# Starting a Polish club



## Louanna007

I would really like to start a Polish club at my school.  I was wondering if any of the Polish people knew any activities we could do to make it as awesome as possible.


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## Jana337

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Please recruit possibly many people, send them here, and show them this thread. WR forums will gladly be one of the hangout places of your club. 
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So.  Could you please tell us more about people who you hope to reach out to? Are there many people of Polish descent in your area/at your university? Will many of them speak some Polish? 

Jana


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## Louanna007

I know at least two people who speak Polish fairly well, and I know at least about 10 people in my class who are of Polish descent.


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## Thomas1

I think much would depend on what you are interested in; watching films or reading books could be a suggestion for those who want to combine learning with some sort of pleasure. 

You could also organize a trip for Poland. 

Tom


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## Louanna007

Can anyone come up with some cheaper or more community-intensive ideas?
I want the activities to be educational, but I don't want it to be boring.  Maybe some form of art/crafts, dance, folklore, etc?
This club would most likely meet afterschool in a classroom, not online.
Thomas1-any ideas for books that would be especially enjoyable?


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## Little_Me

Hey Louanna!
Maybe some word games would be fun? Or maybe you feel too 'adult' for that? I remember some games in school when I was starting with German, games we call 'kalambury': you write some words in foreign language (nouns, verbs, not too easy of course) on small pieces of paper and divide people into two teams. Then someone from every team draw one of the piece of paper and his/her task is to draw a picture showing thing that was written on that paper or try to describe it without using word written (of course even in your native language). The team get the point if they guess what was written on that paper. It was really fun, but of course such games are good only if people know this language at least a bit! 
I agree with Thomas, watching films is also a great thing to pick up some words and have fun at the same time! Maybe watching American films with Polish subtitles would also be nice and challenging? I thing it's better than reading books which can be not so interesting and 'stimulating', especially at the beginning of learning Polish.
Dances and folklore are perfect in my opinion but it needs more effort, don't you think? But if you live in Chicago or nearby, finding some Polish folklore bands or dancers probably wouldn't be so difficult! Maybe you could find some Polish people working in more organised groups (and interested in 'sharing' of Polish culture) near your place of living and try to invite them to your school? 
I don't know, hmm, it's not so easy, but that is really great that you came up with such idea!
Warm greetings,
Lil'Me


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## desponia

Louanna, I've got an offer for you? Would tou be inetested in correspondin with a group of children aged from 8 to 11? I know that you are probably much older but they would provide you with basic information about Poland and Polish culture and at the same you could practise Polish. In my opinion it can be really a great fun, for you and for my children as well


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## Thomas1

Louanna007 said:


> Can anyone come up with some cheaper or more community-intensive ideas?
> I want the activities to be educational, but I don't want it to be boring. Maybe some form of art/crafts, dance, folklore, etc?
> This club would most likely meet afterschool in a classroom, not online.
> Thomas1-any ideas for books that would be especially enjoyable?


You asked good questions Louanna007, it is, however, a little hard to answer them as you didn't give us the info on the age and level of fluency of the would-be participants of your club.

I was thinking for example of reading comic books, you have some text (not too much) and pictures; they can be a good tool as you read text and follow the actoins by watching the drawings so if the readers don't understand the text thay can try to make out the meaning from the pictures. Unfortunately, I don't know many of them that are really Polish (many was simply translated from other languages) but if I may give you a suggestion_--Kajko i Kokosz _or _Tytus Romek i A'Tomek_ (I have found some of the episodes of the later one on the Net). For more demanding people-- you could start to read Polish literature from, for instance, the post war period learning some vocabulary and finding out some information on Polish (and not only) history at a time, though this may turn out to be tedious or cumbersome work for some. Please, try to specify the issues I mentioned earlier. It would be good to know the thing I mentioned in my previous post--what you/they are interested in.


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## Louanna007

Sorry, I thought I had.  
Fluency would be minimal-and it's a high school setting.


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## Thomas1

Try out the suggestions made by me and other foreros and see which work with your students/colleagues. 
As for books, it only occurs to me what I did when learning French. I picked the books intended for children and I had (and still have ) really good fun reading them; their language was not very much complicated and could bring a smile upon a face of quite a number of adults. This worked with me and maybe will be of benefit for you too. Anyway, IMHO the most important thing is your true involvment and willingness to learn.

Tom


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