Wednesday, 24 April 2013
Tuesday, 2 April 2013
Are Czech Children’s Care Homes Still Using Cage Beds? - Text 5
Are Czech Children’s Care Homes Still Using Cage Beds?
A On
Tuesday night, the BBC broadcast a report on its 10 O’Clock News programme,
showing children in Czech care homes locked-up in caged beds. The use of cage
beds in Czech institutions such as children’s homes has provoked international
outcry in the past, and at the beginning of 2007, they were banned by Czech
law. The report suggests, however, that the majority of Czech children’s care
homes are continuing to use them, and violating the law – but the government
claims that nothing illegal is shown in the report, and that the beds featured
are more like cots than cages.
B Cage
beds in Czech institutions have created uproar
in the past. In 2004, the novelist JK Rowling wrote to President Václav Klaus,
calling for such beds to be outlawed in the country’s hospitals. The government
acted, and cage beds were banished
from Czech psychiatry wards. In early 2007, a new law was drafted which banned them from the country’s children’s care homes
as well. But on Tuesday, the BBC aired a report which suggested that care homes
were breaking the law, and that the practice of locking up children – some well
into their teens – in caged beds continued.
C In the
past, the use of such beds was defended by those who said that a lack of
trained staff meant that children might hurt themselves if left to run free,
and that tranquilizing patients was
an even less humane option.
D Today,
the Ministry of Social Affairs reacted to the BBC report. Štěpán Černoušek is a
ministry spokesperson: “The point is that the beds shown in the BBC report are
not cages. These are normal children’s beds with removable side-flaps, which
according to Czech law can be used in individual cases, on the basis of a
by-law and doctor’s recommendation. The purpose is to protect children from
injuring themselves.” Does the Ministry plan to investigate the BBC’s allegations? “Yes, inspectors from the
Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs will go to the care homes which were
shown in the BBC report to see if any law has been broken. But from the images
shown on the BBC, it doesn’t look like any law has been violated.”
E The
beds shown in the BBC report may not fit the Czech legal definition of a cage
bed. But it’s certain that a lot of people have been outraged by the images, and that the Czech Republic is now under intense
international pressure to overhaul
its network of children’s care homes.
allegation – neopodstatněné tvrzení
cot – dětská postýlka, visuté lůžko
to banish – vykázat
to draft – navrhnout
to outrage – pobouřit
to overhaul – renovovat, vyšetřit
tranquilizing – utišování
uproar – vřava, povyk
1) Read the article and match each of the headings to a paragraph.
1
The Czech Republic has to overhaul its network of
children’s care homes
2 Tranquilizing patients was more human
3
Opinion of the Ministry of Social Affairs
4 A report suggests using cage beds by
children’s homes
5
Rawling wants cage beds to be outlawed
2) Read the article and answer the questions.
1
What is the article about?
2
What does JK Rawling want? What has she done?
3
What does the Ministry of Social Affairs say about cage beds? What are they
used for?
4
What will the Ministry of Social Affairs probably have to do?
3) Explain the following words.
1
cage bed
2
care home
3
illegal
4
trained staff
5
violate the law
4) Answer the following questions.
Where
can be children without parents placed? What does “Our Child” Foundation do?
What is an adoption? Who can adopt children?
Adjusted to:
Foster Care Faces Strain - Text 4
Foster Care Faces Strain
A
International criticism is mounting over
the disproportionate number of Czech
children in state-run institutions and orphanages, and local experts are
concerned that planned budget cuts will only further paralyse a system already
stretched beyond its bounds. The Czech
Republic has around
20,000 children in institutions – comprised of infant diagnostic institutes,
orphanages, educational institutions and facilities for immediate social care –
according to 2010 statistics from the Labour and Social Affairs Ministry.
B That adds up to one out of every 99 children
being institutionalized as compared with one in 287 in France, one in 257 in Hungary and one in 137 in Poland, prompting criticism from international groups like Eurochild and
UNICEF. The European Union and the United Nations are pushing for members to
deinstitutionalize children, and the Czech
Republic responded with a
National Action Plan for 2009-11 which seeks to promote social work allowing families to keep their children and
place other kids into foster care.
