91ÁÔÆæ

PL

The Centre of Polish Language and Culture for Foreigners was established in 1994. Every year we organise one-year courses and summer courses of the Polish language, designed for foreigners and persons of Polish origin, currently living abroad. During the academic year, most participants are SOCRATES-ERASMUS students. Each year, our Summer School of Polish Language and Culture attracts many young people from all over the world.

The classes are taught by professional Polish teachers who have great experience in teaching Polish as a foreign language in multi-national and multi-cultural groups.

Teaching methods:

  • Our main goal is to develop students’ communication skills (both speaking and listening), while working on their writing skills at the same time.
  • The classes are taught in a very dynamic way. We want all the students to feel as comfortable as possible. We encourage them to speak, take part in simulations and in role-playing games.
  • Grammar information is introduced and revised on a regular basis, using oral and written exercises.
  • The teacher pays attention to students’ pronunciation and corrects their individual mistakes.

Polski o poranku (Polish in the morning)

Every day we give you the mystery of language on our . We invite you to a discussion about the Polish language:-)

Why Polish language?

MyÅ›lÄ™, że jÄ™zyk polski jest bardzo poetycznym jÄ™zykiem. Choć nie czujÄ™ siÄ™ kompetentny do wyrażania takich opinii, sÄ…dzÄ™, że jest to najbardziej poetyczny jÄ™zyk caÅ‚ego Å›wiata. Ja nie rozumiem, dlaczego tak dużo krajów nie mówiÄ… po polsku. Z mojego punktu widzenia wszystkie inne jÄ™zyki sÄ… zbÄ™dne. Nie mam żadnej wÄ…tpliwoÅ›ci, że w XXII wieku caÅ‚y Å›wiat bÄ™dzie mówiÅ‚ po polsku.

Fryderyk, student in Institut national des langues et civilisations orientales (INALCO) in Paris

Staff

Director
MaÅ‚gorzata Berend, Ph.D. – graduate of Polish philology at UMK, PhD in linguistics. She completed postgraduate studies in teaching Polish as a foreign language and postgraduate studies in programming and computer management. She worked as a lecturer at the Institute of Polish Language at UMK and at the State Higher Vocational School in WÅ‚ocÅ‚awek. As a teacher of Polish as a foreign language, she worked with the Polish Humanitarian Action and the Polish Community. Since 2016, she has headed the team of the Centre of Polish Culture and Language for Foreigners. 

Contact: malber@umk.pl 56 611-35-77

Lecturers

Monika GoszczyÅ„ska, Ph.D. – Graduate of Russian Philology at the 91ÁÔÆæ, PhD in literary studies, completed postgraduate studies in the didactics of Polish as a foreign language. She has worked as a translator, Russian language teacher and lecturer in Russian philology. As a Polish language teacher, she has also worked in other institutions, private universities, language schools in ToruÅ„ and non-governmental organisations (PAH, Emic). Lecturer at the Postgraduate School of Teaching Polish as a Foreign Language. She has been working with the Centre of Polish Language and Culture for Foreigners since 2017, where she teaches Polish language courses in groups of different levels. 

Contact: m.goszczynska@umk.pl 56 611-35-77

Anna Gleb-Giedrys, M.A. – graduated from NCU. She has been co-operating with our Center since 2017. 

Contact: a.gleb-giedrys@umk.pl 56 611-35-77

Dominika Mafutala-Makuch, M.A. – graduated from NCU in 2005, majoring in Polish Studies. She has also completed Postgraduate Studies in Integrated Pre-school and Junior Education at the 91ÁÔÆæ of Humanities in Szczecin. Her main areas of interest include semantics and teaching using the storyline method. Has authored several articles dealing with the semantics of lexical units connected with the notion of responsibility. She has been co-operating with our Center since 2008 and has also taught Polish as a Foreign Language at Kazimierz Wielki 91ÁÔÆæ in Bydgoszcz, at some private schools in ToruÅ„ and during the Summer School of Polish Language and Culture organized by NCU and the Polish Society for the students coming from Eastern Europe. In 2006-2008, she taught the rules of semantic correctness to the students of Polish Studies at NCU. She has worked as a Polish teacher in primary and junior high schools and co-operated with Adam MarszaÅ‚ek publishing house as one of the leading editors.

