An e-learning platform for studying Polish, workshops on the culture of verbal expression, promotion of Polish culture and language through art – those are some of the projects aiming to promote Polish abroad that have been granted financing by the Polish National Agency for Academic Exchange.
The Polish National Agency for Academic Exchange (NAWA) has announced the results of the second edition of the Promotion of the Polish Language programme. NAWA financing amounting to PLN 1.2 million in total has been granted to 15 projects that will promote Polish language, history and culture abroad. The selected universities and institutes are: Maria Curie-Skłodowska University in Lublin, Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań, University of Bialystok, University of Warsaw, University of Silesia in Katowice, Institute of Literary Research PAS, Jan Dlugosz University in Częstochowa, Jesuit University Ignatianum in Krakow, University of Rzeszów, and Jagiellonian University in Kraków.
‘The objective of the Promotion of the Polish Language programme is to propagate Polish around the world and to promote knowledge of Poland’s history and culture among a wide group of foreign recipients. The rewarded projects will help raise the quality of teaching Polish as a foreign language, increase its prestige and help create a positive image of Poland worldwide,’ emphasises Dr. Grażyna Żebrowska, Director General of the Polish National Agency for Academic Exchange.
Most of the selected projects will be carried out in collaboration with foreign partners. For instance, the Institute of Literary Research PAS will carry out the project ‘Polish Literature without Borders. Polish Language and Culture Forum in Saxony’ together with a German partner – the Institute of Slavic Studies at Leipzig University. The objective of the project is to promote selected works of Polish literature, language and culture at Leipzig University, in Saxony and in the German language area. It is going to involve lectures in the form of articles interpreting works of Polish literature selected by students and lecturers of Polish Studies in Leipzig; remote language and literature classes at Polish Studies in Leipzig held by literary scholars and language teachers from the Institute of Literary Research PAS; translation of lectures from Polish into German by students of Polish Studies in Leipzig in the course of translation classes, as well as presentation of lectures by scholars from the Institute of Literary Research PAS at the ‘Forum of Polish Language and Culture in Saxony’ in Leipzig.
Jagiellonian University in Kraków in collaboration with Northern Illinois University from the US are going to carry out a project titled ‘Poland Sounds Familiar.’ It is addressed to students and lecturers of speech therapy at the School of Allied Health and Communicative Disorders. The chief objective of the project is to promote Polish language and culture among the American academic community. Particular aims are to make the participants familiar with the Polish phonetic and phonological subsystem, the modern social and cultural reality and elements of Polish history and to develop in them rudimentary communication skills in Polish that could be helpful in contact with children and parents with Polish background. The planned activities include among others preparing a selection of phonetic and communicative exercises and developing content concerning Polish reality and elements of its history.
Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań together with its Ukrainian partner – Alfred Nobel University – will carry out a project titled ‘We Teach Polish in Ukraine.’ The purpose is to prepare Ukrainian residents to act as mediators and ambassadors of Polish culture by means of a dedicated remote course. It will employ new communication technologies, videoconferencing, games and language quizzes. The project is going to have an extensive impact: thanks to a methodical preparation for their work, future specialists – teachers and ambassadors of Polish culture – interested in deepening their knowledge of Polish history and language will have a long-term influence on the increase in popularity of Polish in Ukraine.