Learning Polish at Adam Mickiewicz University

sunbreakThreads: 22 Posts: 10 Joined: May 6, 08 ♀	Jul 20, 10, 04:08 #1
Has anyone taken the 3-week summer Polish course at Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznan? If so, what did you think of it?

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Jul 20, 10, 07:55 #2

To be honest, AMU doesn't have the best reputation when it comes to teaching Polish to foreigners. Most of the teachers are from Polish philology and don't necessarily have any special training in teaching Polish as a foreign language, they just don't understand some of the problems foreigners have and can't explain things in a way that foreigners can understand.

I haven't taken courses with them, but I known a number who have and weren't satisfied.....

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Jul 20, 10, 12:41 #3

I've heard the same thing, in particular, that the courses are geared entirely towards students and not for the "man in the street".

From what I know, the Polish philology department also has a very heavy focus on grammar - great if you want to study the language in depth, but useless if you want to actually learn it without being discouraged.

To be honest, Poznan is a rubbish place to learn Polish.

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Jul 20, 10, 14:14 #4

As an American I have lived in Poland for more than 7 years - and to be honest, Poznan wouldn't be the place to go.

I run a private language school in Cieszyn, and I teach Polish to lots of Koreans who work at an auto production plant near here. This is perfect for them to get around and start learning how to actually speak/understand Polish and move up from there.

You can come to my school in Cieszyn - or find a private language school which can deliver an intensive Polish language course for foreigners. It's important that it's "for foreigners" too - as Polish philology teachers don't really have a grasp on current methods of language acquisition. Know Polish, yes. Know how to teach it - not really.

Hope that helps mate

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Edited by: Olaf Jul 20, 10, 14:23 #5

skakig:

As an American I have lived in Poland for more than 7 years - and to be honest, Poznan wouldn't be the place to go.

- ha ha! And Cieszyn would be the place to go, right? 7 years of experience in Poland with what educaton [?], being a native English speaker, gives you better qualifications than philologists at university in your opinion? WOW, you are great!

skakig:

You can come to my school in Cieszyn - or find a private language school which can deliver an intensive Polish language course for foreigners. It's important that it's "for foreigners" too - as Polish philology teachers don't really have a grasp on current methods of language acquisition. Know Polish, yes. Know how to teach it - not really.

- Put this post to classifieds, because it is an advertisment (not convincing at all actually, after you've been questioning university teaching on your advantage...

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Jul 20, 10, 15:01 #6

Olaf:

7 years of experience in Poland with what educaton [?], being a native English speaker, gives you better qualifications than philologists at university in your opinion?

Why not? You could have gained a decent command of the language within 7 years, and you'll know what a foreigner needs in terms of language, much better than a philologist at university. Much of the knowledge of a Polish philologist is useless for teaching Polish to foreigners, the subtleties of Jan Kochanowski's language, for example,

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Jul 20, 10, 15:47 #7

Ziemowit:

and you'll know what a foreigner needs in terms of language, much better than a philologist at university

- I cannot agree. Being a native speaker gives you only an advantage in conversations. But grammar - not. Imagine yourself trying to explain to someone intricacies of grammatical issues of your mother tongue, then compare it with a languare you learnt (not acquired) - this will give you more of my views on this.

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Jul 20, 10, 22:25 #8

Neither a native speaker _or_ a philologist is a good teacher of a particular language for beginners unless they have some training or particular skills in teaching that language for beginners.

Native speakers with no training and philologists with no training in foreign language teaching can be very useful to learners (much) later on with more specialized kinds of tasks but in the beginning you need someone with a particular set of skills that neither is likely to have without that training. AFAIK the Poznan program doesn't realize (or care?) about that.

I've heard good things about the Łódź, Kraków and Toruń programs (Warsaw's also kind of not so great for other reasons).

I had a friend (pretty fluent) who went for some summer program in Cieszyn a number of years ago and they weren't that happy with the program (they tested at a lower level at the end than at the beginning). This is someone who was transcribing Marek Grechuta songs by ear and trying to translate the lyrics (for fun on their own) so they might not have found a level advanced enough.

madziaaa	Jul 12, 11, 23:06 #9
hey, if you are interested in learning Polish during private classes, I can help you. I graduated from Polish philology and also have studied at the University of Sydney, where I've been teaching students. Now I live and work in Poznan and I teach some students here. Please contact me if you are interested - madzia-77@o2.pl. Regards, Magda.

SzwedwPolsceThreads: 13 Posts: 1,915 Joined: Feb 21, 09 ♂	Edited by: SzwedwPolsce Jul 13, 11, 00:24 #10
I have heard that the university in Łodź is good. But that refers to the 1-year course I think.

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Jul 18, 11, 16:47 #11

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