TSPU STUDENTS SHOW THEIR PEDAGOGICAL COMPETENCIES IN THE "CITY SUMMER" PROJECT
This week the first shift of the large-scale project "City Summer" realized by the TSPU and the Department of Youth Policy of Tomsk started. For 18 years, students of the Pedagogical University have been spending their summers with Tomsk kids who stayed in the city during summer vacations. Future teachers organize an educational and entertaining program, including sports games, handicrafts, intellectual and other activities.
In the Year of the Educator and Mentor, 20 sites covering Kirov, Leninsky, Oktyabrsky and Sovetsky districts were opened in the city's courtyards. Students from different faculties of the TSPU work at them.
Joint summer activities are beneficial for everyone involved. Children get new opportunities to socialize, learn something new, and make friends among their neighbors. Students of the TSPU improve their hard and soft skills. And parents, confident that their children are safe under the supervision of future teachers, can devote themselves to work or home activities.
When training teachers, a great deal of attention is paid to practice: students with a solid base of psychological and pedagogical competencies start working with children. Most of them have completed training at the School of Vozhdatelstvo, which is organized by the university in cooperation with the regional branch of the Russian Student Squads. There young people learn the basics of camp counselors' activity, methods and techniques of working with children, first aid skills, learn how to form and consolidate a children's team, establish trusting relationships, resolve conflict situations and much more.
"We fulfill a communicative and developmental function and become a link between children and active balanced recreation. Modern children often have difficulties with interpersonal interaction because of the regular use of gadgets and social networs. Children are deprived of the charms of childhood and pleasant memories. They need to learn how to interact with others in the real world, and within the framework of "City Summer" we create a comfortable environment for acquiring these skills", — says Christina Raikhe, a student of the Institute of History and Philology..
The project is called "Vacation of the Firsts". Its goal is to familiarize the younger generation with the Russian Movement of Children and Youth "Movement of the Firsts" and its values.
"In the first days, more attention is paid to outdoor games and games of acquaintance, to give children time to get used to a new group. Then we start introducing cognitive and educational leisure activities», — said Kateryna Romanovskaya, a student of the Institue of Foreign Languages and International Copperation.
Activities conducted by student counselors help develop children's ability to interact in a group, express their thoughts and listen to others, stimulate the generation of ideas, teach them to think logically and pay attention to details, show the importance of healthy competition, and help maintain interest in sports and healthy lifestyles. Children's leisure time at the playgrounds is often observed by parents, who point out the benefits:
"It has a friendly fun atmosphere that is comfortable for the child and brings variety to the summer vacation. This is motivation for children to leave the house, turn off the computer and go to the sandbox, where you will not only get to know children from neighboring houses and yards, but also be under the supervision of an experienced counselor who will teach different games to play further on their own", — says Maria, a mother of two children who visited one of the playgrounds.
"City Summer" for a Pedagogical student is an opportunity to act as a leader, making decisions, leading a group of children, motivating and inspiring younger companions. The acquired skills will help today's counselors to become successful in their future pedagogical activity.