C Gracián
Svačina, 20, was placed in an institution at the age of 10 and is now studying
journalism at university, but said he is a rare exception, as many children who
leave institutions end up back on the street or with the abusive families they
were taken from. "Institutions taught me how to take care of myself, but
it’s not like having a family, where you have concrete relations with concrete
people – not in a house full of some strange governesses," he said.
"I can’t say if I had been raised in a proper family I would have made it
to Cambridge,
but I guess I would have more trust in people."
D Svačina
is one of the 0.6 percent raised in institutions that study at the university
level, according to Spolu dětem, a nongovernmental organization that works to
improve education in institutions. Adult life after an institutionalized
childhood is not an easy one. A 2007 survey by the Interior Ministry showed
that out of the 17,454 children surveyed, 9,751 had committed a crime - 6,542
of them after leaving institutional care.
E Under
the current system, even willing parents have to wait almost two years to get a
foster child, and only around 1,000 children have been evaluated as fit by
social workers to go to foster homes, according to Chris Gardiner, president of
the International Foster Care Association and the Eurochild representative in
the Czech Republic. There are few training and
counselling centres for foster parents outside of large cities, he said, and
because many institutionalized children have physical and emotional
disabilities, the lack of support has made foster parenting an unattractive prospect.
add up to – dávat součet
disproportionate – nepřiměřěný
mount over – zvedat se nad
prompt – vybízet, podněcovat
to promote – propagovat, prosazovat
1) Read the article and match each of the headings to a paragraph.
1
Pushing organizations to deinstitutionalize children
2
Gracián Svačina
3
Criticism over number of institutionalized children
4
Foster care
5
Adult life after an institutionalized childhood
2) Read the article and answer the questions.
1
What is the article about?
2
Compare numbers of institutionalized children in Europe.
3
Who is Gracián Svačina?
4
What is the adult life of institutionalized children like?
5
What are the problems of willing parents?
3) Explain the following words.
1
state-run institution
2
orphanage
3
infant diagnostic institute
4
commit a crime
5
survey
4) Answer the following questions.
What
possibilities are there for children without parents? What are reasons for life
without parents? Who and how can help children on the street?
Adjusted to:
SOS Children’s Villages - Text 3
SOS Children’s Villages
A The
goal of SOS Children’s Villages is to provide children whose original family do
not want them or cannot look after them with a new home full of love and
understanding. The first SOS Children’s Village was established in 1949 in the Austrian city
of Imst.
Unfortunately, the need to care for children at risk, who have been taken from
their original families for various reasons, is still a topical issue.
Consequently, SOS Children’s Villages were also established in other parts of
the world during the second half of the 20th century. Today, there are villages
operating in 132 countries around the globe.
B In the
former Czechoslovakia,
the idea of SOS Children’s Villages appeared in the second half of the 1960s in
connection with the general liberalisation of the political situation and the concomitant mobilisation of civil
society. At present, the SOS Children’s Villages Association runs three SOS
Children’s Villages in the Czech
Republic. The oldest of
these was established in 1969
in Karlovy Vary
– Doubí. In 1973, an SOS village began operating in Chvalčov, a small village
beneath Hostýn Hill in the Zlín region. Another SOS village was subsequently
opened in Brno
– Medlánky in 2003.
C The
construction of the SOS Children’s Village in Karlovy Vary – Doubí began in 1969, and it
welcomed its first foster families just a year later. The SOS Children’s
Village in Karlovy Vary is therefore the oldest
such village in the Czech
Republic. Altogether,
there are 12 family homes available in the SOS Children’s Village, and each
home is used by one foster family.
D The
homes in the village were completely refurbished
in the years 2000 – 2001. For organisational reasons, however, the SOS Children’s
Village in Karlovy Vary
was wound down in 2005 and it was transformed into an education centre for the
SOS Kinderdorf International association, which is a worldwide umbrella
organisation for individual national SOS Children’s Villages associations. The
SOS Children’s Village renewed its activity in January 2007 and new foster
families gradually began arriving in the village.
