English for Vysocina Education: October 2014

A Bullying in Czech schools is “getting worse,” the Education Ministry admits, with almost one in two children a victim, and teachers who are also being targeted blame the ministry for lack of protection. “Bullying and violence in our schools is a serious problem,” said Education Ministry spokesman Tomáš Bouška, who defines bullying as “targeted and repeated physical and psychological attacks against individuals or groups of pupils who are for various reasons unable to defend themselves.” And Bouška believes the spread of technology has made it worse. “We have seen new forms of bullying, particularly through mobile phones and the Internet,” he said. “The situation is getting worse.” The problem is compounded by the lack of up-to-date figures from the Education Ministry, but the last comprehensive study by the ministry in 2005 revealed 40 percent of children have faced bullying at some point.

B A February report by the O2 Foundation and the Aisis Civic Association found at least 10 percent of children have been victims of cyber-bullying in the past six months alone, with 78 percent of the aggressors coming from the same class or school as the victim. “Cyber-bullying is likely to increase in the future along with children's growing computer literacy,” said Jana Udatná, manager of the 02 Foundation's “Minimization of Bullying” project.

C The most common method of abuse stems from mobile phone messages, which make up 68 percent of all technology-related bullying. Attacks also come in the form of instant-messaging programs and threatening e-mails, as well as on social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace. Traditional forms of abuse classified as bullying are physical attacks, blackmailing, theft, damage to personal property, verbal insults, threats and humiliation. Bullying may also take on the form of sexual harassment and abuse.

D Teachers are not safe from bullying in schools either, according to the O2 Foundation. More than half of students have heard of a case involving the cyber-bullying of a teacher. Thirty-one percent of students have seen a video ridiculing a teacher, and 22 percent think taking photos of teachers was a good way of what they termed “getting back at them.”

E According to Helena Kolská, a police cadet who wrote a thesis titled “Bullying in Elementary Schools,” schools and parents are key to tackling the crisis. “It is necessary to have more discussion about the matter, for instance, in civics or relevant classes,” she said. “Furthermore, more attention should be paid to the children at home, so the parents know where and with whom their children spend their free time.”

comprehensive – komplexní

humiliation – ponížení

to stem – pramenit, pocházet

to tackle – zabránit

up-to-date figure – aktuální údaj

1) Read the article and match each of the headings to a paragraph.

1 Tomáš Bouška’s opinion

2 Methods of bullying

3 How to solve bullying

4 Report by the O2 Foundation

5 Bullied teachers

2) Read the article again and answer the questions.

1 What is the article about?

2 What is the definition of bullying by Tomáš Bouška?

3 What are methods of bullying?

4 How are teachers bullied?

5 How can we prevent bullying?

3) Explain the following words.

1 lack of protection

2 cyber-bullying

3 computer literacy

4 blackmailing

5 video ridiculing a teacher

4) Answer the following questions.

What is bullying? Who takes part in bullying? What are old and new forms of bullying? What can be caused by bullying?

Adjusted to:

http://www.praguepost.com/news/3886-school-bullying-is-getting-worse.html

Child abuse figures are “higher than records show” - text 4

Child abuse figures are “higher than records show”

A Local child protection agencies are concerned that the number of sexually abused and maltreated children could be far higher than estimated following a surge in numbers in 2009. Figures from the Our Child Foundation, a child protection agency, show that the number of young people suffering sexual abuse and forced into prostitution and pornography increased 95 percent to 834 last year, with most of these children (633) aged between 6 and 15.

B Meanwhile, the total number of psychically maltreated and neglected children almost tripled last year to 3,613 cases. Again, most of them (2,036) were aged 6 to 15. But Our Child Foundation Director Zuzana Baudyšová says the true figures are much higher given that most cases of neglect go unrecorded. “The statistics show that the number of abused children is just a fraction of the total population. Most cases of abuse and neglect go on behind closed doors, and that is a real problem because there is no transparency”, she said. “Experts estimate the number of unexposed cases in the Czech Republic at 20,000 to 40,000.” She said the increase in cases last year was mainly due to the fact that cases of neglected children were recorded for the first time.

