Radio România Internațional

Tag: feedback

Mail Roundup – September 1, 2023

Hi, guys!

Summer is nearly over, at least according to the calendar.
In actual fact, many of us are still vacationing, so to everyone still taking
or planning trips, enjoy the sunshine, the cool breeze and the beautiful
scenery while it lasts!

***

From the USA, John Jurasek wrote in to say:

While I wanted to share the basic technical details of
reception in this message – I wished, most importantly, to write-in to let you
know that I greatly enjoy listening to your station. While I enjoy the medium
of shortwave radio, I got into the medium back in 2013 in order to sincerely
listen to radio stations from all over the world for news, perspective and
education – not because of technical specificities or the expectation of
getting anything in return from any radio stations.

Your programming is exactly what I had hoped to find and I
am so happy that you are still broadcasting to North America – although I have
heard about the recent shortwave cutbacks and I sincerely hope that those days
of shortwave broadcasting are not coming to an end soon.

Any contribution is highly appreciated, John. We know the
majority of our listeners don’t write or send feedback, but we know they are
out there, listening to our station. So we’re glad to have you in our community
of listeners.

***

It is true that you
can listen to whatever you want on the internet, but where to start? That
little bit of effort you have to put in to listen to the radio, the element of
surprise, that makes it interesting I guess. And while I have a PhD in physics,
or maybe just because I’m a physicist, I’m still amazed by the fact that you
can put a little bit of power on an antenna somewhere in the world, and it
triggers waves that – under the right conditions – can be received all over
that same world. It’s a bit of magic that the internet lacks. Although I have
to admit: I do use the internet a lot to find tips on what can be received. And
since my retirement last year I also started to build a weblog to share my
hobby, which brought me already a few new friends!

Peter Reuderink, Netherlands

***

As always, we got a number of hand-written message sent by
regular post to our office. We greatly appreciate the effort of listeners who
do that, and we thought to reward them by quoting excerpts from their messages:

Robert Wallace (United Kingdom)

Very entertaining programming! Thanks!

Grant Skinner (United Kingdom)

I am a DXing enthusiast and like to discover a lot about
the world via shortwave. I can travel around the globe with my radio. My house
is an open windows to the world.

Christer Carnegren (Sweden)

Nice broadcast!

Jackson Pritt (USA)

One of the farthest radio stations I have received so far
on the shortwave bands.

Yoshihiro Toyama (Japan)

Greetings from raining season in Hamamatsu, Japan. How are
you getting on? I am fine. Thank you for your broadcast and the letter to me.

Harald Süss (Austria)

I was glad to hear the signal here in Austria. This time I
spent 2 weeks in a DX-Camp in Southern part of Austria called Döbriach, beside
the lake Millstätter See. I lived in my tent. We all in the group were
listening to radio stations.

Jyrki Ollila (Finland)

I was able to listen to your station for the first time in
years. I was a DX listener in my youngerhood, now I am 58 years old and live in
Oulu, Finland. I was excited when I heard your radio station, I listened on my
balcony in my flat. I have a small Tecsun Pl 660 radio and wire antenna. I wish
a good summer to your editors / broadcasters.

We also got a letter last week from Anand Mohan Bain
(India), who enclosed the following materials.

Special thanks for writing to Ricky Hein (USA), Hayato
Furukawa (Japan), Jurijs Dimbovskis (Latvia)

***

Last week, our friend from Malaysia, Mohamad Haidir Hasim,
wrote to us to convey the following message:

I read about Romanian commitment on helping Ukraine in many ways
from humanitarian and militarily.In Malaysia, we also
show our solidarity to Ukraine with many ways such as donations and sharing the
truth about what happens in Ukraine.

I also donated to Ukrainian Cultural Association in Malaysia by
purchasing their merchandise (a t-shirt). I think Ukrainian and all people has
right to live in peace and no one cannot deny this right. Nobody should be oppressed.
Nobody should live in fear and tyranny.

Ukrainian Cultural Associations or UCA in Malaysia was
established to promote Ukrainian culture and humanitarian affairs targeting
Malaysian people.

When Russia invade Ukraine on 2022, UCA more actively in sharing
awareness about the truth and horror happening in their country.

Ukrainian Cultural Association always sharing articles,video and
any news to counter Russian propaganda outlets.

They using media social for share news or any information about
the war and sometimes I really sad when looking terrible thing happened in
Ukraine.

From them,I finally know that Ukrainian language are different
from Russia and their cultures also different.

Ukrainian Cultural Association also doing charity sales to gain
funding for humanitarian aid to Ukraine.

I and my friends once go to their charity sales and i buy their
t-shirt. They give me cookies and Ukraine flag to me.

Slava Ukraini

Mohamad also shared with us his collection of postcards and
stamps from Ukraine he purchased to show his support and solidarity. He also
enclosed a photo of the t-shirt and flag he was mentioning.

***

I enjoyed hearing your transmission today on shortwave radio in
DRM mode. I had good reception and enjoyed the programming.

I really like programs on natural history subjects, so I
particularly enjoyed your show today. Thank you for the entertainment.

This is what Scott Walker (USA) wrote to us last week. Thanks
for your words of appreciation, Scott. We’re happy you enjoyed our broadcast.

***

It wouldn’t have been a regular week at the office without
receiving interesting messages from our long-time listeners and friend Bidhan
Chandra Sanyal (India). This time around, our listener wrote to us with some
details about Rahki Purnima, a festival that is quite popular in India at this
time of the year.

Rakhi Purnima is going to be celebrated in India on August
30. Happy Rakhi Purnima with all my sincere love and best wishes!

There are very few people in India who have not heard of Rakhi
Purnima or Rakhi Bandhan. Moreover, the strong bond of love between brothers
and sisters is revealed a lot through Rakhi Poornima or Rakhi Bandhan. This
Rakhi bandhan festival is celebrated in a big way in India. This Rakhi Bandhan
festival is celebrated on the full moon tithi of the month of Shravan.