E At
present, there are a total of 23 children in 7 foster families living in our
village. One of these families lives outside the area of the SOS Children’s
Village. Because all the family homes are not yet occupied, we have provided
two houses to the Ostrov Children’s Home for the time being. The remaining four
houses are awaiting new foster parents and we are looking forward to their
being occupied and new children finding a home here. Besides 12 family homes
for foster parents, we have 2 houses nearby for retired foster carers and 1
house in Dalovice for youngsters who have grown up.
concomitant – průvodní jev
refurbished – zrenovovaný
1) Read the article and match each of the headings to a paragraph.
1
SOS Children’s Village in Karlovy Vary
– Doubí
2
History of SOS Children’s Villages
3
The SOS Kinderdorf International association
4
Introduction
5
Foster families living in the village
2) Read the article and answer the questions.
1
What is the article about?
2
What are SOS Children’s Villages?
3
Describe history and location of Czech SOS Children’s Villages.
4
What happened in 2005?
5
What is the SOS Kinderdorf International association?
6.
What is the situation in the SOS Children’s Village in Karlovy Vary today like?
3) Explain the following words.
1
children at risk
2
foster family
3
Children’s Village
4
retired foster carer
5
youngsters
4) Answer the following questions.
Who
are foster parents? Who can become foster parents? Which children cannot be
adopted?
Adjusted to:
International Missing Children’s Day: Up to Ten Thousand Czech Children Go Missing Every Year - Text 2
International Missing Children’s Day: Up to Ten Thousand Czech Children Go Missing Every Year
A Every
year the Czech police receive several thousand reports of missing children. In
2004, the figure came close to ten
thousand – that’s in a country with a population of only ten million.
Humanitarian organisations hope to bring awareness
to the large number of children missing around the world and join forces to
find more effective ways to reduce that number.
B The
Czech “Our Child” Foundation, a member of the European Federation for Missing
and Sexually Exploited Children, recently completed its study and came up with
shocking results. Zuzana Baudyšová is the director of “Our Child”: “The outcome
of the study is a little bit pessimistic. At the moment, there are 350 children
who have run away from institutional care and who the police are searching for.
Sixty-five more have run away from their homes. So that’s another category of
children who are at risk. Both figures are very high.”
C With
time the great majority of the missing children in the Czech Republic do turn up, and statistics include only
those cases reported to the police. The number of children who are abducted is
unknown but it is believed to make up only a fraction of the total number of
those who go missing, most of whom are runaways. But while the figures for
those who run away from institutional care have increased by eighty-five
percent in the last two years, the numbers of children who left home or are
believed to have been abducted have dropped by some thirty percent.
D
Although most missing children are found, Mrs Baudyšová points to the fact that
in the short time they spend out on the streets, they are at a very high risk
of being abused: “We are afraid that we have been recording a phenomenon of
commercial sexual exploitation –
child pornography, the trade in children, and sexual exploitation. This
category of children is very much influenced and prepared to be abused by this
new phenomenon. Most of them are street children without money or food and they
are prepared to accept any offer in order to survive even to be in a
pornographic video or be clients of paedophiles.”
E In the
Czech Republic, there is still much room to
battle the problem more effectively. The country still lacks a monitoring system that records and analyses every missing
child case – why a child has run away, what places children tend to run away
from, and where they seek refuge. With such information at hand, the country’s
organisations dealing with child care could join forces, guarantee children
better conditions and prevent them from taking to the streets and becoming
victims of abuse.
awareness – povědomí
exploitation – zneužívání, vykořisťování
figure – počet
to lack – postrádat
to turn up – objevit se
1) Read the article and match each of the headings to a paragraph.
1
The statistics of missing children
2
The study of “Our Child” Foundation
3
The Czech Republic needs a monitoring system
4
Large number of children missing around the world
5
Street children are risk of being abused
2) Read the article and answer the questions.
1
What is the article about?
2
Who does “Our Child” Foundation work with? How does it help?
3
Who is Zuzana Baudyšová? What does she say about missing children?
4
What are problems of street children?
3) Explain the following words.
1
institutional care
2
abducted
3
runaway
4
to abuse
5
paedophile
4) Answer the following questions.
Why
do children leave home? Why do children run away from institutional care? Who
and how can help children in need? What are dangers that street children
encounter?
Adjusted to:
Britain’s Street Children - Text 1
Britain’s Street Children
A Lee
tries to block out memories of his childhood. He was one of five children born
to a drug dealing father and heroin addict mother in the Northwest of England.
