Various education and school issues in Poland. Opinions, stories, controversies.

Managed to teach me a thing or two.
Finding materials that explore the right vocabulary and grammar is very hard.

Exactly. They're also something to have at home rather than just in class, to revisit, to reflect on etc. plus they all have workbooks, many have interactive online self-study materials tied to the scheme of work, videos in sequence and the newer ones have QR codes embedded.

Since different people learn in different ways it's important to go at it from different angles, and that is bloody hard if you have to make every lesson from scratch.

Plus, any given class might have doctors in who are very good at learning quickly together with people who left school at 16 with no qualifications and everything in between. And people with plenty of time on their hands as well as single parents with hard jobs.

Coursebooks have good graphics, a logical progression of learning and a wide variety of topics and type of activity. The material is also tied to the outcome of the course. Tried and tested over decades and have to be fit for purpose or they just don't sell.

A thread about St Patrick has been popular in the forum for a few days.
Polish schools also notice the tradition. e.g,, by displays, costumes, theatricals etc. Both in primary and high schools.

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It looks like a celebration of the green party.

Emerald, more precisely. :):):)

That's nice :) I especially like the pic where they've done some kind of project and there are photos of the beautiful coastline. How come I wasn't invited? ;)

I mentioned it at all coz this year a St Patrick corridor display appeared in our school, too. Other younger teachers of English took care of it,

Of course. Here is a photo showing a hand out with a map of Americas for a test in primary school - Polish students have to know all major ranges, lakes, rivers, flatlands and uplands.

Show us a primary school in US where Am students learn about the landform features of Europe. :):):)

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AI enters education!

What do I think of it? Well, it is helpful for weaker students who lack imagination and are unable to write a final exam text, either an email/blog entry or a longer essay/article/formal letter on their own coz they are completely devoid of ideas. And it isn`t the problem with their English, they aren`t able to write such a text even in Polish which is a real tragedy.

That is why I encourage those less proficient students to use AI ChatGPT site to have a nice text written. Later on they need to learn it - either my heart or by mind, whatever, and write it on a short exam in our class. Each year they take about 6-7 such text writing exams which I dutifully correct and mark. There is a chance that after writing two or 3 dozen of them before the final exam they will eventually find enough ideas in their heads to compose their own production in the time of trial.

As usual in May, today high school graduates sat their first matura exam - the Polish language. The event is widely covered in the media, topics are shown on sites with solutions, interviews with graduates and their parents, comments by experts, memories by celebrities or commoners who took exams decades ago are everywhere. Utter madness. But traditional madness in Poland.

The candidates had 240 minutes to solve the Polish language final exam paper at the basic level prepared in Formula 2023. It consisted of three parts divided into two sheets. In the first part of the first sheet, it was possible to score 10 points. The questions concerned, among others: to the texts "Time Management" by Richard Luecke or "Do you have the impression that time is passing too fast?" Hanna Gadomska . In the second one you could get 15 points. The questions checked understanding, among others: "Songs of Roland" and "Threnody X" by Jan Kochanowski .

The second sheet, which was the third part of the final exam, included writing an essay. There were two topics to choose from:
1. Rebellion and its consequences for a person
2. How does a relationship with another person shape a person?

High school graduates comment on the level of the exam they had to face on social media. On portal X, the overwhelming majority of opinions are that they are satisfied. "Surprisingly, it was simple for me. Strangely suspicious," wrote one of the Internet users. "Polish language high school graduates were lucky at this high school final exam. Simple essay topics and tasks, I think that anyone who devoted at least 30 minutes a week to learning should pass this high school final exam with at least 80%," wrote another.

There were many more similar comments. "I don't think it's possible to ask simpler questions." "Very nice essay topics." "God, thank you for this high school final exam. I cried unnecessarily yesterday." "The easiest high school leaving exam in the 21st century. Waldek Kiepski would pass it." "I envy high school graduates for having such easy topics."

Each year they report blunders or outright cheating at the exam:

According to Interia, one of the students published a photo of the exam on the Internet around 10 a.m. The head of CKE, Marcin Smolik, told the portal that the student's high school leaving exam had been invalidated. - The examinee brought his phone into the examination room and the supervisory team did not notice this. The examinee took a photo of the sheet along with his PESEL number. His exam is already invalidated, the head of CKE told Interia. - His final exams are over. This means he can still take exams in other subjects, but he will not receive a certificate this year. The case is closed, added Smolik.

I heard a comment on the radio: the guy failed two exams - in Polish and on intelligence. :):):)

Cardinal error is what graduates fear most at the Polish exam:

E.g, when you write in your essay that Macbeth killed Banco instead of Duncan, then you fail this part of the exam. Amasing!!

A teacher of Polish postulates abolishing such tragic consequences for cardinal errors as a too severe a punishment for students.

Students learn to write about literature in such a way as to minimize the risk of making a cardinal error. They avoid using proper names, especially the names and surnames of the characters, because it is easy to make a mistake.

