ISLAND from the book publication „Ostrov Socci“
Unique concept
ABOUT THE PROJECT
ZS ACADEMY is a unique concept combining swimming lessons, environmental education and sports and entertainment programme for younger school-age children.
HOW DOES IT WORK?
Within the five-day course, children take ten ninety-minute swimming lessons, each of which is divided into three parts:
- introductory part – introductory part – warming up and preparation for swimming education, development of coordination abilities and promotion of the child´s body awareness
- main part – picking up swimming skills, mastering basic swim strokes: backstroke, breaststroke and freestyle, learning first aid basics, jumps into the water and diving
- closing part – predominantly games in the water.
The training is mostly game-based. The swimming course ends with awarding a certificate.
WHAT IS INCLUDED IN THE OTHER SPORTS PROGRAMME?
Children take five ninety-minute lessons focused on outdoor games, traditional as well as non-traditional games and competitions aimed at development of the qualities like speed, strength, agility, endurance, rapid visual search and sensory perception. Units are divided into four parts:
- dynamic part – warming-up
- main part – explanation of game rules and the actual game
- relaxing part – calming down and breathing out
- closing part – assessing part, within the framework of which the children comment on the game, share their impressions from the game and come up with their own ideas and alternatives of the rules.
WHAT IS CONTAINED IN THE ENVIRONMENTAL PROGRAMME?
Within the five-day course, the children take lessons of five ninety-minute blocks, each of which is divided into three parts:
- theory – in the form of game-based learning, children learn about the concerned topic and its contexts. Each block is focused on one topic of the environmental agenda. Illustrative examples and exercises are included, too.
- preparation – this part includes creation and adjustment of props and accessories for fulfilment of the given task
- application – installation and the actual final solution of the task
The main themes of the environmental blocks are environmental protection, sustainable growth and climate change. Solution of particular tasks is interwoven with the story of the children´s book “Island of Socci”. Characters illustrated by Jarmila Havlíková add to the completion of the visual identity. The fundamental mission of the blocks is each time a simulated rescue of the world from the malevolence of the cruel ruler Pepin. The Friday´s “Enviro Treasure Hunt“ should check the knowledge picked up from the course and lead the children to a precious treasure.
WHY THE ZS ACADEMY COURSE?
Thanks to our many-year teaching, lecturing and coaching experience from Europe, we have managed to develop a unique methodology of teaching to swim, and to provide physical education and environmental education for pupils of primary schools.
In the Sudan, like in other developing countries, there are lots of useless fatalities of children getting drowned every year. We want to pass on our “know-how” to new instructors in the Sudan, to create conditions for further education there and, ultimately, to reduce the number of such fatalities significantly.
Swimming is one of the healthiest sports, it does not put strain on joints, it develops physical fitness, increases the aerobic capacity, works as a prevention from cardiovascular diseases, helps with better posture, improves flexibility and range of motion, accelerates metabolism and regeneration. In comparison with other sports it prominently stands out with the edge that it is a life skill at the same time.
Using advanced pedagogic methods and well-proven gentle technique of teaching to swim, children are led to love the water and to master the basic swimming skills and swimming strokes.
Swimming as one of the most complete sports together with the complementary sports and entertainment programme create a precondition for children´s overall development of motor skills and sustainable positive attitude to movement activities.
Another ambition of ours is to help with creation of awareness of the needs to protect the environment and to build a better world for plants, animals and human beings.
Thanks to carefully prepared environmental programme, created in collaboration with several Czech environmental protection authorities, children are led to get a deeper understanding of the environment, of its mechanisms and of the needs for its protection.
We put great emphasize on learning to identify fauna and flora directly in their natural habitat, but we also use advanced technologies, especially the virtual reality technology for this purpose.
As an extra benefit, we try to enrich all common activities with promotion of self-knowledge and natural self-confidence, strengthening relationships in the group, mutual respect and team collaboration.
Shared experiences strengthen relations in a team of children.
Thanks to a thoroughly prepared and eventful programme, children enjoy rich experience they recall in memory with pleasure for a long time thereafter.
PROJECT COORDINATORS
Absolvent ASA výukového programu pro učitele plavání, Londýn, Velká Británie (2012)
Graduate of the Master’s study of the Faculty of Physical Education and Sport, Charles University (2009)