His father was sent to prison when he was young and his mother turned their
home into a “dosshouse for junkies”
as he puts it. Lee and his brothers and sisters were often beaten: he remembers
being locked in a cellar for days. His elder sister tried to look after the
others, get them dressed, fed and off to school, but was only a child herself.
B When
he was 13, social services finally intervened. Lee wanted to live with his
grandmother, but instead he was placed in foster care. It was then that he
started to run away, sleeping in sheds and cars. When he ran out of clothes he
stole luggage from trains. “I was walking around in clothes that were twice the
size for me,” he laughs. He shoplifted for food, and then quickly moved onto
robbery and burglary to get cash.
C
Sometimes people would find him asleep in the morning. He used to run as
quickly as he could. One homeowner who found him in her shed used to invite him
in for “bacon butty” – though she always called the police. Time after time Lee
was taken back to the foster home, only to run away again. On occasion he stayed on the run for months. He saw gangs of youths
hanging around, but he was never attacked, or propositioned. “I could handle myself. I wasn’t scared of that. I
had a knife. And I was a loner,” he says.
D After
two years, he was arrested for robbery, convicted, and sent to a Secure Unit. Released, he was allowed
to go and live with his grandmother, where his siblings were. It wasn’t long
before he was back in prison though: he found two teenagers breaking into his
grandmother’s shed, and attacked them.
E Now
21, Lee is unemployed and pessimistic about his future. His primary education
was disrupted; he only spent two
weeks at secondary school. He can barely read and write. Lee was one of eight
young people who I met in one middle sized town in northwest England.
bacon butty – krajíc chleba s máslem a šunkou
be propositioned – dostat nabídku
dosshouse – noclehárna
on occasion – občas
Secure Unit – výchovný ústav
to disrupt – přerušit
1) Read the article and match each of the headings to a paragraph.
1
Lee was a loner
2
Lee started to run away
3 In prison
4
Lee’s family
5
Lee’s life today
2) Read the article and answer the questions.
1
What is the article about?
2
What was Lee’s family like?
3
When and how did social services intervene?
4
What crimes did Lee commit?
5
What is his life today like?
3) Explain the following words.
1
heroin addict
2
junkie
3
to shoplift
4
gang of youths
5
robbery
4) Answer the following questions.
When
and why are children institutionalized? What are typical crimes they commit?
How can they be punished? When do children become criminally responsible?
Adjusted to:
Children Without Parents – Vocabulary 2
abducted – unesený
adoption – adopce
awareness – povědomí
cage bed – klecová postel
care home – dětský domov
caregiver – pečovatel
children at risk – děti v nebezpečí
children’s home – dětský domov
Children’s Village – dětská vesnička
commit a crime – spáchat trestný čin
community-based setting – uspořádání založené
na komunitě
custody of the state – péče szátu
exploitation – zneužívání, vykořisťování
foster care – pěstounská péče
foster family – pěstounská rodina
foster parent – pěstoun
gang of youths – gang mladistvých
group home – dětský domov
guardianship – poručnictví, opatrovnictví
heroin addict – závislý na heroinu
illegal - nezákonný
infant diagnostic institute – diagnostický
ústav pro nezletilé
institutional care – instituční péče
junkie – závislák
kin – příbuzný (pokrevný)
orphan – sirotek
orphanage – sirotčinec, osiřelost
paedophile - pedofil
parental responsibility – rodičovská
odpovědnost
permanent placement – stale umístění
prompt – vybízet, podněcovat
rehabilitation
centre – dětský domov
relative – příbuzný
retired foster carer – pěstoun v důchodu
reunification – opětovné sjednocení
robbery – loupež
runaway – utečenec, na útěku
Secure Unit – výchovný ústav
state-run institution – státem provozovaná
instituce
stranger – cizinec
survey – průzkum
to abuse – zneužít
to educate – vzdělávat
to lack – postrádat
to maintain continuity – udržovat souvislost
to promote – propagovat, prosazovat
to shoplift – krást v obchodě
to turn up – objevit se
trained staff – školený personál
violate the law – porušovat zákon
youngsters – mladiství
youth treatment
centre – dětský domov
Children Without Parents – Vocabulary 1
Explain
the following words:
adoption
care home
caregiver
children’s home
Children’s
Village
commit a
crime
foster
parent
gang of
youths
heroin
addict
infant
diagnostic institute
junkie
kin
orphan
paedophile
rehabilitation centre
relative
robbery
runaway
Secure
Unit
state-run
institution
stranger
to abuse
to
educate
to
shoplift
trained
staff
violate
the law
youngsters
youth treatment centre
Children Without Parents – Questions
Answer the following questions:
What
possibilities are there for children without parents?