We all know that the tradition of tying the bond of love
between brother and sister with this rakhi thread has been going on since ages.
So from childhood, sisters express their love for their brothers by putting
rakhis on their hands.

This Rakhi Bandhan festival is celebrated to honor the bond
of love between brothers and sisters. A sister ties a sacred thread called
rakhi on the hand of her brother and prays for his brother’s well-being.

This beautiful rakhi is worn on the right hand of the
brother in observance of various rituals related to the protection of the
brother and the safety of the sister. Many people make rakhi with their own
hands and many beautiful rakhi are also available to buy in the market.

The main significance of rakhi bandhan is to pray for
someone’s protection which is especially observed between brothers and sisters.
Rakhi plays a very important role. To wish for the well-being of the brother,
the sister wears rakhi on the right hand of the brother and tries to keep him
away from all kinds of dangers and harmful things.

For example, when the Greek hero Alexander left to invade
India in 326 BC, Alexander’s wife Rosana sent a rakhi thread to Maharaja Puru,
asking him to promise that no harm would come to Alexander.

Maharaja Puru was a Kotoch Hindu king. So he respected the
rakhi, and Rajapuru did not even once strike a weapon at Alexander himself on
the battlefield to honor the rakhi sent by Alexander’s wife Rosana. This
implies that Rakhi is tied to provide protection.

Sisters are waiting for the joy of wearing rakhi to brother
with enthusiasm and interest from morning. This day is celebrated in many
houses with great pomp i.e. Puja Parvan, cooking, eating everything is grand. But
not only Dami Rakhi. Even though it is thread rakhi, how beautiful the rakhi
bandan festival of poor brothers and sisters is, it is worth seeing.

That’s just an excerpt from a longer message Bidhan sent
us. Thanks for introducing our community of listeners to new traditions from
your culture, Bidhan. It never ceases to amaze us.

***

From Ukraine, we got a nice message from Marian Dan.

I love music. I think that music is one of the most
important things in our life. One day I’ve heard your radio station, you have a
great variety of fine songs and useful programs. Needless to say, I will
continue to listen to your radio station through the Internet.

Thanks for this message as well, Marian. We’re glad you
enjoy our programmes and music selection.

***

Time now to thank our other listeners who took the time to
write, send reports and comment on our broadcasts: Jaouad Saber (Morocco), Gunnar
Green (Sweden), Ruben Zilzer (Israel), Bruce Lee (Australia), Jan Kluska
(Poland), Siddhartha Bhattacharjee (India), Paul Jamet (France), Tom Melville
(USA), Anand Mohan Bain (India), Rob den Boer (Netherlands), Lyssuel Sousa
Calvet Neto (Brazil), Tim Brockett (USA), Rafael Gustavo Grajeda Rosado
(Mexico), Malik Allah Bachaya (Pakistan), Chris Malboeuf (Canada), Jakub
Denisiuk (Poland), Debashis Gope (India), Abdul Mannan (Bangladesh), Richard
Lemke (Canada), Rafan Ahmed (India), Andrey Kuzmin (Rusia), Andrew Kuznetsov
(Latvia), Darrel Hoerle (USA), Tomasz Kotas (Poland), Art Wormald (Canada), Sanil
Deep (India), Gary Paulson (USA), Ding Lu (China), Abdul Mannan (Bangladesh).

Thank you all & 73!

1 September 2023
Hörerpostsendung 22.11.2020

Liebe Freunde, herzlich willkommen zur Hörerpostsendung von RRI! Aus der inzwischen berüchtigten Abstellkammer begrü‎ßt Sie zu gewohnter Zeit S.G.

Mehrere Hörer haben in letzter Zeit Schwierigkeiten mit der Versendung ihrer Empfangsberichte über unser Online-Formular gemeldet, darunter Wolfgang Maschke und Dieter Sommer (beide aus Deutschland). Nun, ich habe beide Formulare erneut selbst getestet, und zwar das Formular für Empfangsberichte und jenes für Feedback, also für sonstige Mitteilungen, und ich glaube, herausgefunden zu haben, welcher der Clou dabei ist. Erstens müssen Sie alle Felder ausfüllen, sonst erscheint beim Abschicken eine Fehlermeldung mit dem Hinweis, welche Felder nicht ausgefüllt wurden. Wenn Sie bestimmte Informationen wie Alter, Beruf oder die Adresse nicht preisgeben wollen, ist das kein Problem — Sie können auch eine beliebige Buchstabenkombination dort hineinschreiben, aber etwas muss da drin stehen, weil das Ausfüllen aller Felder Pflicht ist. Und hier hat sich auch ein Programmierfehler eingeschlichen, nämlich das Feld für Land“ ist in Hebräisch beschriftet, vermutlich seitdem wir auch eine hebräischsprachige Variante unserer Webseite haben. Auch dieses Feld muss ausgefüllt werden und schlie‎ßlich müssen Sie auch den sogenannten Captcha-Code richtig eintippen. Wenn Sie also alle Felder ausgefüllt und den Captcha-Code richtig eingetippt haben, müssen Sie auf Abschicken“ klicken. Wenn Sie alles richtig gemacht haben, erscheint die Meldung Ihre Nachricht wurde verschickt“, und in wenigen Sekunden werden Sie automatisch wieder zur Hauptseite zurückgeleitet. Ich ärgere mich auch immer wieder über verschiedene Sachen, die alles andere als optimal auf unserer Webseite laufen, kann aber nichts daran ändern, denn unsere IT-Leute sind sehr eigenbrötlerisch und reagieren so gut wie nie auf Feedback oder E-Mails. Wenn es also mit den Online-Formularen mal nicht klappen sollte, schicken Sie uns Ihre Empfangsberichte oder andere Mitteilungen am besten nochmals per E-Mail, so wie es etwa die beiden oben erwähnten Hörer getan haben.

