we, faculty members, were discussing this dilemma, it dawned on us that the salary was not what primarily motivated any of us to teach in Prague and that one of our great difficulties was mastering this most complex Czech language in our Golden Years,” Chorley said. Then it further dawned on us that we have a set of skills that the students want and the students have a set of skills that we want – fluency in Czech.

With this realization, Chorley conceived of a tuition-free tutoring network, tailored to the needs of the students and the faculty. His concept became Skola America, an informal learning network individually tailored to the needs of the students and the faculty.

“If we have two or three students who have the same goals and can meet at the same time, we will match them up with a faculty member who has both the appropriate skills and the time slot available,” he said. “Students find out about the program through word of mouth,” Chorley explained. The school has no plans to advertise.Instead of tuition, students pay their professors with Czech language lessons. “Czech is an extremely difficult language and practice with a native speaker is critical,” Chorley explained.

“After each lesson, the teacher becomes the student and the student becomes the teacher.” In addition, the American and German faculty, at Skola America, can take classes with a native Czech speaker with a PhD in the Czech language. She mentors the Czech students as they tutor the American and German faculty in Czech.

Skola America operates on an ad hoc basis, with Chorley matching up a student who wants instruction with a native English-speaking tutor, who is usually a retired professor. The student and the tutor work out a schedule that is mutually convenient. They then decide how many times to meet and what material to cover. For the most part, the student and the professor meet in the professor’s apartment. An Internet cafe provides the school’s computer lab for the students at a reduced fee.

In addition, Skola America tutors informally advise students about student visas and admission to American colleges, and Chorley encourages the students to consider applying to BMCC. The tutors also help students to fill out college application forms and make contact with Americans of the same ethnic group for possible room and board once the Czech and Slovak students come to the States.

To provide a social environment for students from Eastern Europe as well as an educational environment for other students wanting to know about Eastern Europe, Chorley sponsored the Eastern European Students Club at BMCC. “I felt that this would be an added plus for students coming from Eastern Europe,” he said.

Chorley lives on the Lower East Side of Manhattan.

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