The Association of Teachers of English of the Czech Republic was founded in January 1990 by a group of teachers of English seeking improvement in the quality of English teaching, exchange of ideas and experience and broad cooperation on national and international level. The very first meeting was held on 11th January 1990 in Prague, in April 1990 the association was officially registered and in May, the first General Assembly was attended by close to a hundred teachers from many different parts of the country.

The membership grew fast, the scope of activities widened and in February 1991 the initial efforts were crowned by the success of the First ATECR National ELT Conference and book fair in Prague, in which Czech teachers gave presentations alongside their colleagues from a number of countries of the world. In 1991 seventeen regional centres equipped with libraries were established across the country. In 1992 the ATECR organised the making of a video programme named Alternatives for Teachers of English and in 1993 the programme was repeatedly shown on a nation-wide channel of Czech Television. In September 1998, ATECR held its Fifth National and First International Conference, Alternatives ’98, in Prague with the attendance of about 600 Czech and foreign teachers. The 6th National and 2nd International ATECR Conference took place in Plzeň in September 2000. The 7th National and 3rd International ATECR Conference “ELT Horizons” took place in Liberec in September 2002, the 8th National and 4th International ATECR Conference “Learning Together” took place in Pardubice in September 2004. “Ways to Teaching and Learning”, the 9th National and 5th International ATECR Conference was held in Hradec Králové.

The ATECR Executive Committee is comprised of an elected President, Vice-President, Secretary and Treasurer, Immediate Past President, and appointed members in charge of liaison with other organisations, heads of divisions according to types of schools, as well as some special interest groups etc. Elections take place every two years.

Membership of ATECR is open to all persons teaching English at all kinds of schools and other institutions, state or private, as well as freelance teachers of any nationality working in the Czech Republic. There is also institutional membership. When you join ATECR, you connect yourself with other concerned professionals who wish to upgrade the teaching of English as a foreign language in the Czech Republic. Membership is for the calendar year, January through December. As a member, you will receive the ATECR Newsletter, published three times a year as well as other information and registration materials for conferences and other professional events organised by ATECR.

There is an annual membership fee. As a member, you can participate in all events organised by ATECR, join in the activities of a regional centre of your choice, write contributions for the newsletter, help with the organisation of conferences, serve on the Executive Board, represent ATECR at various meetings, come up with proposals of how to improve ATECR’s work or make it more meaningful to its members, and so on. To join ATECR, see the “Membership”.