Čeština pro život / Czech for Life / Tschechisch fürs Leben

The conversation guide by Alena Nekovářová, director of the Asset Education Centre in České Budějovice, is intended for all intermediate to advanced foreign students who are already learning Czech and want to further improve their expression so that they can speak like native Czechs. Čeština pro život is a long missing material for more advanced students, allowing them to improve in 15 topics related to common situations of everyday life. Lesson titles, which include Such a Normal Family, Eat and Drink! Bon appetit, Let's go shopping, Please show me the way, At the doctor's. Next please!, demonstrate the practical and communicative focus of the textbook. Each lesson starts with introductory questions on the topic and an input text (monologue, dialogue). The questions on the text test reading comprehension and the ability to express oneself independently, while the grammar exercises allow practising and consolidating selected grammatical phenomena. A conversational block follows, enriched by photographs and illustrations, leading students to express themselves orally and to learn how to react correctly to situations as they arise. The unit is structured to offer a variety of stimuli for both teamwork and individual vocabulary expansion. Listening exercises reinforce the memorization of newly acquired phraseology. The exercises are both on the two included CDs and are freely downloadable in MP3 format. The authenticity of the language is achieved by the use of commonly spoken words, including colloquial expressions. The textbook includes a key with the correct solutions, transcripts of listening exercises, a brief overview of Czech grammar, and drills and vocabulary exercises with German and English translations within each lesson. Successful use of the textbook requires a B2 level of Czech according to the Common European Framework of Reference.

The book won the 2nd prize in the Best Czech Book of the Year 2006 competition in the category of textbooks for schools of all levels.