Gazeta Wyborcza paper has published an article about our project on 25th January 2014. Katarzyna Reizer has written a wonderful entry about all the hard work we have been doing all through the school year.
How to raise language courage in your students
Passion for travelling, sentiment to postcard exchange and most of all English language, in which she loves to speak, made that an English teacher Karolina Duży found and unusual way encourage freshmen from technical and general school to learn English.
-I wanted to show my students that not everyone is fluent in English, and that in the beginning we all make mistakes which motivates to more intensified work. I wanted to raise language courage in them – says about her independent project “The world around us and we around the world” Karolina Duży, teacher in Zespół Szkół Nr 2.
-I have started by looking for teachers from different countries who would like to cooperate with me on various educational websites and Facebook. I have found 16 countries willing to write with our students – tells the teacher.
Young people writes in English. The new friendships are often continued on Facebook.
-They write about themselves, a bit about Rzeszow and about Poland. They mention e.g. our traditional dishes, famous people, or places worth visiting. A postcard from Rzeszow is attached to each letter. – says Duży and adds – We sent Christmas cards and wafer before Christmas.
Students from Rzeszów exchange letters with USA, Canada, Italy, Ghana, Romania, Russia, Ukraine, India, Brazil, Argentina, Japan, French Guiana, Greece, Turkey, East Java, and Reunion Island.
-Students from USA have sent us little souvenirs – stuffed animals, flags. We try to limit it just to letters and postcards from Rzeszów, because we finance the project from our private money – says the teacher.
Rzeszów’s students get also some information about how the rest of the world sees Poles. For example some Brazilians think that Europeans are rich and well educated.
-They know Wałęsa, John Paul II, or they’ve heard of “Solidarity” in other countries. Our students on the other hand, are amazed by the beautiful handwriting of students from Turkey or East Java. They must have calligraphy lessons there, they really have an exceptional handwriting – notes the teacher.
“The world around us and we around the world” project will end with printing a publication which will include information and pictures about each country the students have cooperated with.
-I hope that due to this project students will be willing to travel, that I will open them to the world. And most of all they will understand that English is very useful in life – adds Karolina Duży.