Towards the end of the 2025/2026 school year, Julian Tuwim's poem ‘Abecadło’ (The Alphabet) became the pupils' inspiration for learning through play:
Abecadło z pieca spadło, O ziemię się hukło, Rozsypało się po kątach, Strasznie się potłukło…
– Julian Tuwim, from the poem ‘Abecadło’
Julian Tuwim (1894–1953) was one of the most important Polish poets of the 20th century and the author of poems that generations of children have grown up with – from ‘Lokomotywa’ (The Locomotive) to ‘Ptasie radio’ (Bird Radio). The word ‘abecadło’ itself is an old name for the alphabet.
Over two lessons, the pupils searched for the lost letters of the alphabet and put them in the right order. They also played board games, dominoes, Dobble and various spinner games – each one linked to the Polish alphabet. The lessons were so interesting and exciting that the pupils would happily have carried on for ever.
The Polish alphabet has 32 letters, including nine with diacritical marks: ą, ć, ę, ł, ń, ó, ś, ź and ż. These do not appear in the English alphabet, which is why playing with the alphabet is a good way to help children growing up in Great Britain become familiar with them.
To finish, each pupil made their own keyring with the first letter of their name. All three lessons passed in an atmosphere of joy, creativity and learning, and at that point there were still three Saturdays to go before the summer holidays. More photos from the lessons can be seen in the gallery.
