Santiago De Compostela, 7-10 May 2012

Bożena Wiercińska Foreign Language Department Coordinator ul. Chodakowska 50, Warszawa, tel , ,

 education system in Poland  key aspects – national policy  good practices  tertiary education - how my work is related  challenges

reform of the system of education - following types of schools in Poland:  6-year primary school  3-year gymnasium  post-gymnasium schools  3-year general lyceum  4-year technical secondary school  2 or 3-year vocational school  2-year complementary lyceum  3-year complementary technical secondary school.  post-secondary non-tertiary education  tertiary education

 educational priorities established by the European Union  the advantages of an early start in language learning  lifelong learning strategy  increasing mobility of young people across Europe  new expectations facing students and potential employees in the pluricultural and plurilingual environment  needs of bilingual and plurilingual families living in Poland  needs of national and ethnic minorities living in Poland ( Armenian, Belorusian, Czech, German, Kashubian, Roma Community etc.)

CLIL – 86 schools LANGUAGES:  English, German, French, Spanish, Italian SUBJECTS:  mathematics, physics, astronomy, chemistry, biology, history, world geography, IT Language Education Policy Profile , National Report

 European Union Programmes: Erasmus, Grundtvig, Comenius, Lingua  student exchange programmes  international subject workshops  total immersion programmes  networking  international projects  teacher and academic teacher trainings  teacher exchange programmes

1990 – transformation of the political system – changes of the higher education system  institutional autonomy  freedom in teaching and research  internal self-governance  non-state institutions established 2002 – 395 higher education institutions; state institutions, 270 non-state institutions

 Polish universities – long and standing tradition in glottodidactics  active role in promoting plurilingualism  university langauge courses:  incorporate CLIL methodology  promote student’s autonomy  self-education  lifelong learning

 established in 1996  languages taught: English, German, Italian, Spanish, Russian  language for specific purposes – tourism and hospitality  certified examination in business language proficiency at level B2  Erasmus programme  practical trainings in European hotels, regular contracts with Spanish organizations  currently increasing number of foreign students  demand for plurilingual education

 Poland sees itself as a monolingual society - a long tradition of plurilingualism among Poland’s educational and cultural elite  insufficient awareness of student’s autonomy and self – education – domination of one foreign language  lack of appropriate teaching materials  globalisation of social and economic processes  global and local economic and demographic issues;  decrease in enrollment  more attractive offer of state universities  limitations related to language course curriculum

 Chrząszcz brzmi w trzcinie w Strzebrzeszynie” – Polish tongue twister  Do not get discouraged: Tak – YesProszę – Please, here you are Nie – No Cześć – Hello Przepraszam – I am sorry, Dziękuję – Thank you Excuse me  ę, ą - nasalized vowels  Gender in names: -ski, -ska  Bożena Wiercińska. My husband – Marek Wierciński.

THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION DZIĘKUJĘ Bożena Wiercińska WSHGiT Tel