Instructors at the Horazny Driving School in Prague

The Horazny Driving School in Prague is located on the border of the famous Prague districts of Žižkov and Vinohrady at Ondříčkova 9, Prague 3, only 200 metres from the Jiřího z Poděbrad metro station.

The driving school has a very convenient location for learning to drive.

For example, the student and the instructor literally drive across the crossroads, and there are tram lines, large intersections, a combination of completely different intersections on the road. In addition, there are many cafes near the driving school where you can pass the time before or after the lessons.

The driving school has professional instructors, some of whom teach in English and Russian. Today we will tell you about three of the instructors at the Horazny Driving School.

Text: Boris Kogut.

Jan Šťastný has been working at the driving school since 2017 and is a category B driver and instructor.

Jan, what do you think is the best teaching style for learning to drive?

It is important not to scold or pressure the learner and to keep emotions under control when working with them.

And yet it is very important to get the emphasis right when learning to drive. I would say that first of all we are in a driving school and I, as a teacher, try to create a relationship of trust between the teacher and the student.

Then the student will start to trust you and feel comfortable with you. I repeat, the main thing is to develop a relationship. And of course, during the training rides, I do not remain silent for a minute; the student and I constantly repeat the theoretical part and put it into practice.

The Horazny Driving School has recently introduced a new Toyota Corolla 1.8 HSD hybrid car.

It is a very easy to drive car with many advantages. For example, the pedal control of the car is very easy, the brake pedal goes smoothly. From the first days of driving, it is very important for

a student to learn to react quickly and follow traffic signs and the situation on the road, rather than focusing on the technical part of the car. It is very comfortable for a student to learn on a car like this.

And I believe that the comfort of driving this new car will reassure the learner. Again, it is important that the learner stops being afraid of the car. And when a student gets behind the wheel of our new car, I immediately see that this car is ideal for training.

Kateřina Trubková has been teaching driving courses for categories B (car) and BE (car with trailer) in Czech and English at the driving school since 2021. She started driving almost as a child, at the age of 18, and now she can’t imagine a day without the steering wheel.

Kateřina, what is the exam process for foreigners who do not speak Czech?

The final exam is held in Czech, so a foreigner who does not speak Czech must use the services of a court interpreter.

The Horazny Driving School provides such a service, i. e. a court interpreter for the duration of the final examination and the final driving test.

During the driving test, the student sits behind the wheel of the car, with the teacher sitting next to him. The examiner usually sits behind the driving instructor in the car and the court interpreter sits behind the student.

Do foreign students receive a training manual during their training?

When a foreign student starts individual training at our driving school, we provide him/her with a study manual for foreign students in Russian or English for the duration of the training.

I would also like to point out that all our students have access to the online version of all questions in Russian or English. This makes it easier for them to prepare for the theoretical exam.

Dmitrij Garkavenko has been working at the Horazny Driving School since 2022, as a driver of categories B, C, D, T, and as an instructor of category B.

Can you tell us about your driving experience?

I have often seen other drivers behaving inappropriately on the road…

And it was natural for me to want to share my experience, to be more useful to society than just working as a taxi driver.

Sometimes, when I worked as a courier, I drove 200–300 kilometres a day in Prague and the surrounding area.

Dmitrij, what are the advantages of a tandem: a Russian-speaking teacher and a student?

When I speak two languages, Russian and Czech, it is easier and simpler for me to explain some paragraphs or nuances in the laws to a student.

As a native Russian speaker, I can explain in my own words what is written in the laws in a way that is accessible to a Russian-speaking student. And then it will be easier for him or her in the exams.