Helping the P-Centre Improve Online Teaching
During the coronavirus pandemic, many of our employees spent either part or all of their time working from home. Those who were more fortunate had a separate room for themselves at home, but many had to share their space with other household members. The unluckiest of all were the parents with school children, who spent all day at home in their pyjamas or sweatpants, with their children right next to them all the time.
We had the opportunity to experience and see firsthand the problems that students and teachers encounter with their online learning every day. We were more than a little nervous when we saw children — who we used to consider diligent students — get up at two minutes before eight and spend their math lessons eating breakfast with the webcam and sound turned off. On the one hand, we admired teachers for their online performance, with which they had little previous experience, and for being able to tame their excited and bored pupils, but many of us also wondered how teaching could be organized in a better way. Sometimes we felt like giving advice or even literally felt embarrassed by the teachers’ “performance”.
We were therefore happy to lend a hand when the P-Centre association based in Olomouc approached us with a request for the proofreading of online teaching methodology, as we found this more than useful and relevant to the current needs.
We appreciated the fact that the methodology authors tried to create a perfect text, not just in terms of content, but also in terms of communication style, and that they contacted us as linguistic experts who could bring their work to perfection stylistically. Plus, we know the P-Centre well and are always happy to help local organizations.
The authors of the proofread methodology focused on the topic of building a classroom team using online technologies. They focused on the specifics of online communication, the possibilities of using various online portals and programmes, student motivation, ways of conducting form classes, crisis interventions, online work with teams (possibilities of online activities), and psychohygiene for teachers and students. The methodology is now available to the general public on the P-Centre’s website.
A Short Introduction to the P-Centre
This association was established in Olomouc approximately a quarter of a century ago. The letter P forming the title of the association stands for prevention, and the main focus is also on family and childcare, counselling, addiction treatment, and recovery. The association offers counselling to those struggling with addiction to drugs, alcohol, or gambling, and there is also a Convalescence Centre for clients recovering from drug addiction. The U Mloka Family Centre works with families at risk, with children who have educational and schooling problems, and also offers family mediation.
The Primary Prevention Centre implements primary drug prevention programmes for schools. In Olomouc, the P-Centre also runs the U Mloka Gallery and the homelike, highly addictive Naše Café café on Dolní náměstí, with staff recruited from among former patients treated for addiction, and with a mission to find ways to help them return to their normal lives.
The range of the P-Centre’s activities is clearly very broad, and we wish them only the best of luck
in helping people in need.
Author: Irena Šotková