Paul Gager (aus Wien) scheint hingegen nie ein Problem mit den Formularen gehabt zu haben, denn nahezu jede Woche erhalten wir mehrfach Empfangsberichte oder Feedback. So etwa schrieb er uns nach der Brandkatastrophe auf der Intensivstation eines Krankenhauses im nordostrumänischen Piatra Neamț vergangenes Wochenende folgende Zeilen:

Am vergangenen Samstag ist in einem Krankenhaus in Rumänien ein Feuer ausgebrochen, bei dem mindestens zehn vom Coronavirus betroffene Patienten ums Leben kamen. Papst Franziskus rief nach dem Angelus am darauffolgenden Sonntag die Gläubigen auf, für die Opfer und die Hinterbliebenen zu beten. Angelus am Sonntag“ wird immer live auf [dem privaten katholischen Sender] K-TV übertragen und ich bin meistens mit dabei. Mein Beileid an die Trauernden und Hinterbliebenen!

Vielen Dank für Ihre Anteilnahme, lieber Herr Gager. Die Katastrophe hat ganz Rumänien erschüttert, zumal sie nicht die erste dieser Art war. Vor fünf Jahren hatten wir die Brandkatastrophe im Bukarester Konzert-Club Colectiv“, bei dem über hundert, zumeist junge Menschen ums Leben kamen und weitere dutzende mit schweren Verletzungen überlebten und immer noch mir Langzeitfolgen und Traumata zu kämpfen haben. Und vor zehn Jahren brach ein Feuer in einer Bukarester Entbindungsstation aus, bei dem sechs Neugeborene starben und weitere fünf mit schweren Brandblessuren davonkamen. Und das wirft wieder die Frage nach der weitverbreiteten Korruption im rumänischen Gesundheitswesen auf. Denn in beiden Fällen, die sich 2010 bzw. vergangenen Samstag in Hospitälern ereigneten, waren Improvisationen in den elektrischen Anlagen Auslöser der Katastrophe. Eine Untersuchung des Gesundheitsministeriums und der Gesundheitsämter ergab, dass es immer noch etliche Krankenhäuser in ganz Rumänien gibt, die den Sicherheitsvorschriften nicht genügen. Das Management vieler Krankenhäuser in Rumänien ist nämlich parteienübergreifend politisiert, d.h., in Spitzenpositionen landen oft Parteifreunde der jeweiligen Regierungspartei statt kompetenter Fachleute. Unter diesen Umständen überlege ich ernsthaft, sollte mich das Coronavirus erwischen oder sollte ich später, im höheren Alter, an etwas erkranken, lieber allein zu Hause zu krepieren, als in einem rumänischen Krankenhaus am lebendigen Leibe zu verbrennen.

Paul Gager gab uns auch Feedback über den Empfang in Österreich, dabei komme die Abendsendung über die analoge Frequenz besonders schlecht rein:

Die Empfangsbedingungen auf der Abendfrequenz 6180 kHz sind derzeit sehr unstabil. Von SINPO 44444 bis zu nichts Hörbarem reicht derzeit das Empfangs- Spektrum. Die Morgen- bzw. Nachmittagssendungen sind derzeit in stabiler Empfangsqualität hier aufzunehmen. bzw. zu lesen — wie es in der Fachchinesisch-Techniker-Sprache hei‎ßen würde.

Und schlie‎ßlich erhielten wir von Herrn Gager auch einen TV-Tipp, den ich gerne weitergebe:

Am 3. Dez. strahlt ARTE TV um 20:40 Uhr eine Reportage über die Corona-Pandemie-Lage in Rumänien aus — unter dem Titel: Gott schütze uns vor Corona! Rumäniens Umgang mit Corona“.

Vielen Dank, lieber Herr Gager, laut der Webseite von ARTE TV wird die Reportage nach der Ausstrahlung bis März 2021 auch in der Mediathek abrufbar sein.

Ein interessantes Feedback im Online-Formular erhielten wir von Pascal Pfau aus Schleswig-Holstein. Er habe unsere Sendung auf der Frequenz 21470 kHz empfangen. Ich habe mich zunächst gewundert, da mir diese Frequenz nicht bekannt war. Ich habe dann alle Frequenzen unserer verschiedenen Sprachdienste abgeklappert und festgestellt, dass es sich um die Programme in Englisch für Afrika handelt. Dass sie auch in Norddeutschland empfangbar sind, war mir neu. Aber mit entsprechender Ausrüstung ist wohl vieles möglich, Herr Pfau gab auch an, einen 12 m hohen Antennenmast zu verwenden.

Und jetzt hätte ich eine Frage für unsere eingefleischten DXer mit jahrelanger Erfahrung. Andreas Schmid aus Euerdorf in Bayern, der ein Radiowimpel-Museum unter seiner Obhut hat und uns immer wieder mit interessanten Funden für unsere Nostalgieecke beliefert hat, fand unlängst bei eBay eine QSL-Karte von Radio Bukarest, die im Jahr 1949 ursprünglich nach Schweden ging:

QSL von Radio Bukarest (1949)

Darauf sind die Aufschriften Rumänische Volksrepublik“ und Rumänische Rundfunkgesellschaft“ sowie die damaligen Frequenzen zu lesen sowie der Umriss Rumäniens auf einer Europa-Landkarte zu sehen. Und mitten im Kontur der rumänischen Landesgrenzen stehen die Buchstaben YR“. Ich habe in einem Glossar für DX-Fachbegriffe gesucht und keine Antwort darauf gefunden, was diese Buchstaben bedeuten. Gab es damals vielleicht Länder- oder Senderkennzeichen? Falls das jemand wei‎ß, bitte ich um eine Benachrichtigung — Herr Schmid ist nämlich genauso neugierig wie ich.

Anfang des Monats erreichten uns per E-Mail die Zeilen von Jörg-Clemens Hoffmann (der in Alsbach-Hähnlein in Südhessen zu Hause ist):

Liebe deutsche Redaktion von Radio Rumänien International!

