About Me

Living in my home country, the Czech Republic, I used to work as an interpreter and translator. Due to my husband's job, we moved to Thailand in 2009, and I was able to keep only the written part of my job. I missed the contact with people. I decided to change my career. At that time, my daughter was three years old, and I was pregnant with my son, who was born in January 2010.

Like all parents, I wanted the best education for my children. After visiting different schools, I found what I was looking for, a small international preschool based on the Reggio Emilia approach. Apart from academics, my children learned important values, such as tolerance, respect, open-mindedness, and responsibility in a family-style environment. I realised how much a teacher influences the future of a child. I wanted to be a part of this process, watching children grow and make progress.

There are endless possibilities to work with children in Thailand. I offered myself as a volunteer to an international school for children with special needs. From being a part-time music teacher, I quickly became a full-time classroom teacher. This experience was the most significant in my teaching career. Working with children with mild and severe disabilities, such as ADHD, Autism, cerebral palsy, Down syndrome, and others, I had to learn to approach children and their families differently. My students were proof that not being able to speak doesn't mean not being smart; that hitting, biting and screaming doesn't mean being a bad child, but asking desperately for help or trying to communicate something that nobody seems to understand. During the years in SEN school, I used to work with different specialists - educational psychologists, special needs educators, speech therapists, occupational therapists, physiotherapists, and others. Observing them, I developed many practical skills; for example, I learned different techniques to manage emotional outburns. I used sign language and other ways of nonverbal communication.

I believe that education is a life-changer, especially for less fortunate children. Since the beginning of my teaching career, years ago, I have been volunteering my free time teaching homeless children basic math, science, and English. From my personal experience, teaching and learning are possible even with very limited resources. In the end, the slum's backyard is a marvellous science lab, and the recycled material makes the perfect math tokens.

In 2012, the International School of Chonburi, where my passion for education started through my children, offered me a job. I started as a whole school music teacher who allowed me to work with different age groups, from 2 to 11-year-olds, and learn their needs, attitudes, and typical age-related behaviour. I am a Kindermusik licensed educator and program owner, and Signing Time certified instructor. I have been a playgroup coordinator for babies and their caregivers since 2012.

I currently work as a pre-nursery teacher at Rugby School Thailand. Teaching children ages 2-3 requires a lot of energy, creativity, flexibility, and patience. On the other hand, it is a very gratifying job. The learning capabilities of this age group are amazing. I have a lot of fun preparing the environment for play-based learning and observing children while developing their skills.

To keep my teaching at a high level and updated with the latest trends, I consider professional development a part of my job. I attended different programs and courses to adapt better to the situation I have been approaching. As English is not a native language for most of my students, I completed the TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) and TEYL (Teaching English to Young Learners) courses to learn different teaching techniques. To better understand my students at Mountain Smile International School for Children with Special Needs, I attended the training provided by the Learning Disabilities Association of Ontario. I earned my International Baccalaureate Professional Development certificates (Introduction to the Curriculum Model and Making PYP happen in the classroom in the early years) to learn how the related principles are delivered to very young children. Not only teaching but also learning has become my passion. I am currently attending a Master's course in Special Education at the University of Arizona.

​

Thanks to my personal experience as a parent of two children in international schooling since they were toddlers, I can also relate to many questions and concerns other parents of bilingual children in the international school may have.

​

I am grateful that life offered me this journey that allowed me to become a teacher. Being a teacher is a mission. I really enjoy every minute of it.