What
are reasons for life without parents?
Who
and how can help children on the street?
Why
do children leave home?
Why
do children run away from institutional care?
Who
and how can help children in need?
What
are dangers that street children encounter?
Where
can be children without parents placed?
What
does “Our Child” Foundation do?
What
is an adoption?
Who
can adopt children?
Who
are foster parents?
Who
can become a foster parent?
Which
children cannot be adopted?
When
and why are children institutionalized?
What
are typical crimes they commit?
How
can they be punished?
When
do children become criminally responsible?
Children Without Parents – Study Material
Children without parental care are defined as all
children not in the overnight care of at least one
of their parents.They include children living in
residential care,with extended or foster families,
in child-only households,in juvenile detention,on
the streets or with employers.A lack of attention
to this vulnerable group means that there is an
incomplete statistical picture of the number of
children without parental care.The figures on
some categories of children without parental
care that do exist suggest that there are at
least 24 million children without parental care
globally,or 1% of the child population.Where
there are more detailed country and regional
level statistics,a much more alarming picture is
presented. For example, in Russia,at least 2.7%
of the child population are without parental
care. Estimates from several countries in
Southern Africa suggest that 12-34% of children
live with neither parent.
Orphanage is the name to describe a
residential institution devoted to the care of orphans – children whose parents
are deceased or otherwise unable to
care for them. Parents, and sometimes grandparents, are legally responsible for supporting children,
but in the absence of these or other relatives willing to care for the
children, they become a ward of the
state, and orphanages are a way of providing for their care and housing.
Children are educated within or outside
of the orphanage.
Orphanages
provide an alternative to foster care or adoption
by giving orphans a community-based
setting in which they live and learn. In the worst cases, orphanages can be
dangerous and unregulated places where children are subject to abuse and
neglect. Today, the term orphanage has negative connotations. Other alternative
names are group home, children’s home, rehabilitation
centre and youth treatment centre.
Adoption is a process whereby a person
assumes the parenting for another who is not kin and permanently transfers
all rights and responsibilities from the original parent or parents. Unlike
guardianship or other systems
designed for the care of the young, adoption is intended to effect a permanent
change in status and as such requires societal recognition, either through
legal or religious sanction. Some societies have enacted specific laws
governing adoption whereas others have endeavoured to achieve adoption through
less formal means, via contracts that specified inheritance rights and parental responsibilities.
Foster
care is the term
used for a system in which a minor who has been made a ward is placed in the private home of a state certified caregiver referred to as a “foster parent”. The foster parent is
responsible for the day to day care.
Foster care is intended to be a short term situation until a permanent placement can be made.
·
Reunification with the biological parent(s) –
when it is deemed in the child’s best interest. This is generally the first
choice.
·
Adoption – preferably by a biological family member
such as an aunt or grandparent.
·
If
no biological family member is willing or able to adopt, the next preference is
for the child to be adopted by the
foster parents or by someone else
involved in the child’s life (such as a teacher or coach). This
is to maintain continuity in the
child’s life.
·
If
neither above options are available, the child may be adopted by someone who is a stranger to the child.
·
Permanent transfer of guardianship
·
If
none of these options are viable the plan for the minor may enter OPPLA (Other
Planned Permanent Living Arrangement). This option allows the child to stay in custody of the state and the child can
stay placed in a foster home, with a
relative or an Independent Living Centre or long term care facility (for children with development
disabilities, physical disabilities or mental disabilities).
Adjusted to:
Monday, 1 April 2013
Progress Made But More Needs to Be Done, Say Handicapped Rights Advocates - Text 5
Progress Made But More Needs to Be Done, Say Handicapped Rights Advocates
A
December 3 is the International Day of Persons with Disabilities. Here in the Czech Republic,
things have changed a lot since the communist era, when an independent
lifestyle was virtually impossible for the handicapped. However, advocates say
there is still a lot of work to be done.