Contact: d.mafutala@umk.pl  56 611-35-77

Karolina Pluskota, M.A. – graduated from NCU, majoring in Polish linguistics and then completed her doctoral studies at the NCU Institute of Polish Language. At present, she works on her PhD thesis concerning synchronic structural Polish linguistics, entitled Inflectional and Syntactic Description of Impersonal Verbs in Contemporary Polish. Her main areas of interest include inflection and syntax of the Polish language, as well as the norms of language correctness. She has been working at Centre since 2007, and was its director from 2012-2016. She completed Postgraduate Studies in Teaching Polish as a Foreign Language at the Faculty of Polish and Classical Philology at the Adam Mickiewicz 91ÁÔÆæ in PoznaÅ„. In 2017-2019, she worked as a Visiting Lecturer at the Department of Polish Studies at Tokyo 91ÁÔÆæ of Foreign Studies. Upon her return from Japan, she engaged in various projects. She co-led the BLIÅ»EJ.PL project (2019-2021; NAWA Welcome to Poland), and is a coordinator of the university project (2021-2023; NAWA SPINAKER). Since 2021, she has been organizing the Postgraduate Studies in Teaching Polish Language as a Second Subject (Qualification Studies) for Polish teachers residing abroad, conducted at the Faculty of Humanities on behalf of the Ministry of Education and Science.

Contact: kpluskota@umk.pl 56 611-35-77

mgr Katarzyna Strehlke – graduate of Polish philology and Postgraduate Studies in Teaching Polish as a Foreign Language at UMK; teaches Polish as a foreign language and English. At UMK, she teaches semester and year-long courses as well as postgraduate courses. Coordinator of the Welcome CAFE , author of academic welcome packs "POWITAJKI" created as part of the "Welcome to Poland, welcome among us" project.

Contakt: k.strehlke@umk.pl tel. 56 611-35-77

Agnieszka Szolc, M.A. – graduated from WSP 91ÁÔÆæ in Bydgoszcz (polish philology), 91ÁÔÆæ of GdaÅ„sk (English philology) and Postgraduate Studies of Teaching Polish as a Foreign Language at UMK. She’s cooperated with our centre since 2015.

Contact: szolc@umk.pl 56 611-35-77

Justyna WiÅ›niewska, M.A. – graduated from NCU, majoring in sociology. Holds an M.A. diploma in Teaching English earned at the Teacher's College in ToruÅ„. Before she completed her Postgraduate Studies in Teaching Polish as a Foreign Language, she has worked as an English teacher in primary and junior high schools. She is now teaching Polish to foreigners and co-operating with our center. She is addicted to reading and loves to dance and ride her bike.

Contact: tyna.wisniewska@umk.pl 56 611-35-77

Co-operating teachers:

Marzenna Cyzman, D.Sc. — university professor in the Department of Literary Theory and Comparative Studies at the Institute of Literary Studies. She graduated in 2001 as the best graduate of the UMK Faculty of Philology, and received her doctoral degree in 2005 (her dissertation was honored with a distinction). She has been working with the Center of Polish Culture and Language for Foreigners since 2003; her specialty is communication classes. 

Contact: mcyzman@umk.pl

MaÅ‚gorzata GÄ™bka-Wolak, D.Sc. — head of the Department of Polish Language and didactic coordinator of the Faculty of Polish as a Foreign Language, for many years head of the Postgraduate Study of Teaching Polish as a Foreign Language. She has worked with the Centre of Polish Culture and Language for Foreigners since 1999, and was its head in 2006-2009. In 2001-2003 she worked as a Polish language teacher at the Institut national des langues et civilisations orientales in Paris. At the summer courses organized by the Centre, she gives lectures on contemporary Polish language and lecture courses, including Polish for specialized purposes. She has also worked on courses for repatriates organized by the ToruÅ„ Branch of the "Polish Humanitarian Action" Foundation, summer courses organized by the Kujawsko-Pomorski Branch of the "Polish Community" Association and Polish language courses for people from Ukraine. Academic lecturer. Conducts classes in descriptive and functional grammar of the Polish language, culture of language, stylistics, legal language and didactics of teaching Polish as a foreign language. She conducts research on inflection and syntax of contemporary Polish, legal language and forensic linguistics. She is the author or co-author of four scientific monographs and more than 100 articles, including several devoted to grammatical and methodological issues in teaching Polish as a foreign language.