C Hana Petráková, director of the nongovernmental agency Safety Line (Linka bezpečí), which provides a hotline service for children in crisis, shares similar concerns. “According to our data, the numbers of children calling the safety line is because sexual abuse is on the rise, and it is mostly cases where the child knows or is close to the person rather than commercially organized exploitation”, she said. “But I believe it is not possible to say exactly whether there is an actual increase in numbers or whether it is an increase in the number of children who know their rights better, are more aware that this is something that should not be happening to them and know how to defend themselves.”

D Meanwhile, according to Interior Ministry statistics, there were a total of 8,559 missing children last year, 1,433 fewer than in 2008, but an increase from the 2000 figure of 5,581.

Petráková said the increase is due to societal changes, namely the increased use of the Internet. “Over the past 10 years, there has been a huge increase in usage. Children communicate more, and children divulge a lot of private information, and thus they have become more vulnerable”, she said.

Petráková also said that many of these children are those who have escaped from juvenile homes and other institutions. “These children might be longing to return to their family, friends and former lifestyle”, she said. “They might have trouble coping with the regime inside the institutions. And they might feel they would be better off living independently.”

E The statistics show that 82 children who went missing in 2009 have not yet been found. As of May 10, a total of 2,660 children and juveniles were reported missing, of whom 2,141 were aged 15 to 18. Of the total for this year, 316 children are still missing. In order to combat the problem, the Interior Ministry launched a "national coordination mechanism for the search of missing children" May 11. The program is designed to improve the search for missing children.

"I perceive the extension of network services to help victims and working with families as crucial," Petráková said. "But we need to continue educating children in depth about their rights and the ways to solve various problems before their lives and health are endangered. Educating parents is also important."

1) Read the article and match each of the headings to a paragraph.

1 Abuse procedes behind the closed door

2 Internet has an influence on abuse

3 The number of sexually abused children is higher

4 Introduction

5Programme for missing children

2) Read the article again and answer the questions.

1 What is the article about?

2 What does Mrs Baudyšová speak about?

3 What is Safety Line?

4 How does the Internet influence child abuse?

5 How are missing children helped?

3) Explain the following words.

1 neglect

2 nongovernmental agency

3 prostitution

4 juvenile homes

5 victim

4) Answer the following questions.

What is child abuse? What are types of child abuse? Why do children run away from homes? Who is a victim?

Adjusted to:

http://www.praguepost.com/news/4590-child-abuse-figures-are-higher-than-records-show.html

Global child pornography network smashed - Text 3

Global child pornography network smashed

A Australian detectives have charged 22 men including a policeman, a senior lawyer and a child care worker in connection with a child pornography-sharing network spanning 70 countries. “The investigation into men sharing images over the Internet – rather than downloading from an illicit website, a crime that is easier to detect – was prompted by information from a covert Brazilian police investigation a year ago,” Australian Federal Police Deputy Commissioner Andrew Colvin said.

B “The Brazilian information, which was shared via the international policing network Interpol, identified more than 200 suspects in 70 countries,” he said. “These are some of the worst images, I must say, that the Federal Police have ever seen,” Colvin told reporters. “Australian police have seized 500,000 images of child abuse and 15,000 videos, some showing children being abused for more than two hours. The victims were as young as 12 months old,” he said.

C “Those charged in Australia include a Queen’s Counsel, the nation’s most senior and lucrative rank of attorney, a police officer and at least one child care worker,” Colvin said. Police did not say whether any arrests were made outside Australia in connection with the case.

D None of those charged can by law be identified before they appear in court. “These offenders have access to children, be it their own children, their neighbours’ children, children from broken relationships, children they might have responsibility for – some of these people are in positions of responsibility,” Colvin said. “Two children had been removed from defendants although there was no evidence that they had been abused,” he said.

E Australian Federal Police Assistant Commissioner Neil Gaughan said more arrests were expected this week. “All the charges relate to accessing the images and could result in a 10-year prison sentence for possessing child abuse material. The victims were mostly from the Americas as well as Eastern Europe,” he said.

be it – ať už

covert – skrytý

defendant – obžalovaný

illicit – nezákonný

spanning – sahající

to charge – obvinit

1) Read the article and match each of the headings to a paragraph.

