Poland

Having the war behind

In March 10 participants travelled to Poland (Kraków). Apart from Portugal, we travelled in comfort, by train, without changing.

Our two Social College students worked in the home for seniors, the biggest one in Kraków. In that place English nearly disappeared among the silent clients, but their mentor was a local English-speaking music therapist and a famous local musician. Other than their job with seniors, he involved them in the help for Ukraine.

Our "pre-schoollars" including a boy (both the Pedagogical College and the Upper Secondary Pedagogical School) were teaching in two kindergartens, in two groups of four. Both kindergartens were multi-lingual, so British English was common here, even French, German and Polish. English could be fluently spoken to the parents and children at the same time, which was a great bonus, compared with Portugal. Our participants felt very relieved, they like their jobs and you could fell very positive atmosphere and energy here.  

We followed the current situation, at the train stations we mingled among the mothers and children beaten down by the war suffering and the long journey. Our first experience with the impact of war...in Bohumín the refugees concentrated and they started to fill the trains to our country. Nonetheless, everything went so well.

Getting to know the kindergartens in Cracow

We visited the Polish city of Kraków, within the project Erasmus+ from March 13 - March 26 2022. During the two weeks we had a chance to see the amazing historic centre and the most known and spectacular sights, we ale went to see the famous salt mine of Weliczka. We came back impressed and enriched with great work experience.

We worked in two kindergartens. Half of us attended the Trilingual nursery and international kindergarten in Cracow (International trilingual school of Warsaw). This is a tri-lingual private kindergarten in the cente of Cracow. Children learn three languages here - English, French and Polish. For each language they have a teacher who is a  native speaker. English and French cover about 40% each, Polish covers 20% of  the curriculum. There are two classes, one with the very youngest children and the other with children from 3.5 to about 6 years old. We were in the older children's class, where there were 12 children in total. Some of the children were already fluent in all three languages and were able to move from one to the other fluently. They were able to communicate with us in English. The teachers took turns, one in the morning and another in the afternoon. The lessons, all activities and communication were in one of the languages, depending on which teacher was there at the time. The classroom was decorated and equipped somewhat differently than we are used to, they had a smaller selection of toys, the decor was geared more towards teaching.

In the morning, the children gradually came in and were allowed to play as they chose. Then they cleaned up their toys and had a snack after 9:30. This was followed by some guided activities (didactically targeted activities in the language). Then, when there was still time left before lunch, the children could play. Around 12:00 lunch was served, followed by spontaneous activities. After the second hour, the children were given soup. Then it was either a walk outside for the most part (we went to a park or playground where the children could play), or there was another block of guided activities. Around 4 o'clock the children had their snack and then were allowed to go and play. At five o'clock we would leave. Once a week a teacher comes to the kindergarten for speech therapy, it is done in Polish, it is like a minimal speech prevention lesson. They also have one music lessons once a week, but there is no piano in the kindergarten, they only have Orff instruments.

There are definitely differences between their pre-school education and Czech pre-school education. So we were in a private kindergarten, so their education system may be different from the state one. As far as the daily routine is concerned, they don't have morning circle or morning exercises, they don't go to bed after lunch, sometimes it was obvious on some children that they were tired in the afternoon. The controlled activities were very much educationally oriented, they were more focused on the children's mastery of the alphabet, counting, colours, shapes etc. For example, the children were rewriting the alphabet, writing numbers, but I missed games (other than spontaneous play by the children) or more creative activities. It was evident that the kindergarten was mainly focused on the children learning the languages in question.

We were amazed at how young children can learn and master other languages. We tried to get involved and help where needed, doing as we were told. It was definitely an enriching experience to put into practice and a great experience that we will fondly remember.

Nely

A Home for seniors in Cracow

Dom Pomocy Społecznej w Krakowie

  It is a facility for the elderly, also for the mentally and physically handicapped. The clients are not separated and live together in coexistence.

  The home provides 24-hour care. In Poland they try for a more homely and friendly approach between staff and clients, for them they are residents not clients. What I found most fascinating was the freedom of the residents compared to our facilities. They were able to move very freely and always just said at the front desk that they were going somewhere in ours there are rules and different procedures for that.

  The staff of the home consists of: primary care physician, psychiatrist, chaplain, psychologist, nurses, caregivers, occupational therapy instructors, therapists, rehabilitation workers, social workers, nutritionists. Residents have specialist medical care and benefit from trips to rehabilitation camps co-financed by PFRON.

  The facility has been divided into four buildings with a large garden with a variety of spaces for spending time together (gazebos and quiet corners), each with an accommodation section (rooms 1-2-3). The big difference with us is that the price per room does not vary according to the locations. For us, a room for 4 is the cheapest and a room for 1 is the most expensive, it's all about privacy, but if we're honest with ourselves there is no such thing as the concept of privacy in the homes, but we talk about it anyway because clients have a right to their privacy.

  Each building contains rooms for different types of therapy for example music therapy, art therapy, physiotherapy, occupational therapy even the home includes a carpentry workshop, dance and world experience room, culinary workshop, cafe, hair and beauty salon, chapel, mini gym. And of course, a library with access to daily newspapers and day rooms. There is also a guest room that each client can use to meet with their family or friends.

  The home has its own kitchen and dining room, but what I liked most was that the home includes a drop-off window for the homeless. It's a good use of the surplus food that is left over. In our home, it gets thrown away or given to the pigs because there are rules that, while nice and well-intentioned for some part, you can see that they were devised by someone who has never worked in a direct service home.

  I really liked the fact that their activation programming is very flexible and spontaneous. The way it works for us is that on this day and at this hour we do this and that. In Poland it was more in the form of, today is lovely we'll go for ice cream.

  In Krakow I enjoyed it very much it is a beautiful city and a diverse culture. Their methods are different in some ways to ours and I think it would be good to learn from them.

Jana