Inauguration of the Polish ‘’Once upon the time’’ program in the Netherlands

On 6 April at the General Sosabowski Polish School in Brunssum, the Netherlands, the educational program ‘’Once upon the time’’ was introduced. This program is designed for teachers and children from Polish schools outside of Poland and its aim is to learn Polish history in an accessible and interactive way.

During the premiere of the program, the director Bożena Cichy conducted the first lesson on the basis of a package for students and the community of the Polish school. It was devoted to the period of the Middle Ages. The director said that ” Once upon the time’’ is great tool that allows children functioning on different language levels to learn about the history of Poland”

During the presentation of the program Beata Bruggeman-Sekowska, journalist, writer and founder of our Center of Central and Eastern Europe read a letter from the President of the Association ‘’Wspólnota Polska’’ (‘’Commonwealth of Poland ”) Mr. Dariusz Piotr Bonisławski addressed to the school community in Brunssum. In his letter, the President emphasized that: ” Teaching Polish history to children learning outside the homeland of their ancestors is a challenge. Raising and maintaining the sense of Polish identity, telling about the history of Poland, presenting difficult moments of Polish history to Polish children attending Polish schools abroad is extremely difficult. Especially that it should be presented in a language adapted to the perception of a bilingual child ”.

Beata Bruggeman-Sekowska presenting the letter

Students who attended the interactive lesson enjoyed it a lot and next week they will follow another class based on this programme.

From the left teachers: Agnieszka Gutowska, Bożena Cichy, Jolanta Kanar

‘’Once upon the time’’ was implemented thanks to the Association’s cooperation “Wspólnota Polska”, the Institute of National Remembrance and the Museum of the Origins of the Polish Army. The project was financed by the Senate of the Republic of Poland.

The package a manual for teachers ‘A guidebook to the history of Poland’ written by professor Włodzimierz Suleia, a textbook for children ‘Little guidebook to the history of Poland’ by Łukasz Malinowski, didactic guide for teachers, set of additional materials for conducting lessons, movies, pictures, quizzes and games. The programme was prepared in an accessible way for all the Polish children abroad, including bilingual children.