1 There are civil officers among the charged

2 Interpol identified a great amount of suspects, images and videos

3 The accused had access to children

4 Australian detectives have accused 22 people

5 Neil Gaughan’s comments

2) Read the article again and answer the questions.

1 What is the article about?

2 What have Australian and Brazilian officers done?

3 What is said about child abuse?

4 Who are the abusers? Where do they come from? What do thy do?

5 What could be their sentence?

3) Explain the following words.

1 child care worker

2 child pornography-sharing network

3 responsibility

4 broken relationship

5 victim

4) Answer the following questions.

What is child sexual abuse? What are types of child sexual abuse? What is child pornography? Who is a paedophile?

Adjusted to:

http://www.metro.co.uk/news/world/441839-global-child-pornography-network-smashed

Experts note rise in school violence - text 2

Experts note rise in school violence

A In the wake of the March 11 school massacre in the German town of Winnenden, where 17-year-old student Tim Kretschmer killed 14 people at the Albertville technical high school, shot another two men at a car dealership while he was on the run and then killed himself in a shootout with police, the amount of violent threats to schools has increased throughout Germany.

B “Usually, we’d get threats of that nature once or twice in the course of several weeks,” said Martin Krems, spokesman for the Interior Ministry of the Sachsen-Anhalt state. “In the two weeks since the massacre, we’ve received about 20.” In the Czech Republic, the scope of the issue is smaller, but cases of attempted school violence are on the rise. Police here have registered three school-targeted violent acts in the two weeks following the Winnenden massacre. The incidents took place in Kladno, Domažlice and, most notably, the east Bohemian town of Nový Bydžov, where a 17-year-old student at the local high school was arrested after threatening to bomb the school March 19.

C Nový Bydžov High School Principal Jaroslav Šedivý said the school will attempt to design a plan enabling the student to receive education while in prison. “It is important to show the student that we still care about his education, even if he should turn out to be guilty,” he said.

D Unlike Czech officials, German authorities discussed their prompt and uncompromising response to the post-Winnenden surge in school violence openly. On March 12, a 22-year-old male who had threatened to shoot students at a Sachsen-Anhalt school received a five-month probation sentence on the same day he was detained. “We take every threat seriously,” Krems said. “Even if you just say these things to scare people, that attitude is potentially dangerous and has to be dealt with in a strict and timely fashion.”

E Public attention to incidents of this nature has increased in the Czech Republic as well. On March 17, a student at a transport high school in Kladno was suspended after he came to class with an air gun and a hunting knife. In Domažlice, a high-school student was charged March 26 with threatening a violent act after writing a school essay in which he described how he wanted to kill his fellow students. Police then found a handwritten order for explosives in his room. He now faces a five-year prison sentence.

nature – povaha

scope – rozsah

shootout – přestřelka

surge – nárůst

suspended – zastaven

to detain – zadržet

wake – probuzení

1) Read the article and match each of the headings to a paragraph.

1 Jaroslav Šedivý’s opinion

2 A massacre in Winnenden

3 The scope of massacre threats

4 Violent acts in the Czech Republic

5 German authorities are uncompromised

2) Read the article again and answer the questions.

1 What is the article about?

2 What happened in Winnenden?

3 Does school violence often happen in the Czech Republic?

4 What are examples of violent threats that happened in the Czech Republic?

3) Explain the following words.

1 threat

2 school violence

3 prison

4 guilty

5 to scare people

4) Answer the following questions.

What is school violence? What are types of school violence? Who are the aggressors? What is bullying? What are differences between the victim and the bully?

Adjusted to:

http://www.praguepost.com/news/945-experts-note-rise-in-school-violence.html

Details of shocking abuse emerge - Text 1

Details of shocking abuse emerge

A On Tuesday, June 17, the trial of six people accused of torturing two boys, Ondřej, age 8, and Jakub, 10, began in Brno. Among the accused in one of the most complicated cases of child abuse in Czech history are the boys’ mother, Klára Mauerová, and their aunt Kateřina Mauerová. Four of their friends also participated in the abuse: Barbora Škrlová (She made a series of headlines for impersonating children.), her brother Jan, Hana Bašová and Jan Turek.

