ABSTRACT
This chapter describes the state of Czech heritage language (HL) education in the United States and Europe and examines the degree of institutionalization of the respective programs, focusing on a group of community schools that represents a new, successful, and growing initiative in Czech HL education. Since the 1990s, however, with a new wave of immigration beginning from the Czech Republic and the entire region of Central and Eastern Europe, maintenance of heritage languages has become an important goal of many of the communities. The chapter provides available statistics about Czech speakers living abroad. It also describes the types of collaboration among the schools and between the schools and the Czech government. The chapter also provides an assessment of the degree of institutionalization of the various Czech HL programs while also discussing implications of the findings. Successful negotiations leading to the implementation of changes constitute the initial step toward institutionalization.
