Educational programmes

Václav Havel – a Czech myth or Havel in a Nutshell

It is an interactive programme lasting for about 120 minutes. It takes place in the “Havel in a Nutshell” exhibition hall. Primary and secondary students are divided into groups within which they deal with various “research” projects. Students work with selected texts and are provided with particular books. Results of the “research” are presented to others at the end of the lesson. The seminar also includes its evaluation.

The programme is related not only to the teaching of Czech history, but also to the personal, literary, artistic and media training and increasing democratic citizenship consciousness. The schedule is based on the goals of the Framework educational programme for primary and secondary schools.

Nina Rut, lector of the programme, has several years experience of working with media, editing and teaching. She has carried out an educational programme for teachers “To critical thinking by reading and writing”. She is a permanent staff member of the Václav Havel Library.

The optimal number of students in one group is twenty. The lesson is suited to each particular group. The price of one seminar is 20 CZK per student. The date is set according to prior arrangement.

The best student essay competition

One of the main genres of Václav Havel’s work is the genre of essay – on literary, artistic, social, political and spiritual topics. Václav Havel’s essays, such as “The Power of the Powerless”, “A Word about Words” have become classical texts of Czech literature. They have been translated into many languages and are among the few world-famous works of Czech culture. This is one of the reasons to cultivate the genre of essay in the Czech language – not in the sense of imitating Václav Havel’s essays, but in the sense of following Havel’s courage to define unpleasant problems and search for their unconventional solutions. The Václav Havel Library thus announces the first year of the literary competition for secondary students: the Václav Havel Library Prize for the best student essay.

The topic for the year 2009 is:

Twenty years of freedom from communism – twenty years of freedom to what?

Texts, written in Czech, length to be 18 000 keystrokes (ten normal pages), with the author’s name, his/her place of birth, the secondary school’s name, to be sent in electronic form to info@vaclavhavel-library.org by September 30, 2009 at the latest.

Essays will be assessed by a committee consisting of personalities of Czech culture close to Václav Havel. The first prize of 15 000 CZK will be awarded, the second prize 10 000 CZK and the third one 5 000 CZK. The results of the competition will be announced and the prizes given out at The Václav Havel Library, at Montmartre Gallery, in November 2009.