B Zdeněk
Škaroupka is the director of Liga vozíčkářů, the Czech association of
wheelchair users. It was established in 1990, soon after the fall of communism,
to address the problems of people with disabilities. Mr. Škaroupka describes
what conditions handicapped people were living under the previous system. “The
situation was that most disabled people lived in institutions. Children and
teenagers were living in social services housing for disabled youths. The
situation was intolerable to me, because the children had very few
opportunities to freely move on their own, for example to go into town; they
were sort of locked up in their accommodation, and their life was, well, the
way life was in those institutions at the time.”
C One
huge difference between then and now is definitely the accessibility of public
spaces. Eva Kučerová, a Prague
resident who relies on a wheelchair to get around, says the situation has
gotten a lot better in the past 20 years. “As far as my personal experience
goes, the changes have been radical. When I was young, for example, right after
my accident, when I was studying, there were no ramps for wheelchairs in the
city’s public transportation system. So as a disabled person, you were always
depending on your family and your own resources.”
D Advocates
say despite some advances, much more needs to be done to help the country’s
handicapped. Zdeněk Škaroupka says: “None of the areas that are problematic for
disabled people have been addressed in a systematic, clear and definite way.
Take wheelchair ramps for example: we have a construction law that states what a wheelchair accessible place
should look like. But the problem is that there are no effective sanctions or
fines in case the construction firm doesn’t adhere to the law.”
E Mr.
Škaroupka added that even though the International Day for Persons with
Disabilities does offer a great opportunity to organize events and conferences,
not enough is done in the Czech Republic
to celebrate it. “It would be good if we could take advantage of the day to
spread the news that there are problems that disabled people have to face and
that plenty of people that surround us have to deal with those problems. For
instance, they could not take a parking spot that is designated to be used by disabled people only.”
construction law – stavební zákon
designated – určený
to adhere – držet se
1) Read the article and match each of the headings to a paragraph.
1
The situation of people with disabilities in the past
2
Difference between then and now
3
Škaroupka thinks we should do more for the handicapped
4 A lot has to be done to help the
handicapped
5
Things have changed a lot in the Czech
Republic
2) Read the article and answer the questions.
1
What is the article about?
2
Who is Zdeněk Škaroupka? What are his opinions?
3
Who is Eva Kučerová? What are her opinions?
4
What does Zdeněk Škaroupka say about wheelchair ramps?
5
How could the International Day for Persons with Disabilities help?
3) Explain the following words.
1
independent lifestyle
2
housing for disabled youths
3
intolerable
4
accessibility of public spaces
5
wheelchair ramp
4) Answer the following questions.
What
was life of the handicapped like in the past? Has their situation improved?
What are typical problems of handicapped people? What are problems of the
blind, deaf, physically disabled?
Adjusted to:
Jedlička Institute and Schools (JÚŠ) for Physically Disabled Young People in Prague - Text 4
Jedlička Institute and Schools (JÚŠ) for Physically Disabled Young People in Prague
A
Jedlička Institute and Schools is a non-profit organisation operated by Prague
City Council. It is a specialist educational establishment for
children and young people primarily with a physical disability.
B It was
founded in 1913 and has been based in central Prague at Vyšehrad since that time. During
the past 90 years it has undergone many changes but with a continuing emphasis
on education and training for further application in employment even for those
young people whose disability is severe. Since 1991 it has been operated by
Prague City Council which provides financial support. The Jedlička Foundation
raises funds to cover costs for specific individual needs of physically
disabled students. It has also provided significant support for JÚŠ building
improvements over the past 10 years.
C JÚŠ currently
serves to 180 students for whom a great amount of services are provided. 90
students are accommodated during the week and go home for weekends and
holidays. In the late 1990s, thanks to the UK Crown Foundation, we made contact
with Treloar College
in Alton,
Hampshire. Several projects were undertaken that involved the sharing of
experiences between staff and exchange visits for students. Work methods and
student needs in both places are very similar. We can offer training
opportunities for students from the UK together with full board onsite.
D Our
schools provide elementary and middle-school education, both mainstream and
specialist, for children and young people primarily with physical disabilities.