B As the prosecution read its opening statement depicting the details of the abuse; those filling the courtroom were shocked by the details of the case. “This is one of the worst cases I have seen in my life,” said Prague child psychiatrist Jan Nejezchleba in a phone interview later. “The boys are likely to be scarred for the rest of their lives and be in constant need of psychiatric attention.”

C The accused are members of a Brno religious sect headed by Barbora Škrlová’s father, Josef Škrla. The sect loosely followed the teachings of the Grail Movement, a group founded in Germany in the late 1940s. The Brno sect was apparently attempting to have Škrlová “reborn” with a new identity as a 13-year-old named Anička, who would be adopted by Klára Mauerová. However, when Mauerová’s two sons did not get along with their new sister, they had to be “re-educated,” and the abuse began.

D During the trial, Mauerová claimed that she was simply following orders. “I was controlled through text messages and e-mails sent by an Azerbaijani doctor called Andrej Zejnalov. He gave me advice on how to bring up my boys properly,” she said according to a court transcript. However, Interpol failed to locate the mysterious doctor. Authorities believe that he is likely a persona of the sect leader Škrla, who is currently being sought by police and thought to be in hiding abroad.

E The boys are believed to have been tortured for a year. Starting in the summer 2006, Mauerová, who lived with her two sons in a Brno flat, beat Ondřej and Jakub on a daily basis using various objects including a metal belt buckle. She also locked them in closets in order to prevent them from seeking help from the outside. The worst episode of torture is believed to have taken place in August 2006, when the boys were told they were going to a “correctional facility.” At a borrowed house in Veverská Bítýška near Brno, Mauerová and her sister kept the boys in dog kennels. “Mommy would come and burn me with cigarettes as I was in the cage,” said Ondřej in a statement read by the judge. “There was no toilet so I wet my pants. Then she punished me for that. I was given clean clothes three days later.”

impersonating – vydávající se za

loosely – volně

statement – výpověď

to depict – líčit

trial – přelíčení

1) Read the article and match each of the headings to a paragraph.

1 Brno religious sect

2 One of the most complicated cases

3 Torture of the boys

4 Mauerová allegedly followed orders

5 The accused

2) Read the article again and answer the questions.

1 What is the article about?

2 What do you know about Ondřej and Jakub?

3 Who is Barbora Škrlová? What does she say?

4 How did the accused abuse the children?

5 What does the psychiatrist think about the consequences of the teasing?

3) Explain the following words.

1 to torture

2 prosecution

3 scarred

4 the accused

5 sect leader

4) Answer the questions:

What is child abuse? What are types of child abuse? What is a post-traumatic stress disorder?

Adjusted to:

http://www.praguepost.com/archivescontent/6363-details-of-shocking-abuse-emerge.html