Mit etwas Verspätung möchte ich Ihnen heute meine Empfangsberichte der vergangenen Wochen schicken. Dabei sind noch Frequenzbeobachtungen aus dem September 2020.

Der Empfang der deutschen Programme von RRI macht weiterhin viel Freude. Die Signale sind problemlos hörbar und die Beiträge immer informativ sowie unterhaltsam. Besonders gut gefallen mir stets die interessanten Reiseberichte. Gerade während der Covid-19-Pandemie laden Beiträge wie über den Fernwanderweg Via Transilvanica zu einer akustischen Reise nach Rumänien ein. Bleibt zu hoffen, dass bald wieder touristische Fahrten in Ihr schönes Land möglich sein werden, denn die au‎ßergewöhnlich schönen Landschaften sind sicherlich ein lohnendes Ziel.

So würde ich mich auch dieses Mal über eine Empfangsbestätigung freuen und möchte Ihnen allen für die täglichen Bemühungen danken, ein tolles Programm auf Kurzwelle zu präsentieren.

Mit den besten Grü‎ßen und Gesundheitswünschen

Ihr Hörerfreund

Jörg-Clemens Hoffmann

Vielen Dank für das Feedback, lieber Herr Hoffmann. Ich hoffe auch sehnlichst, dass Reisen bald wieder möglich sein werden, aber momentan sieht es nicht danach aus. Ich hatte nämlich vor, Wochenendausflüge oder auch nur einen eintägigen Abstecher in die von Bukarest aus leicht mit dem Zug zu erreichenden Südkarpaten zu machen, doch ist der Landkreis Prahova nördlich von Bukarest mittlerweile zum Corona-Hotspot erklärt worden, und immer mehr Städte und Gemeinden werden wieder in Quarantäne versetzt. Da bleibt mir nichts anderes übrig, als in Bukarest auszuharren.

Von Siegbert Gerhard und seiner Lebenspartnerin Birgit Denker erhielten wir einen Nachtrag zum Hörertag:

Liebe Freunde von RRI,

mit den beigefügten Empfangsberichten danke ich für Euere hochinteressanten und informativen deutschen Sendungen und gratuliere zum Jubiläum des rumänischen Rundfunks und zu einem sehr gelungenen Hörertag.

Kurz zur Thematik Information rund um Corona:

Meine Frau Birgit Denker und ich nutzen sowohl ein Printmedium (die Tageszeitung Frankfurter Neue Presse“ im Abo) als auch das öffentlich-rechtliche TV und den Rundfunk, hier insbesondere den lokalen HR 1 und auch den SWR 1 aus dem benachbarten Bundesland Rheinland-Pfalz. Ergänzt wird das Ganze durch die lokalen dritten TV-Programme mit insbesondere der Hessenschau. So fühlen wir uns bestens informiert.

Dem Auslandsrundfunk messen wir in der Corona-Berichterstattung eine hohe Bedeutung zu. Woher sonst sollen auch die Info kommen. Den Wahrheitsgehalt und die Fake-News muss der Hörer halt selbst einschätzen bzw. erkennen und filtern, das ist aber nichts Neues.

RRI messen wir dabei einen hohen Wahrheitsgehalt und eine prima journalistische Arbeit zu.

Soweit unser kurzes Statement zum RRI-Hörertag 2020.

Bleiben Sie alle gesund und herzliche Grü‎ße aus Frankfurt am Main nach Bukarest!

Birgit Denker und Siegbert Gerhard

Vielen herzlichen Dank und herzliche Grü‎ße nach Frankfurt am Main!

Auch Christian Siebert (der im niedersächsischen Himmelpforten zu Hause ist) fand Gefallen am Hörertag:

Die Zuschriften und Audiobeiträge der Hörer fand ich sehr interessant. Die Orte, von wo aus die deutschsprachigen Sendungen gehört werden, sind ja weit über Europa verteilt und nicht nur auf Deutschland / Österreich / Schweiz beschränkt. Ich schätze immer sehr die Nachrichten über Ihr Land und auch die rumänische Perspektive auf die Vorgänge in der EU und der Welt. Es ist immer eine Bereicherung des Nachrichtenangebotes. Auch die Musik und die Kulturnachrichten finde ich immer gut. Am 4.11. z.B. den Bericht und das Interview mit einem Professor, der ein Buch über Philosophie für Teenager geschrieben hat.

Ihr regelmä‎ßiger Hörer

Christian Siebert

Christian Terhorst (aus Rheine, Westfalen), merkte zu seinem Empfangsbericht kurz an:

Ihre Sendung ist immer interessant. Insbesondere die Nachrichten (als Vergleich und Ergänzung zu den hiesigen Medien) und die Berichte über Land und Leute. Einfach klasse!

Und zum Schluss möchte ich Grü‎ße ausrichten, die wir von unseren jüngsten Hörern erhalten haben, nämlich den Brüdern Simon und Adrian Heinrich, die im Südwesten Baden-Württembergs zu Hause sind:

Liebe Redaktion von Radio Rumänien International,

nach einer kleinen Pause des Radiohörens aufgrund eines Defektes meines alten Weltempfängers melde ich mich wieder.

Mein Bruder und ich haben auch den letzten Funkbriefkasten auf Ihrer Website nachgehört und wollen uns herzlichst für die Grü‎ße von Bernd Seiser und Yigal Benger bedanken. Auch wir grü‎ßen sie gerne zurück. Auch würden wir, falls es möglich ist, gerne unsere Oma und unsere Eltern grü‎ßen wollen, da sie alle in dieser momentan schweren Situation für einen da sind und ohne sie es nicht geht. Auch in der nächsten Zeit werden wir Ihre Sendungen weiterverfolgen und auch den Funkbriefkasten voller Freude genie‎ßen. Auch hat ein Lied, welches in ihrer Sendung ausgestrahlt wurde, schon einen Platz in meiner Youtube-Playlist gefunden. Dieses wäre: Fetițele din Bucuresti“ (Mädel aus Bukarest)“. Bleiben Sie, liebe RRI-Redaktion und Hörer, gesund, und ich wünsche Ihnen alles Gute in dieser herausfordernden Situation!

