Work in pairs. Ask and answer questions, as in the examples in ex.18 a about what sport you would do if you lived or studied in England.
Exercise 19. Complete the table and compare the development of sport and Physical Education in our country and in Great Britain.
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Sports & PE in GB |
Sports and PE in Ukraine |
The position of PE |
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The task of PE |
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The recommended amount of physical exercises |
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The duties of government |
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Popular sport activities |
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Exercise 20. a) Read an information about the founder of Physical Education [ 1].
Pyotr lesgaft Part 1
The
figure who made the most important impression on physical education
was Pyotr Frantsevich Lesgaft (1837—1909), biologist, anatomist,
educationalist and social reformer — the founder of the new
discipline of physical education. Lesgaft started his career in 1861
as a teacher of anatomy at the St Petersburg Academy of Medicine; he
was subsequently invited to take up a professorship at the University
of Kazan and went there in 1868, but was soon dismissed for his
outspoken criticism of the unscientific methods used. For a while,
from 1872, he worked as consultant on therapeutic gymnastics in the
private surgery of Dr Berlindt but, after the publication of several
articles and books (including a descriptive history of sport in
Europe and ancient Greece and an article, published in 1874), he was
in charge of the physical training of military cadets. The next year,
1875, he was commissioned by the War Ministry to spend two summers in
Western Europe studying the systems of physical education current
there. Altogether, he visited 26 cities in 13 Western European
states. The British system was evidently most to his liking, although
he abhorred the "strict orders, fagging and lording of senior
pupils over juniors" that he witnessed in some public schools.
He also visited the Central Army Gymnastics School at Aldershot, the
Royal Military Academy at Woolwich and Oxford University. What
especially took his fancy was "English predilection for strict
rules of hygiene, competitive games in the open air, long walks and
boat trips, swimming and other regular exercises". On his
return, in 1877, he published his Relationship of Anatomy to Physical
Education and the Major Purpose of Physical Education in Schools, in
which he outlined a physical education programme for military
colleges. He was, in fact, able to supervise its progress in twelve
academies. At the same time, he took a keen interest in organizing
courses for physical education instructors for the military academies
— provision for which, until then, had been non-existent.
b) Complete the table.
-
DATE
EVENT
1861
1868
1872
1874
1875
1877
c) Read the following questions and answers.
1. Why was the "Society for the Encouragement of the Physical Development of Student Youth " organized?
While supervising officer training, Lesgaft published his major works, Family Upbringing, Teaching Physical Education to Schoolchildren and Fundamentals of. Theoretical Anatomy. His desire to organize sport in civilian schools was for some time thwarted by the authorities, who still tended to look on it as frivolous and tending to encourage academic idleness. This led Lesgaft in 1892 to found and become Secretary of the "Society for the Encouragement of the Physical Development of Student Youth" which quickly spread its branches to Odessa, Kiev and Moscow.
2. What did this organization exactly do?
Besides encouraging public development both in the home and in school, this philanthropic organization constructed play areas in a number of towns and provided sports amenities for children of the poor, arranging for them competitive games, camps and excursions as well as boating in summer and ice skating and sledging in winter. The Society finally, in 1896, persuaded the Minister of Education to set up the first civilian physical-training courses for men and women instructors with Lesgaft in charge. However, Lesgaft was accused of inciting student unrest and the courses were closed down in 1907. After the October Revolution, Lesgaft's "Courses" were reorganized into the famous Institute of Physical Culture in Leningrad that today bears his name.
3. Were women admitted to practising sports ?
The admission of women to training was certainly novel: the official view in Russia had long been that sport was the preserve of men and that women were not suited to it by their social status and anatomical structure. For much of his academic career, Lesgaft espoused the cause of women's sporting rights, giving official physical education and anatomy courses to women students at his home and, after 1896, at the university, 100 women students attended them in the first year and 166 in the second. Lesgaft regarded women's participation in sport a means to social liberation: "Social slavery has left its degrading imprint on women. Our task is to free the maidenly body of its fetters, conventions and drooping posture, and return to our pupils their freedom and suppleness which have been stolen from them. We must develop in them firmness, initiative and independence, teach them to think and take decisions, give them knowledge of life and make physical educationalists out of them."
Part 2
Lesgaft's medical studies of the human system led him to the conclusion that it was in constant development and change, partly under the influence of the social environment; physical education instructors should, in his opinion, have a knowledge of chemistry and physics, particularly the general laws of mechanics, so as to be able to apply them to the "human mechanism".
On the basis of his theory, he elaborated and recommended a system of physical education for the school and the home:
The child starts by simple movements which are explained to him but not demonstrated, he has to analyse them himself and distinguish one from another, then begin to understand them. The movements, recommended for early school classes, consist of normal walking, running, jumping and throwing a ball.
The child then learns to master exercises of gradually increasing complexity in various conditions, after which he can tackle more difficult tasks swiftly and easily. These exercises are designed for the intermediate classes and consist of running against the clock, long and high jumping and distance throwing.
The child then learns to harmonize his movements in time and space and in relation to surrounding objects, already foreseeing the result. By these exercises, he develops muscular control and learns to act in the best possible way in any circumstances. Exercises are for the upper forms and include running at a set speed, target or distance ball-throwing, exercises associated with an understanding of special relationships and the temporal distribution of effort.
Simultaneously with these groups of exercises, the child checks the skills he has acquired and consolidates them by employing difficult actions during games, excursions and work movements.
At each stage of physical education, different, increasingly complicated, pedagogical aims are pursued, the main purpose being to teach the child conciously to master the movements of his body and to attain the best results with the minimum energy and time expenditure. In Lesgaft's opinion, just as in intellectual education, the child should not merely accumulate knowledge but be able to apply it, so in physical education, he should both develop physical skills and be prepared to apply them in the best way possible.
The exercises to be included in this system were mainly gymnastics, team games, expeditions and tumbles. Lesgaft, however, opposed the German system and any gymnastics that employed special equipment: "Exercises employing equipment involve sharp sensations, they therefore blunt the emotions of young people and make them less receptive and impressionable, it is hardly surprising that, when young people go to university, they smoke heavily, have late nights and so on...". Further, in his opinion, the type of gymnastics in vogue in Germany and Sweden did not correspond to children's anatomical structure and were, therefore, physically harmful. He favoured the type of free gymnastics that is today known in as "artistic gymnastics", which would satisfy the children's natural desire for physical movement and achievement, and also encourage such qualities as will power and initiative: "A person develops in the family, the family gives him affection, warmth, makes him responsive and kind, the school develops his mind, gives him the ability to form his own views, judgments and thoughts; along with an independence of thought the person's moral values are formed. Physical exercises develop activity in a person and he acquires the ability to subordinate all his desires to his will."
Exercise 21. Answer the questions.
What were the exercises to be included in the system?
What was Lesgaft's opinion about the German system?
What type of gymnastics did Lesgaft favour?
What is the role of the family in the personal development of the child from Lesgaft's point of view?
What is your personal opinion about Lesgaft's theory and system of physical education?
Exercise 22. Complete the sentences and tell about the founder of Physical Education.
1. The human system is in ....
2. Physical education instructors should have ... .
3. Lesgaft elaborated and recommended ... .
4. The child starts by ... .
5. These movements consist of... .
6. Then the child learns to master ... .
7. More difficult exercises are designed ... .
8. The child then learns to harmonize his movements ... .
9. Exercises included running at a set speed ...
10. At each stage of physical education....
11. In Lesgaft's opinion, the child should not....
GRAMMAR IN USE
Exercise 23. Look at this table and study.