Czech and Slovak Language Classes for Adults

Michael Trittipo studied second-language teaching theory and methods at the University of Minnesota (for ESL) and the Defense Language Institute (where he taught French 2019-2020). The DLI also happens to be where he first learned Czech as a soldier during the Cold War, with zero background. (You can learn it as an adult, too!) He maintains it with reading and listening, and occasional months at one of the Czech “summer schools.” He looks forward to his fourth year of teaching the wonderful Czech language.

Tess Dajc was born in Kolín, Czech Republic. She has been teaching Czech for over ten years. In her spare time, she likes to write poetry and was recently published in several literary journals.

Luboš Mareš was born in the Czech Republic in the small town of Milevsko. He studied at the Central School of Engineering (SPSS) in Tabor and ended his educational journey in Prague at Czech Technical University (CVUT). He has been living in Minnesota for 25 years. Luboš is a teacher of kung fu, tai chi, qigong and mindfulness at Sokol Minnesota. Teaching Czech language gives Luboš the opportunity to bring the Czech Republic closer to our hearts.

Renáta Tichá has been teaching advanced Czech at Czech and Slovak Sokol Minnesota for more than ten years. She is originally from the Czech Republic and enjoys supporting Czech learners in Minnesota on their Czech language journeys, including for preserving their Czech heritage, speaking Czech with their family, or wanting to study or work in the Czech Republic. She is also a research faculty in special education and disability services at the University of Minnesota’s Institute on Community Integration.

Jana Kalinová Zmrzliková has been teaching Czech as a foreign language for almost 20 years. She has experience teaching students of all age groups, from toddlers to seniors. She holds a degree in Czech language pedagogy from Masaryk University in Brno. Jana is a founder of StudyCzech, a Brno-based language school specializing in teaching Czech
for foreigners. She is also an editor of AHOJ, a magazine for Czech language learners. Jana is now living in Washington, DC, with her family. She enjoys walking in the forest, swimming and practicing yoga in her free time.

George Hoffman has studied Slovak for more than 15 years, and has taught it for five years. He has a Ph.D. in Classical Languages and taught Ancient Greek and Latin in college in the 1970s, after which he went to work for the Minnesota Department of Human Services. His favorite Slovak writer is Dominik Dán, the author of an extensive collection of murder mysteries set in Bratislava. George‘s maternal grandparents were both Slovaks from the Námestovo area, who immigrated to the U.S. in 1903 and lived in Chicago. He has been to Slovakia several times and has visited Námestovo. He visited with relatives there in 2024 and 2025 and conversed with them in Slovak.