Abuse and bullying – Vocabulary

abuser – tyran

addictive behaviour – závislostní chování

anxiety – obava

blackmailing – vydírání

borderline personality disorder – hraniční porucha osobnosti

broken relationship – rozpadlý vztah

bruising – zhmoždění

burning – popálení

child care worker – pečovatel o dítě

child neglect – zanedbávání dítěte

child pornography-sharing network – síť šířící dětskou pornografii

choking – škrcení

commission – páchání zločinu

computer literacy – počítačová gramotnost

cyber-bullying – počítačová šikana

degradation – zesměšňování

depression – deprese

destruction of personal belongings – ničení osobního majetku

emotional abuse – citové znaužívání

foetal alcohol syndrome – fetální alkoholový syndrom

guilty – vinný

humiliation – ponížení

illicit – nezákonný

incest – krvesmilstvo

injury – zranění

kicking – kopání

lack of protection – chybějící ochrana

maltreatment – špatné zacházení, týrání

name-calling – posmívání, nadávání

omission – zanedbávání

physical injury – tělesné zranění

post-traumatic stress disorder – posttraumatická stresová porucha

prison – vězení

prosecution – žaloba

provide for needs – zabezpečit potřeby

psychological trauma – psychologické trauma

pulling ears or hair – tahání za uši či vlasy

rape – únos, znásilnění

responsibility – zodpovědnost

responsible adult – zodpovědný dospělý

ridicule – výsměch, zesměšňování

scarred – vyděšený

school violence – školní násilí

sect leader – vůdce sekty

sexual assault – pokus o znásilnění

shaken baby syndrome – syndrome třeseného dítěte

shaking a child – třást dítětem

shoving – strkání

slapping – fackování

statement – výpověď

striking – mlácení

the accused – obviněný

threat – hrozba

to detain – zadržet

to insult – napadnout

to scare people – děsit lidi

to torture – týrat

torture – mučení, týrání

trial – přelíčení

victim – oběť

video ridiculing a teacher – video zesměšňující učitele

violation – zhanobení, znásilnění

Abuse and bullying – Questions

What is child abuse?

What are types of child abuse?

What is a post-traumatic stress disorder?

What is school violence?

What are types of school violence?

Who are the aggressors?

What is bullying?

What are differences between the victim and the bully?

Who takes part in bullying?

What are old and new forms of bullying?

What can be caused by bullying?

Abuse and bullying – Study material

Abuse is the improper usage or treatment for a bad purpose, often to unfairly or improperly gain benefit, physical or verbal maltreatment, injury, sexual assault, violation, rape, unjust practices; offense; crime, or otherwise verbal aggression. Abuse can come in many forms.

Violence is the expression of physical or verbal force against one or more people.

Child abuse is the physical, sexual or emotional mistreatment of children; any act or series of acts of commission or omission by a parent or other caregiver. Most child abuse occurs in a child’s home, with a smaller amount occurring in the organizations, schools or communities the child interacts with.

There are four major categories of child abuse: neglect, physical abuse, psychological/emotional abuse, and child sexual abuse.

Child neglect is where the responsible adult fails to provide adequately for various needs, including physical (failure to provide adequate food, clothing, or hygiene), emotional (failure to provide nurturing or affection), educational (failure to enroll a child in school), or medical (failure to medicate the child or take him or her to the doctor).
Physical abuse is physical aggression directed at a child by an adult. It can involve striking, kicking, shoving, slapping, burning, bruising, pulling ears or hair, choking or shaking a child. Shaking a child can cause shaken baby syndrome, which can lead to intracranial pressure, swelling of the brain; which leads to vomiting, lethargy, seizures, bulging, altered breathing, and dilated pupils. The transmission of toxins to a child through its mother (such as with foetal alcohol syndrome) can also be considered physical abuse in some jurisdictions.
Child sexual abuse (CSA) is a form of child abuse in which an adult or older adolescent abuses a child for sexual stimulation.Forms of CSA include asking or pressuring a child to engage in sexual activities (regardless of the outcome), exposure of the genitals to a child, displaying pornography to a child, sexual contact against a child, physical contact with the child’s genitals, or using a child to produce child pornography.
The effects of child sexual abuse include depression,post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety, and physical injury to the child. Sexual abuse by a family member is a form of incest, and can result in more serious and long-term psychological trauma, especially in the case of parental incest. Child sexual abuse is also strongly connected to the development of addictive behaviour, complex post-traumatic stress disorder and borderline personality disorder.
Out of all the possible forms of abuse, emotional abuse is the hardest to define. It could include name-calling, ridicule, degradation, destruction of personal belongings, torture or destruction of a pet, excessive criticism.

Victims of emotional abuse may react by distancing themselves from the abuser, internalizing the abusive words, or fighting back by insulting the abuser.

Bullying, in general, is intentionally aggressive behaviour involving an imbalance of power or strength, usually repeated over time.

Traditional bullying can involve:

Physical bullying through hitting or punching
Verbal bullying through teasing or name-calling
Intimidation through gestures or social exclusion

Cyber-bullying can involve:

Sending mean, vulgar, or threatening messages or images
Posting sensitive, private information about another person
Pretending to be someone else in order to make that person look bad
Intentionally excluding someone from an online group

Adjusted to:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Child_abuse

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Violence

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abuse

http://www.praguepost.com/news/3886-school-bullying-is-getting-worse.html