The students are provided with therapeutic rehabilitation – physiotherapy,
occupational therapy (ergotherapy), hydrotherapy, speech therapy. Moreover,
computer assistance, social skills for the workplace, a flat in which they can
develop independent domestic skills, a transition programme and employment
support are made accessible for all of the students. Children with physical
disabilities in mainstream schools are offered mobility consultancy services or
assistance with the selection of schools, they can exploit diagnostics,
psychological, and therapy short-term stays.
E There
are extracurricular activities as accommodation in modern dormitories for
children and young people available. The students can create and support social
contacts in hobby groups, sports clubs, and an alumni club. They can take part in weekend stays, summer holiday
camps, and cooperate with schools overseas.
alumni – absolventský
onsite – na místě
1) Read the article and match each of the headings to a paragraph.
1
Extracurricular activities
2
History and Jedlička Foundation
3
Therapies and skills provided to students
4
Contacts with abroad
5
Introduction
2) Read the article and answer the questions.
1
What is the article about?
2
What is Jedlička Institute and Schools?
3
Who does it cooperate with?
4
What are the students offered in JÚŠ?
5
Where can they meet friends and set up new contacts?
3) Explain the following words.
1
disability
2
physically disabled
3
foundation
4
ergotherapy
5
domestic skills
4) Answer the following questions.
What
are types of handicaps? What are reasons for being handicapped? What types of
therapies do you know? How can they help the handicapped?
Adjusted to:
Young Czech Artist Helps Dyslexic Children - Text 3
Young Czech Artist Helps Dyslexic Children
A Around
five percent of Czech school-goers are diagnosed with dyslexia. Although it has
been proven that there is no direct link between dyslexia and IQ dyslexic
children are often labelled slow and problematic, hampering them from making full use of their potential. A new
learning aid aims to change that.
B
Children who are in any way different generally suffer for it in the classroom.
It took years for the Czech education system to accept left-handers for what
they were and not force them to write with their right hand. Now, teachers are
being made to recognize that a dyslexic child can be as intelligent – or more
intelligent – than a child without learning disabilities. Last week a young
Czech artist – herself a dyslexia sufferer – presented the public with an
audio-visual primer she produced in
cooperation with experts from Charles
University.
C Alena
Kupčíková explains what the new learning technique is based on. “Children
suffering from dyslexia tend to use the right hemisphere of the brain more than
the left which influences their perception of things. They tend to think in pictures, which makes it hard for them to work
with letters and written words. So our learning aid is based on using pictures
to help them recognize letters in what appears to be a foreign and confusing
environment. But it is possible that our primer will help all children learn to
read because our first perception of new things tends to be visual.”
D Alena
Kupčíková spent six years working with pre-school children and first graders in
order to get as much information as possible for the primer. In the learning
process children are encouraged to play with the shapes of letters and look for
them in a given environment. You have pictures in motion on screen which
children have to spot or move elsewhere. The combination of work with colour,
sound, shape and movement has produced excellent results and dyslexia experts
in other countries have shown interest in the idea.
E “The
first to contact were experts from Slovakia – who want a Slovak
version of what we are offering Czech children, and because my work is known
abroad other countries have expressed interest as well. We are cooperating with
education specialists in Great Britain,
Canada, France and Germany to produce different
language versions. It is a lot of work but now that the Czech version is done
we hope to move on and have the English and German versions ready by the end of
the year.”
hampering – brzdící
perception – vnímání
primer – slabikář
to tend – mít sklon
1) Read the article and match each of the headings to a paragraph.
1 A new learning aid
2
International interest
3
Work with colour, sound, shape and movement
4
Teachers have to find out dyslexic children can be intelligent
5
Alena Kupčíková explains the principle of the new learning technique
2) Read the article and answer the questions.
1
What is the article about?
2
Who is Alena Kupčíková?
3
What and who did she cooperate in her primer with?
4
What are problems of Czech teachers in connection with the disabled students?
5
What do the foreign experts say about the primer?
3) Explain the following words.
1
dyslexia
2
learning aid
3
different
4
left-hander
5
pre-school children
4) Answer the following questions.
What
are types of learning handicaps? What are learning aids used by the handicapped
children? What is IQ? What are its levels?
Adjusted to:
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