Mit vielen Grü‎ßen

Simon und Adrian Heinrich

Lieber Simon, lieber Adrian, vielen herzlichen Dank, auch wir möchten gerne Eure Oma und Eure Eltern grü‎ßen; bei den vielen Einschränkungen im öffentlichen Leben haben sie es bestimmt auch nicht leicht. Alles Gute für die ganze Familie und haltet die Ohren steif!

Weitere elektronische Zuschriften (au‎ßer den bereits erwähnten) erhielten wir vergangene Woche bis einschlie‎ßlich Samstag von Bernd und Willi Seiser, Stefan Druschke, Martina Pohl, Michael Willruth, Jochen Christ und Gerd Brüschke (D) sowie von Günter Traunfellner (A) via Hobbykollege Harald Süss.

Ihnen allen herzlichen Dank, bleiben Sie gesund und schalten Sie auch nächsten Sonntag wieder ein!

Audiobeitrag hören:

RadioRomaniaInternational · Funkbriefkasten – 22.11.2020

22 November 2020
What parents think about online education

The general crisis generated by the COVID-19 pandemic has changed education practices. Since classes have been suspended, students and teachers have had to adapt to the new situation, so their personal computers, tablets or mobile phones replaced the classroom, become a teaching space. Pupils and students and equally their parents had to adapt to the new context, the school curriculum and the inherent teaching methods. Interaction with classmates and teachers by means of a screen has practically brought school at home. Nevertheless, all this time, many parents have felt highly pressured.

An online press conference organized as part of the SuperTeach project presented the results of the latest survey conducted in Romania in relation to parents perception of online teaching as well as to the challenges posed by the state of emergency.

Felix Tătaru, a co-founder of SuperTeach, has more: “Based on information from teachers, we started organizing webinars and conferences, with themes and guests adapted to their needs. But any action, especially in the education domain, needs feedback. Teachers need feedback from parents, pupils or students, therefore, we have conducted a second survey together with Open-l Research, with Adina Nica. Parents answered several questions and we invited 2 experts who spoke from different perspectives: the educational management perspective and that of the parents association, about issues brought about by parents.

Through this survey, Adina Nica, a consultant and researcher with Open-I Research, analyzed the psychological impact of online education and what it meant from the point of view of social interaction: “I would first mention the parents positive attitude towards online education. Pressure on parents was high during this period, and we expect pressure to be equally high when their children return to school. Parents were quite worried about the suspension of classes, given that communication with the teachers was much delayed at the beginning of the state of emergency. From the childrens standpoint, the suspension of classes meant deprivation of social life.

During the home isolation period, Romanian parents had to adapt to a new daily lifestyle, while trying to cope with the new challenges at their work place and to support their children during the online teaching process. Oftentimes, the parents work from home overlapped their childrens online classes on audio-video web platforms.

Adina Nica has more: “Parents were very much affected by these changes, because, besides changing their way of working from home or even losing their jobs, they found themselves in a new situation, with their kids at home and with lots of activities to fulfill such as cooking, spending time with their children, helping them with the homework and with how to deal with the new online platforms. It was a major change for parents, with a lot of pressure for them.

The SuperTeach survey also analyzed the emergency situations psychological impact on parents, their fears being often related to a feeling of social uncertainty. Adina Nica: “Parents have had many fears, their major fear being related to their kids and their own health or to their parents health. They also had fears regarding the education system. Parents were not sure that their kids could make up for the lost classes, especially the 8th and 12th graders. And all these fears added to financial insecurity.

Another thing that has worried parents during the state of emergency period was whether they had a correct attitude towards their own children. They wondered if they were too lenient or too strict with their children.

Here is Adina Nica back at the microphone: “When asked about major difficulties in this period, they first mentioned the balance between authority and flexibility. The teachers had vanished into thin air, they did not know how to react, so their first reaction was to disappear for a while. Parents were left with their kids at home and didnt know what to do in the first place. They did not know whether to leave their kids enjoy the mini holiday, or to be strict and make them study.

Despite difficulties, many parents have chosen to look at the bright side of things and considered that the many challenges they were faced with helped them exercise their ability to adapt to change. Adina Nica has more: Asked to mention the positive aspects of this period, parents first said that home isolation was an opportunity for their kids to adapt to change. They also mentioned the opportunity to spend more time with their family and do more things together and thirdly the opportunity to experiment with digital platforms.

Initiated by the “Romanian Business Leaders Foundation, the EDUCATIVA Group and the Institute for Personal Development, the SuperTeach project promotes the idea of focusing on students needs and on training teachers according to the principles of open-mindedness. (translation by Lacramioara Simion)

9 September 2020
The mentors of Romanian School

The Romanian education system is a realm of stark contrast with the top end of the scale made by the great number of top-performing pupils, award and prizewinners in international contests. At the bottom of the same scale we find the alarming percentage of functional illiterates mainly consisting of 15-year olds.

If the reasons for dissatisfaction have frequently become justified subjects for public debates, the reasons for satisfaction have oftentimes been overlooked. In order to bring again top-performing students to the fore, but especially those who teach them, the Foundation for Community jointly with MOL Romania annually award the Mentor Prize. In 2017, for the seventh year running, the prize was awarded to 10 teachers and coaches from all over Romania, short-listed out of a pool of 250 nominations made in the previous year.

For some of those trainers, being awarded prizes has become something they got used to. One such trainer is Petre Arnautu, a table tennis coach based with the Slatina School Sports Club. Arnautu has also been coordinator with the national cadets and juniors teams for the past 20 years.

