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Kids enjoy some team reinforcement

Schools work to improve student relationships

By Hela Balínová
Staff Writer, The Prague Post
November 5th, 2008 issue

COURTESY PHOTO
Students participate in team-building activities to help build their confidence.
COURTESY PHOTO
Overnight team-building sessions for school students through SES take place on campgrounds near Prague.

Sebe-Spolu (SES)
Na Kuthence 11
Prague 6
Tel.: 739 073 178
E-mail: ses@sebespolu.net
Web: www.sebespolu.net

CK2
Generála Píky 26
Prague 6
Tel.: 224 313 161
E-mail: ck2@ck2.cz
Web: www.ck2.cz

In order to improve relationships both inside and outside the classroom, many Czech elementary and high schools are promoting team-building courses. Through activities aimed at cooperation, coordination and communication, students are able to see their classmates in totally different ways than they used to, education experts agree. Such courses can also help prevent common school problems, like bullying.  
“Parents always beg us to tell them what we do with the children during the team building,” laughs Marie Pojarová, principal of Hanspaulka elementary school in Prague 6. “They return home tired to death, usually a bit dirty, but so excited.” According to Pojarová, the most touching moment is to see the children spontaneously hugging each other after successfully finishing a team-related task.
Hanspaulka first introduced these courses seven years ago when teachers went through a training course on how to lead team-building sessions.
Pojarová prefers when teachers themselves are instructors and children can see them in a completely different way. In fact, Hanspaulka teachers have become so adapt at leading such courses that they formed a civic association called Sebe-Spolu, or SES for short, which organizes team-building courses not only for Hanspaulka students but also for other schools.
The school has gotten a positive response.
“Suddenly, we are not their teachers but people who sit on the grass with them or jump into the water with them,” says Katka Bílková, a psychologist who works at Hanspaulka.
Pojarová adds that students “are not shy to come to my office to tell me about their school or personal problems or just to stop by to tell me that they did well in their history test.”
Hanspaulka organizes annual overnight team-building sessions at campsites near the Blatnice and Lipnice rivers. Children pay just 1,000 Kč for lodging and food.
Sixth graders go twice a year. The first session takes place at the beginning of the school year is used as an icebreaker, while the second one in May is to bring students closer together. Seventh, eighth and ninth graders go once a year.
Bílková admits that teachers purposely picked remote areas to conduct the courses so that their students would be very close to nature. Some of their stays have been connected with an environmental education unit, and students collected samples of water, which they later analyzed in the school lab.
Each grade usually has a different focus during these team-building courses. Sixth graders, for instance, focus on getting to know their classmates better. Seventh graders work on their communication skills. Eighth graders learn about the cooperation in a team, and when the children get to the ninth year of their studies, they learn about responsibility and independence.
“I think we are one of the few elementary schools in the Czech Republic which have a special team-building plan for each grade,” Pojarová says.
Of course, there are other ways to go about organizing a team-building session.
Adam Gebauer of the Prague-based CK2 travel agency confirms that the demand for school trips with team-building activities have increased in recent years due to their growing popularity and positive impacts on school life.
“But we still try to organize only [a couple] of courses a year,” he says. “We don’t want to become a factory on producing team buildings one after another.”
CK2 offers two programs: Tmelík and Budováček, which offer different kinds of activities based on students’ needs. Tmelík is designed for students who already know each other, and the activities presented in this program are used to reinforce these relationships. By contrast, Budováček is geared toward students who don’t know one another very well. The main goal with this program is to “build up the team,” Gebauer says.
Gebauer adds that Tmelík seems to be more popular with schools, but the organizers always prepare a tailor-made course for each school.
The CK2 trip generally takes place over three days, and the usual destination is either the Jizerské or Krkonoše mountains, due to their easy accessibility by public transport from Prague. Each location is about 100 kilometers north of the capital. Prices start at 1,450 Kč for a three-day stay. The program runs from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. In the morning, there are group activities monitored by the instructors, in the afternoon there are usually two whole-class activities.
Apart from the actual experience during a game or group activity, the most important part is the self-reflection, educators say. At Hanspaulka, for instance, children express their feelings through a discussion, role playing or painting a picture, Bílková says.
The school reports that parents have been very supportive.   
“Before the course, we invite parents over and play them records from previous years, and we explain what we focused on and what it is going to happen this year,” Pojarová says.
Bílková adds that it also helps when the parents can see firsthand how these courses help their kids.
“When we encounter some problems in behavior [or] some student has difficulty [expressing] his opinion or [if] somebody tries to push through his opinion in a rather aggressive way, we invite them to our special group for children with special needs and we work with them further,” Bílková says.

Hela Balínová can be reached at hbalinova@praguepost.com


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