Lisnagarvey High School

Year 8 Polish Unit

We have introduced a unit of Polish for the Year 8 students as we recognize that they may have lots of opportunities to speak this language with their friends at school or in the neighbourhood. The unit consists of 4-5 periods of Polish during which children learn basic greetings, how to introduce themselves and how to ask how someone is. They also learn basic numbers (1-10) and colours. They do so by playing games and having fun, which is always a great stimulus for learning! Last but not least, they are taught some general knowledge about the country of Poland, for example its population, position on the map and some history. They are also shown numerous pictures from different regions of Poland, including the capital – Warsaw, the famous tourist destination Cracow and many other worth visiting cities as well as pictures of seaside, mountains or lake districts.

All in all, the aim of this unit is to give our students the possibility to learn about the country of their friends and help them gain some basic communication skills. We have discovered that our children really enjoy this as they have plentiful opportunities to practice what they have learnt. They also feel proud, confident and more ‘grown up’ being able to speak in a foreign language.