Among Petre Arnautus most recent successes is the 3rd place Adina Diaconu reaped in the womens singles event as well as the 1st place Adina Diaconu and Andreea Dragoman won in the womens doubles event of the World Juniors Championship held in Cape Town in 2016.

In 2017, Diaconu and Dragoman also walked away with bronze from the womens event of the European Table Tennis Championship in Sochi in February. Full commitment to the job is a must for a coach, yet no less important is his ability to spot talents among students, according to Petre Arnautu.

Petre Arnautu: Top-level performance cannot be achieved unless you know how to select those athletes with genuine qualities, first and foremost, unless you can spot the specific and general qualities required for doing that sports discipline at top-level. It is very important to have the raw material tailored for high performance, yet no less important is that from a very early age, the athlete should have the urge and willpower to practice that kind of sport at high standards. We should not forget performance means around 95% hard work, while all the other qualities come afterwards.“

The other subjects taught in schools may not be as famous as sports, yet they are equally important in choosing ones career and building up ones personality. Philosophy is one such subject, and its formative characteristic was exactly the main attraction for Elvira Groza when she chose that profession. A Mentor Prize recipient, Elvira Groza teaches philosophy with the Aurel Lazar Theoretical High-school in Oradea. Elvira Groza is the coordinator of the school magazine entitled Lazaristii, but she also prepared the silver and bronze medallists for the Olympiad of philosophy.

The key to her success is a non-conformist approach to the subject matter she teaches, that philosophy is a tool by means of which young people can discover themselves, at the same time discovering the world around other than by means of the usual social conventions. Here is teacher Elvira Groza herself.

Elvira Groza: I believe today we need to do philosophy going beyond the high school text books that do not go any further than the mid-20th century and are just mere quotation compilations. Although today philosophy has to a great extent become ethics, politics and structured communication supporting other sciences, I have been trying though to challenge students to dialogue. The philosophy class is the chance of a face-to-face relation where you can show someone how to take responsibility for themselves, how to understand what happens to them.

Elvira Groza has been a teacher for 23 years now, yet she cannot imagine herself doing something different, despite the unavoidable moments of exhaustion and disappointment.

Elvira Groza: “Students are becoming less and less receptive. They only learn to assume set patterns for the baccalaureate exam, devised for medium-level students. It is very difficult to get them snap out of that pragmatic, cause-and-effect mindset. There are circumstances and days when I fail to challenge them with anything at all or other days where no dialogue occurs and at the end of such days what I want for myself is to read a philosophy book and thats pretty much it. But the next day I start all over again and forget those momentary failures.“

Elena Teoteoi is another Mentor Prize recipient. She is in love with her profession and teaches Chemistry with the Tudor Vladimirescu National College in Târgu Jiu, southern Romania. In turn, she has taught pupils who throughout the years grabbed gold, silver and bronze medals in the International Chemistry Olympiad. But how did Elena Teoteoi manage to instill the passion for Chemistry in her students? First of all, by laying a strong emphasis on practice. Speaking about that, here is Elena Teoteoi herself.

Elena Teoteoi: “Through theory, I provide the introduction or I prepare students to make sense of all the aspects of a substance or a phenomenon, the history of the discovery of a substance or a phenomenon, and their importance. But for the student what matters is what he or she can actually see or feel. Accordingly, the experiment is the core of my work. In education, emphasis is not being laid on theory alone. There are subjects where theory prevails, while there are other subjects that had for long been taught with a strong emphasis laid on interdisciplinarity. For instance, you cannot learn or teach Chemistry with no knowledge of Biology, Physics, Geography or History. Chemistry runs in everything, in our daily lives, in everything that surrounds us. Which also means that we, as human beings, are crucially influenced by a series of chemical processes.

“If you teach chemistry, you cannot possibly get bored. Chemistry means a perpetual change, just like life itself, says Elena Teoteoi. You cannot get bored in the classroom either, and that is why the teaching profession poses a perpetual challenge for the Chemistry teacher.

Elena Teoteoi: There is not a single day or class unfolding the way you wanted to without new feedbacks from students or even from teachers. We also adjust to be able to respond to the students reactions and feedback. Also, teaching is being done in a differentiated manner. You cannot teach all the students in the same way. Accordingly, you cannot possibly back down or stagnate. Every time something new turns up, something that attracts you and helps you, the teacher, make headway.

“There is no monotony in education, teacher Elena Teoteoi concludes. And monotony cannot possibly exist, as long as teachers are also mentors.

17 May 2017
This week…in your letters

“Hello my friends In Bucharest. Can you believe that spring is almost upon us? We are really moving the start of this year do you not think? It got your transmission up over here at 18:00 hours on 5.935 Khz that always does seem to come in well of an evening. So very sad to hear over the Radio here In the UK and later during the course of your newsreel report regarding the running down of Romanian car wash workers in south London that was not nice to be informed of. But on a high side of things good to hear that Romania and Hungary are making communication as I am aware of the turbulent past that both of you in the past have been through. The history show did provide a great deal of history yet again on a different topic with regards to some of the torture prisoners encountered with horrific beatings carried out by wardens In such an inhumane way during the old regime. Loving your music on your music especially one particular piece of music called the most beautiful (Frumuos) girl in the world. Hoping weather has improved and I think it has and you can now be looking forward to spring that is just around the corner. Sending you all my very best In the English section and wishing you well. Keep up the good and hard work!”

James Obrien, United Kingdom

“News mentioned upcoming elections in Germany, France. EU Parliament passes resolution on requiring VISAs for US citizens. I hope this does not get anywhere. Most US citizens are not aware of the VISA issues for the EU countries. The Romanian Government is increasing defense spending to 2%. The Future Starts Today had a great segment on NASA’s discovering the new set of planets. 3 have potential to support life. New telescopes could be built. I find space exploration fascinating. Always have since a kid. My parents took us to see Skylab blast off. I can often see rockets soaring through the sky after lifting off from Kennedy Space Center from my house in Fort Pierce. A nice song I Believe was called “Time” was played, female singer pop song. Roots followed by Sports and the Romanian rugby team playing Russia on Saturday. The traditional music was beautiful. A musician who participated in many national and international contests and left for the US and went back to Romania after playing in major US cities. Living in Romania with James Donahue where Romania is his second home, he bought a wooden spoon and fork as souvenirs. Through the Looking Glass had an interesting discussion on a Romanian film maker who passed away at 79 years”.

