CLASSES
Czech Language Classes for Children
New this Fall! Beginning Czech for Children – Registration opens August 1st!
Saturdays 9:45-10:45 a.m. at the C.S.P.S. Hall, 383 West Michigan Street, Saint Paul, MN
Fall trimester dates: Saturdays between October 4-December 6, 2025
Winter and Spring trimesters are also planned.
Have fun learning Czech with us! This class is designed for children ages 10-14 who have little or no prior exposure to the Czech language.* Children may enroll in the class on their own or with an adult.
Fall tuition (ten weeks):
Sokol member: $80 child, $140 two siblings or child plus adult
Non-member: $100 child, $160 two siblings or child plus adult
Teacher: Luboš Mareš (Click to read profile)
Enrollment limits: minimum four, maximum 10 enrollees
Questions? education@sokolmn.org
*Youth age 14 and older may enroll in our adult language classes with permission. Children and youth with significant prior exposure to Czech or Slovak language please check out Czech & Slovak School Twin Cities at https://www.facebook.com/CzechandSlovakSchoolTwinCities
Michael Trittipo
In-person, Beginning Czech Year Two
Michael Trittipo studied second-language teaching theory and methods at the University of Minnesota (for teaching 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 second year of teaching this wonderful language.
Tess Dajc
Online, Advanced Beginning Czech
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
In-person, Beginning Czech
Luboš Mareš was born in the Czech Republic in the small town of Milevsko. After elementary school he continued to study 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 23 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, PhD
Online, Advanced Czech
Renáta Tichá, PhD, has been teaching advanced Czech at Czech and Slovak Sokol Minnesota for the last nine 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.
George Hoffman
Online, Beginning Slovak
George Hoffman has studied Slovak for over 12 years, and has taught it for three 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.