PSD and PE

Special features in teaching PSD and PE in Linguistics School-Lyceum

These days it’s fashionable to talk about healthy nutrition, healthy lifestyles whilst frequently beyond empty promises and loud talking people do not go. Howsoever modern medicine be, it cannot protecteach of us from all diseases. A person is the master of their own health which requires care beginning with the school pew if not even earlier.

The content of the PE curriculum in Russian schools and HEEs has changed but little since Soviet times meaning the curriculum is 30 – 40 years old. The information it contains is 90% ineffective and does not meet the requirements of modern life especially for those who live in megapolises. PE lessons as they are today are dated just as is the very concept of PE and a healthy lifestyle.

28th May, 2010, the president of Fitness -Aerobics Federation, Olga Slutsker, discussed the situation concerning PE lessons in schools with the President of RF. Olga supported a suggestion made by D.A. Medvedev on the introduction of a third PE lesson in schools whilst at the same time pointing out that this third lesson contains the same as the original two. Olga suggested changing the concept of a PE lesson itself. She asked Dmitri Anatolievich a question about whether or not a state could, represented by the Minister of Education and on the initiative of the President himself, become a producer of modern homegrown innovative health education curricula which should replace those rubbishy, hopelessly outdated school PE curricula. We reckon that it is senseless to wait for them to come up with and confirm new curricula as it will take an age to do so and even when they do do so they will be unusable. We need modern techniques based on well-equipped schools otherwise it will turn out indeed just as the President of Tatarstan warned when he said that pupils merely sit and watch videos about how to do PE.

In our School special attention is paid to aerobics in PE lessons. In wintertime and rainy weather lessons take place in the hall. We use many elements of step-aerobics and a range of strength building exercises, stretching as well as functional training. Lessons in the playground take place on warm days using the same elements and active sport games. All lessons take place in a positive spirit accompanied with modern music. In the second and third lessons pupils have the option of going to the swimming pool or our own fitness club. We have an agreement with Korall swimming pool which is a mere step away from the School where pupils go under teacher supervision with pleasure. Fitness lessons are given by our specialist which means control over the training and consultations regarding diet and nutrition, the creation of individual programmes and demonstration of and control over techniques used in exercises.

As far as PSD lessons are concerned the situation is much the same. Even today there is a dearth of textbooks on the subject and those that do exist contain uninteresting and downright unnecessary information. In the teaching of PSD in our School we do not strictly follow a particular curriculum. Interesting and useful supplementary material and non-standard solutions to educational issues allow for an expansive approach to teaching. Emphasis is put on situations we may find ourselves in especially in a city like Moscow: transport accidents, fraud, forms of theft and situations leading to minor offences or criminal justice, survival in life-threatening situations, natural and man-made disasters as well as performing first aid and many other issues.

In senior forms attention is paid to military matters with practical demonstrations of weapons and means of self-defence and videos on the achievements of the Russian military industry.

We consider the issue of the harm that drug and alcohol abuse may cause and in particular the common occurrence in schools of tobacco smoking. While discussing these issues it is especially important to have an individual approach to each pupil. Simply giving a formal conception of the negative effects of harmful habits is a poor approach to the issue as it is important to bring up the causes and correctly come up with the consequences. Not only is the behavior of pupils discussed, but also that of adults. Special attention is given over to healthy eating. The School canteen menu does not contain processed food, fizzy drinks, crisps, chewing gum or products with a long shelf life. Pupils are offered tasty and healthy home cooked food. We work closely with our canteen head and discuss the selection and menu on offer. PSD lessons also cover aspects of diet and physiognomy. A series of lectures is given on the harm from eating in restaurants and fast food outlets which our city is overrun with. We watch videos and use internet resources.

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