Richard Nowak, United States

“Mr. Donahue seemed to be extremely pleased with living in your country. I suppose that Romania can be very nice provided that you are well off. I have some Romanian friends who seem to be travelling to Turkey, Greece and Italy all the time enjoying their retirement. Others apparently are less lucky. This year I missed your World Radio Day show. However, I was very much involved in the project organized by the Swedish DX Federation. We had produced a one-hour show that went out three times on shortwave from stations in Germany and Norway and a half-hour version on Radio Northern Star, a web radio based in Norway. I produced and presented three reports including one devoted to the invention of radio. We are now planning special broadcasts at Easter and once again I intend to produce some of the segments”.

Christer Brunstrom, Sweden

“Spring greetings from Denmark — even that it is not too warm at the moment, but the spring flowers show their colors to tell, that warmer days are coming. I must say political temperatures has been going high in Romania. I so hope, that better days are on their way to “the man in the street”. I do not understand your protests against the plan for 2-tempi EU-development, but it is not an easy case. Best and warmest wishes”.

Hans-Verner Lollike, Denmark

“It has been an interesting month, what with World Radio Day and the recent protests against the Romanians governments unpopular criminal code policy. As many other RRI listeners had commented, these demonstrations had received a lot of coverage on UK TV news over many days, and it was great to see people standing up against something that they didnt like, and interesting to hear what many individual protesters had to say during TV interviews. It couldnt have been much fun standing out there for so long at this time of year, especially with recent temperatures, so well done to them, its always a good idea to keep the politicians in their place, as they love to walk over us if we let them. One thing that no one else seemed to have commented on which I thought was well worth a mention, was RRIs coverage of the demonstrations, which was very impartial, and no one could ever accuse your station of being a government mouthpiece. It was great to see the editorial freedom that you had, and to hear balanced comments on what was going on there, so well done to all at RRI staff for standing up for the truth rather than the politicians. Best regards to all at RRI till next month, it will be nice when Spring finally arrives again as Ive had quite enough of the winter cold, and Im just glad that we never get temperatures as low as some of the ones that you have experienced during the winter”.

Alan Gale, United Kingdom

“I like to listen to your one hour broadcast on Sundays. The mix of news, features and music is very enjoyable and informative. I always enjoy the jazz music and the listeners’ letters. It is great to know that there are still many people all over the world listening to shortwave using radios old and new. The staff and presenters at RRI do a wonderful job and your efforts are enjoyed by many people. Thank you all very much”.

Ian Evans, United Kingdom

12 March 2017
This week…in your letters

“Hello my friends In Bucharest. Can you believe that spring is almost upon us? We are really moving the start of this year do you not think? It got your transmission up over here at 18:00 hours on 5.935 Khz that always does seem to come in well of an evening. So very sad to hear over the Radio here In the UK and later during the course of your newsreel report regarding the running down of Romanian car wash workers in south London that was not nice to be informed of. But on a high side of things good to hear that Romania and Hungary are making communication as I am aware of the turbulent past that both of you in the past have been through. The history show did provide a great deal of history yet again on a different topic with regards to some of the torture prisoners encountered with horrific beatings carried out by wardens In such an inhumane way during the old regime. Loving your music on your music especially one particular piece of music called the most beautiful (Frumuos) girl in the world. Hoping weather has improved and I think it has and you can now be looking forward to spring that is just around the corner. Sending you all my very best In the English section and wishing you well. Keep up the good and hard work!”

James Obrien, United Kingdom

“News mentioned upcoming elections in Germany, France. EU Parliament passes resolution on requiring VISAs for US citizens. I hope this does not get anywhere. Most US citizens are not aware of the VISA issues for the EU countries. The Romanian Government is increasing defense spending to 2%. The Future Starts Today had a great segment on NASA’s discovering the new set of planets. 3 have potential to support life. New telescopes could be built. I find space exploration fascinating. Always have since a kid. My parents took us to see Skylab blast off. I can often see rockets soaring through the sky after lifting off from Kennedy Space Center from my house in Fort Pierce. A nice song I Believe was called “Time” was played, female singer pop song. Roots followed by Sports and the Romanian rugby team playing Russia on Saturday. The traditional music was beautiful. A musician who participated in many national and international contests and left for the US and went back to Romania after playing in major US cities. Living in Romania with James Donahue where Romania is his second home, he bought a wooden spoon and fork as souvenirs. Through the Looking Glass had an interesting discussion on a Romanian film maker who passed away at 79 years”.

Richard Nowak, United States

“Mr. Donahue seemed to be extremely pleased with living in your country. I suppose that Romania can be very nice provided that you are well off. I have some Romanian friends who seem to be travelling to Turkey, Greece and Italy all the time enjoying their retirement. Others apparently are less lucky. This year I missed your World Radio Day show. However, I was very much involved in the project organized by the Swedish DX Federation. We had produced a one-hour show that went out three times on shortwave from stations in Germany and Norway and a half-hour version on Radio Northern Star, a web radio based in Norway. I produced and presented three reports including one devoted to the invention of radio. We are now planning special broadcasts at Easter and once again I intend to produce some of the segments”.

Christer Brunstrom, Sweden

“Spring greetings from Denmark — even that it is not too warm at the moment, but the spring flowers show their colors to tell, that warmer days are coming. I must say political temperatures has been going high in Romania. I so hope, that better days are on their way to “the man in the street”. I do not understand your protests against the plan for 2-tempi EU-development, but it is not an easy case. Best and warmest wishes”.

