Stop studying English. Start speaking it.

About me

Hi, I'm Phillip De Gree.

I grew up in San Clemente, California, a little surf town at the edge of Orange County known as the "Spanish Village by the Sea." I was lucky enough to start surfing at seven, when my dad would push me and my five sisters into the waves. My love for the ocean grew from there, and to this day I dream of being out on the water, watching the sunset and catching waves until dark.

I've always loved sports, too. I played basketball my whole childhood, all the way through high school, and led my team to our school's first league title.

After high school I went to the University of California, Santa Barbara, and in my opinion, there's no better school in the world. It sits right on the beach, next to Isla Vista, a neighborhood made up almost entirely of 18- to 21-year-olds. Every weekend there were backyard band concerts on Friday and Saturday nights, shows up in the mountains, and early-morning surf sessions. I made so many memories there.

Those years were also when I got really into art. I love to draw, paint, woodburn and make pottery.

Over the years I've worked a lot of different jobs, and most of them involved teaching in some way. I've busked on the streets playing the cello, and I taught cello and guitar at a music school. My summer job in Santa Barbara was taking people on kayak tours through the harbor and teaching kids and adults how to surf. I also helped study-abroad students learn conversational English, and along the way I made a lot of great friends.

I graduated in spring 2026 and moved to Prague. My mom is from Czechia, and I've always wanted to talk with her, and with my babička, in her native language. Right now I'm in an intensive Czech program at Charles University, and I teach English in the afternoons.

While I'm here, I want to explore the country, become fluent, learn to cook a few Czech dishes, and go on some great cycling trips around Czechia.