News / Schools in Poland to strike tomorrow [235]


They do; all good teachers self-assess and reflect.

For the rest of the time, the highly skilled teachers who make up the Schools Inspectorate will do just fine.

News / Schools in Poland to strike tomorrow [235]


'At the end of the day'? The whole point is that society as a whole takes care of education, health etc.


With well-organised school inspectorates, tehy certainly are.

UK, Ireland / No Poles Allowed! - Latest Polonophobic Outrage Out of Britain [660]


It is inded. It's also much the same in Polish cities; if anything people seem more distant from their neighbours in Warsaw.

News / Schools in Poland to strike tomorrow [235]


Many don't care at all, about exams, about education (since they generationally underachieved), don't have a book in the house and are trapped in a vicious circle. One reason we need the best universal free (and state supported) education.


Why trust those experts. Why trust educationalists, why trust universal free healthcare, why trust social services? Why trust anybody? After all, the third world manages well enough without.

News / Schools in Poland to strike tomorrow [235]


Yeah, right. Trust the money making 'free' market with health, education etc :-D


Yes, in a lot of places.

News / Schools in Poland to strike tomorrow [235]


It's very good if there are sufficient; to have a lower number spells disaster.


This shows the virtue of having an effective (and well-staffed) inspectorate.

News / Schools in Poland to strike tomorrow [235]


Remember that they have to write the lessons, mark assessments and a whole lot of other things; it is not by any means an cushy number.

News / Schools in Poland to strike tomorrow [235]


In the state system, teachers are also paid incrementally.

Payment by results is problematic, especially for schools in areas with social deprivation and those with a significant number of children who are less educationally able.


That's been suggested before and dismissed as unworkable.

Food / Which ingredients/vegetables/fruits/meats are nonexistent in traditional Polish cuisine? [125]


When we went there, there were cakes coming out every few minutes and people singing Sto Lat.

Loco Meksykana in Praga is/was excellent. Some unusual dishes.


There's a decent one on either Wspólna or Hoża (the western bits), and there used to be a couple of excellent Bulgarian restaurants.

Travel / Watch out for airport personnel stealing stuff on regional Polish airports. [64]

It's good advice.

Plus, if you've anything easily nickable in your checked luggage, bury it deeply; baggage handlers everywhere are notorious for opening bags and taking things out.

Food / Which ingredients/vegetables/fruits/meats are nonexistent in traditional Polish cuisine? [125]


Maybe the kind in shopping precincts; the same sort of thing that you'll find in such places the world over.

There's 'The Mexican', a small chain in Warsaw that is more of a Polish take on it (time for pol-mex!), plus another small chain that's much more authentic; there's one just off Rondo Wiatraczna.

Food / Which ingredients/vegetables/fruits/meats are nonexistent in traditional Polish cuisine? [125]


Both African and Caribbean cuisine exists in Warsaw, as does Brazilian.

Language / What do foreigners find the hardest part of Polish? [63]


That's how I did it; when you have to use it, it builds up from there.


Pinkett's interesting. I find Krashen uncomfortable though probably right, especially on the idiomatic roots of language.


In Poland, there's still the concept of prescriptive grammar which tries (though ultimately fails) to inhibit change. The Dutch draw a clear distinction between colloquial and written language; the Poles tend to regard the former as almost slang.

Language / What do foreigners find the hardest part of Polish? [63]


Chomsky and Krashen have both written a lot on this topic.

For what it's worth, I find that people learn in very different ways, to different degrees of fluency and accuracy (far from being the same thing). I've met people whose abilitry in a language has been impaired by trying to be grammatically accurate and also people who need that framework.

And of course an immigrant's way of speaking a language that they pick up while using is a very different animal to that of someone who learnt in language classes in their home country.

History / Poland and Muslims (Tatars and others). [81]

Merged:

Muslim Poles and their rich history

I found this to be a great article. If you haven't been to Kruszyniany, I recommend it. Podlasie at its nicest.


.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/muslim-tatars-patriots-practising-light-version-islam-180825075857594.html

Law / UK Citizen - Detox Centre Fine from Poland [26]


It translates as 'sobering up chamber'. Questionably illegal, a lady lawyer got a 10000 euro payout because she was over a limit but not disorderly.

Make sure when you pay that you quote the correct reference number. There's also no harm running it by the Irish Embassy in Warsaw (they're very helpful and approachable) to make sure the money's gone to the right place and that the matter's closed.

Law / UK Citizen - Detox Centre Fine from Poland [26]


It should be possible to do a bank transfer. If you take the letter to the bank they may be able to help. Otherwise, take a photo of the bit with the account number (no need for any personal details), PM me with it and I'll translate that bit to English.

[/quote]
In theory they could add interest, in practice they won't for a few days. Nevertheless Polish bureaucrats can be unpredictable and vindictive. Adding 20zl won't hurt.

Travel / Watch out for airport personnel stealing stuff on regional Polish airports. [64]


I've been through security at Polish airports literally hundreds of times (often several times a month) and have never seen or heard of anything like that.

Food / Which ingredients/vegetables/fruits/meats are nonexistent in traditional Polish cuisine? [125]


Yes; there's a lot of scope. If you don't have your own fruit in the garden or you're doing something out of season, there's no reason not to try something else from the shop.


I find that leek's used less in PL than I was used to back home.

Food / Which ingredients/vegetables/fruits/meats are nonexistent in traditional Polish cuisine? [125]

I'm trying not to ;-)

Food / Which ingredients/vegetables/fruits/meats are nonexistent in traditional Polish cuisine? [125]


Plenty of restaurants have it now, and all decent-sized supermarkets.

A friend of mine (with a small farm) near warsaw grows goji berries. He says they're the coming thing.

Food / Which ingredients/vegetables/fruits/meats are nonexistent in traditional Polish cuisine? [125]


Very big sellers in PL, probably more than anywhere else. I've never seen them in a sandwich though (fortunately).

Mixing sweet and savoury isn't something that goes down so well in Poland.

News / Schools in Poland to strike tomorrow [235]


A bit more than that for most jobs, certainly in education...

Food / Which ingredients/vegetables/fruits/meats are nonexistent in traditional Polish cuisine? [125]

Yes. It's still the staple food of DPRK and of course as the old saying goes, Russia too.

Food / Which ingredients/vegetables/fruits/meats are nonexistent in traditional Polish cuisine? [125]

There are certainly fusion restaurants in Warsaw.

Interesting about culinary continua. Some things like kielbasa, cabbage soup, kasza gryczana etc.are popular from Western Poland right the way to Vladivostok.

News / Schools in Poland to strike tomorrow [235]


I hope they do this. Civil servants are chronically underpaid in PL.

Food / Which ingredients/vegetables/fruits/meats are nonexistent in traditional Polish cuisine? [125]

Yes, some shops sell them.

Food / Which ingredients/vegetables/fruits/meats are nonexistent in traditional Polish cuisine? [125]


You can fill pierogi with anything (chilli con carne is nice) and there are in any case many traditional types, not just the three most common ones.

Feta and olive work well.

Food / Which ingredients/vegetables/fruits/meats are nonexistent in traditional Polish cuisine? [125]


One of my favourites. A friend in Śląsk makes it nicely.


I first had this in Dubai (lots of Russians there) and loved it.

Language / What do foreigners find the hardest part of Polish? [63]

It is a bit.

For ages, I used to mix puszcza and puszka, with amusing consequences while shopping...