UpWord english education project
The UpWord Project seeks to have a significant impact on the Czech educational system, especially in the areas of language instruction, multicultural education, and personal and social education, by developing an excellent, innovative, and multifaceted English program that produces learners who are conversationally and academically proficient and confident in using the English language.
Several programs run or are being prepared under the umbrella of the UpWord Project
  1. •EATS (English Across the Subjects) at ZŠ Jarov, Prague 3
  2. •EATS at ZŠ Hanspaulka, Prague 6
  3. •Elf (English and Fun for preschoolers) at MŠ Na Vrcholu, Prague 3 and at MŠ Kohoutek in Prague 6
  4. •English Summer Camp Program
  5. •English teacher training and certification program in cooperation with project Lingua Ludus
  6. •Internships and Exchange Programs
 
SOCIAL AND RELATIONAL SKILLS: To help children become well adjusted and secure individuals and members of our society who posses a healthy self-image and are sensitive to the needs of others through creating a safe, positive, and encouraging classroom environment and fostering honest, trusting and respectful attitudes and relationships between children and teachers. To play a positive part in the ongoing effort to overcome the legacy of a rigid school atmosphere that was characteristic of the Czech educational system of the past. We consider the individuality of each child, avoid any form of shaming and ridiculing and seek to motivate children to become academically capable, emotionally secure and well adjusted individuals who also possess healthy relational and social skills. English Summer Camps We organize summer English camps for children from our EATS school program. In the future we plan on expanding the camp program to include a family English camp for parents with children or a city day-camp with English and sports. English Teacher Training and Certification Program In order to help our teachers advance their teaching qualification we cooperate with Lingua Ludus language project that provides teacher training programs accredited by the Czech ministry of Education. The project manager, Lucie Eiseltova, created a program specifically designed to meet the needs of our English Across the Subject program teachers and assistants.  Besides classroom instruction the 40-hour training program includes practical teaching experience with video-training followed by thorough analysis. It is offered either as a week-long course during the summer or as a series of one day seminars conducted during the school year. Because much of the success of our programs depends on well qualified and confident teachers the UpWord project sees quality continuing education and training as one of our priorities and covers part of the costs involved for each teacher and teaching assistant. Internships and Exchange Programs In the future we are planning to create opportunities for individuals and groups of young people from the Czech Republic to take part in cultural and language exchange programs in the US and other English speaking countries. The idea is to arrange an extended stay in host families so that the students can experience English speaking environment first hand, further advance their language proficiency, and gain deeper insight into the host country culture. Please visit the UpWord website by clicking the link below.  http://www.lingualudus.cz/http://www.lingualudus.com/http://upword.cz/shapeimage_2_link_0
 
  1. 1.  PERSONAL KNOWLEDGE AND SKILLS:
  2. •To help build the foundation for a new generation of Czech children to become able and confident in using the English language.
  3. 2.  MULTICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT:
  4. •To give children a positive experience with other cultures in their early school years and to instill in them a positive attitude towards people, cultures, and/or ways of doing things that are different from what they are used to.
  5. •To help children learn to appreciate individual and cultural differences as enrichment of their own lives.
English Across the Subjects The English Across the Subjects program currently operates at Jarov elementary school in Prague 3 and at Hanspaulka elementary and middle school in Prague 6. Students in grades 1-5 receive 4 hours per week of instruction in English. In addition to English conversation lessons using Cambridge Primary Colours textbooks, our students also learn English through music, art and role-play. All classes are taught by native English teachers and assisted by a Czech-speaking aides. You can read more about our program here. The program seeks to reach three overall Goals: http://www.zsjarov.cz/index.htmlhttp://zshanspaulka.cz/index2.htmhttp://www.cambridge.org/elt/primarycolours/http://upword.czshapeimage_3_link_0shapeimage_3_link_1shapeimage_3_link_2shapeimage_3_link_3