Ukrainian Students

in Polish Schools

Vocabulary

Video: Ukrainian Students in Poland

Transcript

They have been thrown into the deep end. Escape from war, and now a new school with a new language.

English class gives them somewhere to start.

Ukrainian Student, One: “I’m from Lviv.”
English Teacher: “Lviv? And Mariana.”
Mariana Srebrnicka, Ukrainian Student: “I’m from Kyiv.”

Mariana Srebrnicka, Ukrainian Student: “Everyone speaks a different language here. I would like to learn Polish. I’ve always wanted to learn as many languages as possible.”

Radek Pozarycki, Polish Student: “It’s nice to have new friends from another country. We can learn Ukrainian; they can learn Polish.”

Maksym Yatsenko, Ukrainian Student: “I would still like to have my things from home; but to live here. Here, everything is amazing. The school is nice, and there is a pool.

But I miss my dad.”

For now, everyone is focusing on getting to know each other.

Agnieszka Luczyk, Polish Student: “We Polish girls speak Polish. Ukrainian girls speak Ukrainian. If it’s easy, we understand each other. If we don’t, we finds someone to translate. In our class, we have Ukrainians who speak Polish, or we use sign language.”

Mariana Srebrnicka, Ukrainian Student: “I understand them, though not much. But it’s lots of fun with them.”

Everyday, more Ukrainian students apply. This year, there will be no tests, no grades for the Ukrainian children; they need to settle into their new lives, and learn Polish.

Dorita Rzasa, School Director: “We are going to hire a teacher who will teach Polish to the Ukrainian children using the Ukrainian language. At the same time, we will have an assistant teacher who will translate during other lessons.”

This school has sixteen new places to offer Ukrainian children. It won’t be enough. Polish schools are already bursting at the seams. And so far, for each Ukrainian refugee child who is registered for school, nine more are waiting.

Olena Yatsenko, IT Specialist from Berdyansk, Ukraine: “There was still sirens every night and every day. So my husband and I decided that I would go with the children to Poland, that I would work there to support them. So that they would feel safe.”

Not only are they safe: Maxym is in school and his sister, Viktoria, is in kindergarten.

Olena had never considered leaving Ukraine to go live somewhere else. Suddenly she is alone with the children, starting a new live in a new country.

Questions

Art, Painting, Ceramics. All the students in the video have returned from summer vacation. Is this correct or incorrect?

Singing, Music, Dance. In the classroom, were the students studying the history of Poland?

ABCs, Reading, Writing. Are the local students xenophobic? Do they welcome outsiders (foreigners)? Do the Polish and Ukrainian students get along?

Math, Arithmetic, Geometry, Algebra. Do the Ukrainian students love everything about their new town and living there?

P.E. (Physical Education), Gym Class. The Polish and Ukrainian students are completely different from each other. They speak totally different languages. Is this entirely true, mostly true, partially true, largely false or completely false?

Fairy Tales, Fables, Stories, Literature. All students at the school must take exams and be graded. Is this right or wrong?

Social Studies, Sociology. Will there be more, fewer or the same number of Ukrainian students in Polish schools? Are they coming mainly because they want to live in a EU country?
 
 
 
History. My school is (was) very homogeneous. Everyone is a local or native. Yes or no? Where there any foreigners, ethnic minorities or newcomers?

IT (Information Technology), Computer Science. Does everyone in school get along? Were there different groups or cliques?

English, French, Spanish. What can you say about languages, dialects or accents in your school? Are students taught in the national language or standard dialect?

Science, Biology, Chemistry, Physics. Is your school overcrowded? Do your school need more classrooms and teachers? Or is your school shrinking with fewer students?

Woodwork. What might happen in the future?

Auto-mechanics. What could or should schools, teachers and administrators do?