At our school, pupils learn through play, workshops and observation – so much so that the day is over before you know it. This time the lessons brought a special encounter: the children had the chance to see real highlanders (górale), learn about their customs and costumes, and even taste oscypek cheese.
Our guests appeared in traditional costume. The photos show white trousers decorated with parzenice – a distinctive highland embroidery – and a ciupaga, a walking stick topped with a small axe head, long one of the symbols of highland culture. Some of the pupils were also wearing folk costume.
Oscypek is a smoked cheese made mainly from sheep's milk, shaped in carved wooden moulds and traditionally produced in Podhale – at the foot of the Tatra Mountains, in a region renowned for its attachment to its own dialect, music and dress. Today it is a regional product whose name is protected in the European Union.
In class, the pupils played the board game ‘Zakręcone G’ (‘Twisty G’), in which a spinner pointed to the next pictures. As they played, they learnt lots of words with the new letter and sound G – on the interactive whiteboard they put together words including ‘kogut’ (rooster), ‘góry’ (mountains) and ‘gołąb’ (pigeon). Learning through play is regarded as one of the most effective forms of early primary education. A boring day? Certainly not. More photos from the lessons can be seen in the gallery.