Let me remind you that a "cardinal" error is a major error that entitles the examiner to disqualify the essay, i.e. to zero it. No points are awarded in the remaining parts, i.e. for literary and cultural competences, for composition, for language skills or for the correctness of notation. The high school graduate did not meet the formal requirements, i.e. he made a cardinal error, therefore he receives a zero for all work. It rarely happens, but the risk is still there.

High school graduates are very afraid of making a cardinal error, which is why they almost do not use the names and surnames of the characters, do not provide the names of places or any details from the required reading. They don't even learn it so as not to be tempted to use proper names in their essays. They would not use the names and surnames of authors and titles of works, but they have this information on the sheet. Thank God!

When during the lesson I asked them to tell me the name of Macbeth's friend (Banquo), the name of the murdered king of Scotland (Duncan), the name of the lord whose family Macbeth ordered to murder (Macduff), etc., the students asked me not to force them, because during the final exams they were all confused. will get confused and make a cardinal mistake. They want to remember only the name Macbeth and describe the rest of the characters descriptively, e.g. the lord who betrayed Macbeth, Macbeth's friend, the king of Scotland killed by Macbeth, etc.

Writing about literature by high school graduates turns into a parody of knowledge and skills. The main purpose of argumentation is to avoid and write in such a way that the examiner has nothing to criticize and does not find a major error in the work. This results in argumentative monsters. Therefore, students must be freed from the risk of cardinal error. Let no mistake, no matter how terrible, disqualify your work. CKE should eliminate the category of cardinal error immediately.

This year`s high school advanced English written exam was considered easy.

Check the grammar and vocabulary exercises:

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While the primary school leaving exam was said to be banal.

See the grammar and lexical exercises.

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In communist times, dyslexia, dysgraphia, dysorthographia and other didn`t matter at exams. Being kind-hearted as I am, I really pity Ironside as a student in the past. Poor him and other dyslexic students.

Today, most major disorders and impairments are acknowledged.

Check out various sheets of the same English exam for primary school.

Exam sheet for students without disabilities and students with idiosyncratic learning difficulties (OJAP-100-X-2405)

Exam sheet for students with autism, including Asperger's syndrome (OJAP-200-X-2405)

Exam sheet for visually impaired students_font 16 points (OJAP-400-X-2405)

Exam sheet for visually impaired students_font 24 points (OJAP-500-X-2405)

Exam sheet for blind students (black) (OJAP-660-X-2405)

Exam sheet for deaf and hard of hearing students (OJAP-700-X-2405)

Exam sheet for students with mild intellectual disabilities (OJAP-800-X-2405)

Exam paper for students with aphasia (OJAP-900-X-2405)

Exam sheet for students with motor disabilities caused by cerebral palsy (OJAP-Q00-X-2405)

Exam sheet for students with color vision impairment (OJAP-K00-X-2405)

For which State.
Do they realize that most States in America are larger than most countries in Europe with a broad range of climates ?
Do they know mainland America is 3000 miles long and 2000 miles wide with mountain ranges and deserts and swamps ?
What do they know about the Grand Canyon and the Florida Everglades ?
How about the Midwest plains or the Great Lakes ?

Fortunately, and thank Goddess, they don`t need to learn the particular features of each state. If they needed to, they would be able to enroll at most American universities already at the age of 15. hahahaha


I suppose those brighter ones do. :):):):) Less bright ones don`t care about such banalities. Australia is bigger than any American State - so what???


Looking at the map of Americas, let alone of the world, they probably realise that they are big continents. But they certainly don`t count the size in miles. Forget it. :):):)


They will learn about it in high school. Don`t be so impatient, johhny - give them more time. :):):)

As they say (especially in one episode of Star Wars) - there is always a bigger fish. So bragging about the size is useless. :):):) It isn`t the size that matters, remember! Ha!!!!

Exam sheets are modified for Ukrainian students.

Bobko, you know Russian. How about Ukrainian? Can you check if these instructions for primary school students at the final exam are written in proper Ukrainian or in Russian?

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Now I see that 'maj' in Ukrainian is 'traveń' which I love.... grass month! So cool!

I'm reminded of an herbal alcohol in Croatia called 'travarica'

you should learn Czech names of the months - they are all quite poetic (though May is... kvieten in Czech (ie should be e with hacek actually but I can't be bothered :P)

(well some are the same or very similar to their Polish counterparts - like 3 or 4)

Today is the summer solstice which Americans say is the longest day of the year.
The Europeans are quick to knit pick and say, "all days have equal amounts of hours in them."
This is a good example of the differences of speak in the two English speaking people.
Americans are referring to sunlight hours and everyone knows it except people who just like to argue to show their brilliance.
Sad, very sad to be so insecure.

@johnny reb
You OK hun?

Hey Barns, how is your day going today ? You o.k. ?

Noc Kupały in Poland.

There are some nice traditions that predate the arrival of Christianity.

Name three

What for?

You said 'the Europeans' - most of them are not native English speakers so who are you talking about?

The English speaking Euros like the Brits and the Irish understand what the solstice is. In Ireland 'the longest day of the year' as we usually refer to it is a big deal, as is the 'shortest day of the year' in December, the winter solstice.

As I suspected.


The Eurps here on this forum Who are legalist's.
I still love you all though.

Yes, we know. We love you too!!!