Contact: mge@umk.pl

Michalina Koniuk, M.A. – a graduate of cultural studies at the 91ÁÔÆæ in ToruÅ„ and sinology at Jagiellonian 91ÁÔÆæ. She has been working with the Center of Polish Culture and Language for Foreigners since 2019..

Contact: michalina.koniuk@umk.pl

Emilia Kubicka, Ph.D. – holds a double M.A. (Polish Studies at NCU and Applied Linguistics at Adam Mickiewicz 91ÁÔÆæ, PoznaÅ„), a bachelor's degree in German and a Ph.D. in Linguistics. Since 2005, she has been teaching Polish as a Foreign Language during summer and semester courses organized at our Center. She was also awarded a one-year DAAD scholarship from Carl Von Ossietzky 91ÁÔÆæ of Oldenburg, Germany, where she taught Polish Cultural Studies. She specializes in teaching phonetics and listening comprehension. Apart from teaching at the Polish department, lecturing for the students of Postgraduate Studies of Teaching Polish as a Foreign Language and Interdisciplinary Postgraduate Translation Studies, she is also an editor working with historic and linguistic publications and a German teacher. She edited parts of the National Polish Language Corpus (www.nkjp.pl) and some entries of the "Great Dictionary of the Polish Language" (www.wsjp.pl). Her main interests include semantics and contrastive grammar (adverbial operations in Polish and German), as well as meta-lexicography and lexicography.

Contact: ekubicka@umk.pl

Anetta Luto-KamiÅ„ska, Ph.D. – obtained her Master’s degree at 91ÁÔÆæ in ToruÅ„, where she also received her doctorate in humanities in the field of language studies. She received her habilitation at the Institute of the Polish Language of the Polish Academy of Sciences. Her research interests include, above all, issues in historical linguistics, especially the language of the Renaissance era, theolinguistics, the discourse of the Renaissance religious polemics, the relationship between customs and the language, spelling and orthography in the historical-developmental aspect, as well as multilevel relationships between historical lexicography and knowledge about old Polish language. She has been working with the Center of Polish Culture and Language for Foreigners since 2021, where she develops her glottodidactic interests.

Contact: aluka@umk.pl

Aleksandra Walkiewicz, Ph.D. — graduated from NCU, majoring in French and in sociology, and completed her doctoral studies at the Institute of Polish Language. Her Ph.D. thesis concerned selected issues of comparative Polish-French grammar, mainly the semantic and syntactic factors influencing the use of tense and mode forms in certain types of French subordinate clauses. She has worked as a Polish teacher at our Center and in some private schools, and as a French grammar teacher at the Chair of French at NCU. She is also an English and French translator and interpreter. At present, she is working as a lecturer at the Chair of Polish Language at the Sorbonne 91ÁÔÆæ (Université de Paris-Sorbonne, Paris IV), teaching comparative linguistics and grammar.

Contact: aleksandra.walkiewicz@umk.pl

Kinga Wawrzyniak, Ph.D. – graduate of Polish philology at the 91ÁÔÆæ and postgraduate studies in teaching Polish as a foreign language, linguist. Since 2004 she has been teaching Polish as a foreign language in cooperation with the School of Polish Culture and Language for Foreigners at UMK. For twelve years she worked as a teacher abroad: in Slovakia, Bulgaria and China. In addition to lectures, she has taught linguistics, knowledge of Poland and lectures on Polish film. She is the author of a textbook for teaching Polish to Slovaks, "Polski na A. Part I," as well as articles on Polish language glottodidactics and Polish dialectology. Interests: Polish and world film and regional variation of Polish language.

Contact: kinga.wawrzyniak@umk.pl

Projects conducted by the Centre:

Teaching materials authored by employees and associates of the Centre