10 educational resources to help parents survive school closures in the Czech Republic

In the wake of the nationwide school closures taking effect in the Czech Republic from March 11, and leaving an estimated 1.7 million students at home, many parents are wondering how they’ll navigate the uncertain future of their child’s education in the Czech Republic.

While most schools have said they’ll conduct distance learning, in many cases it’ll be left to parents to homeschool their children for what’s predicted to be a month-long if not lengthier shutdown. These useful resources in both the Czech and English languages offer a wealth of lessons, teaching-aids, and activities, many of them for free.

Teaching aids for kids in Czech schools

UčíTelka

On Monday, March 16, at 9 am, Czech Television will launch UčíTelka a televised classroom of live teaching blocks led by educators. The lessons are intended for primary school students and will last thirty minutes with short breaks of educational programming in between.

Czech Television will also offer programming for older students preparing for entrance exams at home. On Tuesdays and Thursdays from 2 pm, the station will help students studying for entrance exams for secondary schools and multi-year grammar schools with a 45-minute segment. Czech will be taught on Tuesday and mathematics on Thursday.

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The station will also boost its online offering of educational games, videos, and shows. Stay tuned for further updates here or follow the project on Facebook.

Textbook downloads for kids in Czech Schools

For those students who don’t have all of their textbooks in their possession and will be receiving assignments from their school, or for anyone who just wants to practice and keep up with subjects taught in Czech schools (Czech language, science, math, etc.) a number of publishing houses are making textbooks and workbooks available for download or online viewing.

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NOVÁ ŠKOLA has online textbooks and math video tutorials available for 30 days for free (registry required). The license will be extended depending on the length of school closures.

FRAUS textbook publisher is offering its School with a View portal with a wealth of interactive games, activities, and other teaching aids, for free, as well as providing access to its Flexibooks licenses (downloads of atlases, workbooks, and textbooks to tablets, computers or phones) for an indefinite period of time.

ScioŠkola

ScioŠkola is making its practice tests for older students (3rd grade-9th grade) available online for free. Practice tests for the Czech language, mathematics, history, and many other subjects taught in Czech schools are available for download here.

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Municipal Library of Prague

While the public library is shutting down operations and scheduled events until further notice due to the nationwide health measures, it encourages its patrons to peruse the library’s close to 2,000 e-books, available for free and suitable for reading on e-readers and mobile devices. You will find a variety of “pohadky” for children in the Czech language here. For English-language reading check out Open Culture’s list of 800 free books for Kindle and iPad.

Czech Academy of Sciences

Starting today the Czech Academy of Sciences will be streaming videos for kids during the shutdown. The first series will feature Petr Brož from the Institute of Geophysics using Lego props to explain how to get to Mars. Parents who are interested in exploring science with their kids during the shutdown are encouraged to use the Facebook hashtag #Věda_na_doma.

Online Czech grammar exercises for kids

Keep your kids’ Czech grammar sharp during the shutdown with these interactive sites devoted to grammar and vocabulary presented in an entertaining way: Grammar.in, Skolakov.eu,Umimeto, Onlinecviceni.cz,Khanovaskola.cz. Timixi.com offers timelines of historical events and activities likes quizzes which can be viewed in both Czech and English.

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English-language learning resources

Amazing Educational Resources

A group of British educators has put together a spreadsheet loaded with resources and tips for online lessons, games, worksheets, printables, and video tutorials. Alphabetically grouped with information on which platforms are currently offering their services for free and which are paid (though many are free). The same group maintains a public Facebook group with educators sharing useful tips and links.

Free on-line education subscriptions

From Twinkle to Zoom, a number of platforms and educational sites are offering free subscriptions during worldwide school closures. You can find comprehensive list of them on the Kids Activities Blog. (You’ll also find a number for suggestions at the Amazing Educational Resources Page mentioned above).

Scholastic Learn at Home

Themed “day by day projects to keep kids reading, thinking, and growing” can be found at book publisher’s Scholastic classroom site which features a wealth of themed lesson plans and “learning experiences” based around a video or book. For Pre-K to grade 6 and beyond.

Virtual field trips

A number of museums have made their collections available online for free viewing or are offering virtual tours for kids, while this a list of virtual field trips put together by an American educator, includes the Louvre, the Great Wall of China and Yellowstone National Park.

Online math and art tutorials

If you have the supplies and are able to view these arts and crafts tutorials streaming live (they take place at 1pm Eastern time) you can count on daily art lessons from US-based creative workshop McHarper Manor. Another great resource for math lessons for a range of ages can be found here at the Math Video Lessons for Remote Teaching Edpuzzle spreadsheet.

There are sure to be additional resources added during the coming months; we’ll update this article as they come in. Feel free to leave your own tips and advice in the comments below.