Hans-Verner Lollike, Denmark

“It has been an interesting month, what with World Radio Day and the recent protests against the Romanians governments unpopular criminal code policy. As many other RRI listeners had commented, these demonstrations had received a lot of coverage on UK TV news over many days, and it was great to see people standing up against something that they didnt like, and interesting to hear what many individual protesters had to say during TV interviews. It couldnt have been much fun standing out there for so long at this time of year, especially with recent temperatures, so well done to them, its always a good idea to keep the politicians in their place, as they love to walk over us if we let them. One thing that no one else seemed to have commented on which I thought was well worth a mention, was RRIs coverage of the demonstrations, which was very impartial, and no one could ever accuse your station of being a government mouthpiece. It was great to see the editorial freedom that you had, and to hear balanced comments on what was going on there, so well done to all at RRI staff for standing up for the truth rather than the politicians. Best regards to all at RRI till next month, it will be nice when Spring finally arrives again as Ive had quite enough of the winter cold, and Im just glad that we never get temperatures as low as some of the ones that you have experienced during the winter”.

Alan Gale, United Kingdom

“I like to listen to your one hour broadcast on Sundays. The mix of news, features and music is very enjoyable and informative. I always enjoy the jazz music and the listeners’ letters. It is great to know that there are still many people all over the world listening to shortwave using radios old and new. The staff and presenters at RRI do a wonderful job and your efforts are enjoyed by many people. Thank you all very much”.

Ian Evans, United Kingdom

12 March 2017
This week in your letters

“I noted on the news that farmers in Romania have had a difficult time due to the weather. In Sweden, the summer weather has been rather rainy and windy with very few sunny days. Weve been four times to the beach so far, which certainly is not what had hoped for. I understand it has been too hot in Romania. I would also like to thank you for the diploma received last month.

(Christer Brunstrom, Halmstad, Sweden)

Japans rainy season has been over, and my favorite season, summer, came. The highest temperature in my hometown exceeds 30 degrees Celsius every day. Still, I love summer. What is the highest temperature of summer in Romania?

(Sakae Onozawa of Yokohama, Japan)

“Interesting to hear that you have been suffering with the heat again this year, here, with the exception of the first week in July, it has felt like anything but summer, and the weather forecasts are even suggesting that in the next week, some of the rural areas could even have temperatures almost low enough for frost on some of the nights. What a difference a few hundred kilometres and living on an island surrounded by water and an unpredictable Gulf Stream can make. I was very interested in the feature about press censorship in Romania during the communist era, and wondered just how the lives of musicians had been affected during those days as well.

(Alan Gale of Whitworth, Lancashire, Great Britain)

“I had a pleasure of listening to your radio station on July 31st 2015. I was at my summer cottage and it was really nice to get a signal from Romania. Thank you very much for your program. It is great that there are countries in Europe like Romania still transmitting on short-wave. The web is absolutely not enough. At our summer cottage with no internet connection the only way to get a signal from a radio station is trying to catch it on air. Keep up the good work

(Kari Kivekas of Helsinki, Finland)

“ Please receive my sincere thanks for mentioning my letter in RRIs popular program ‘Listeners Corner. This does not only acknowledge by commitment to RRI, but also acts as a great encouragement for an ardent listener. My best wishes to all at RRI English Service.

(Jayanta Chakrabarty of New Delhi, India)

“Hello dear friends of RRI. As usual, I enjoy hearing all of your broadcasts and programs, listening every day and enjoy hearing about life, culture, folk music and politics of Romania. I thank you for the kind attention to my report. I sincerely hope that my report will be useful to you all at RRIs English Service.

(Sharma of Jharkhand, India)

13 August 2015
This week in your letters

“I noted on the news that farmers in Romania have had a difficult time due to the weather. In Sweden, the summer weather has been rather rainy and windy with very few sunny days. Weve been four times to the beach so far, which certainly is not what had hoped for. I understand it has been too hot in Romania. I would also like to thank you for the diploma received last month.

(Christer Brunstrom, Halmstad, Sweden)

Japans rainy season has been over, and my favorite season, summer, came. The highest temperature in my hometown exceeds 30 degrees Celsius every day. Still, I love summer. What is the highest temperature of summer in Romania?

(Sakae Onozawa of Yokohama, Japan)

“Interesting to hear that you have been suffering with the heat again this year, here, with the exception of the first week in July, it has felt like anything but summer, and the weather forecasts are even suggesting that in the next week, some of the rural areas could even have temperatures almost low enough for frost on some of the nights. What a difference a few hundred kilometres and living on an island surrounded by water and an unpredictable Gulf Stream can make. I was very interested in the feature about press censorship in Romania during the communist era, and wondered just how the lives of musicians had been affected during those days as well.

(Alan Gale of Whitworth, Lancashire, Great Britain)

“I had a pleasure of listening to your radio station on July 31st 2015. I was at my summer cottage and it was really nice to get a signal from Romania. Thank you very much for your program. It is great that there are countries in Europe like Romania still transmitting on short-wave. The web is absolutely not enough. At our summer cottage with no internet connection the only way to get a signal from a radio station is trying to catch it on air. Keep up the good work

(Kari Kivekas of Helsinki, Finland)

“ Please receive my sincere thanks for mentioning my letter in RRIs popular program ‘Listeners Corner. This does not only acknowledge by commitment to RRI, but also acts as a great encouragement for an ardent listener. My best wishes to all at RRI English Service.

(Jayanta Chakrabarty of New Delhi, India)

“Hello dear friends of RRI. As usual, I enjoy hearing all of your broadcasts and programs, listening every day and enjoy hearing about life, culture, folk music and politics of Romania. I thank you for the kind attention to my report. I sincerely hope that my report will be useful to you all at RRIs English Service.

(Sharma of Jharkhand, India)

13 August 2015