There is no Czech like Czech

Not only due to the current geopolitical circumstances, there is a growing need to prepare future teachers for situations where they will be working with a linguistically heterogeneous classroom. Czech teachers in particular should be able to respond to this situation and cope in a classroom where children with no knowledge of Czech and children for whom Czech is their mother tongue sit side by side. The paper outlines the preparation of future teachers of Czech as a mother tongue and Czech as a second/foreign language at the Faculty of Education of Masaryk University. The aim of the Department of Czech Language and Literature is to innovate the preparation of future teachers and to develop their competences for working with linguistically (and culturally) heterogeneous groups, both pedagogically and didactically, as well as in terms of organisation, social and intercultural aspects. In view of these strategic objectives, new forms of training for future teachers are being implemented in this department. Supporting activities include, for example, courses in Czech as a second language, in which students of the programme Teaching Czech Language and Literature for Primary Schools and specialising in pupils with a different mother tongue participate. Cooperation with foreign universities (University of Greifswald, University of Regensburg) is also very important, with students from the Brno Department of Czech Language and Literature teaching online to students of Bohemia at these universities. On the basis of these opportunities, the students' own work is also being developed. Under the supervision of the academic staff of the department, a new textbook for individuals with a different mother tongue is being developed, called The Road Not Taken. These and other innovations in the teaching of future teachers are aimed at making learners aware of the differences between teaching Czech as a second/foreign language and Czech as a mother tongue, and then to be able to implement the acquired knowledge when working in a linguistically heterogeneous classroom.