Class C2's first Saturday lessons were spent talking. Every pupil had the chance to tell the others about their holidays – where they had been, how they had spent their time and what they had enjoyed most. There was no shortage of interesting stories and holiday memories.
Next, the class agreed together on the rules for lessons and recalled the ‘magic words’ that help us to be nice, kind and polite to one another.
The following lesson brought a short revision of what the pupils had learnt in their previous class. The teacher was full of praise: the children remembered all the Polish digraphs perfectly – combinations of two letters that stand for a single sound: ‘ch’, ‘cz’, ‘dz’, ‘dź’, ‘dż’, ‘rz’ and ‘sz’. Mastering them is one of the key steps in learning to spell correctly, especially for children who also use English every day. The pupils consolidated this knowledge with specially prepared worksheets.
The class also began work on a new set book, ‘Akademia pana Kleksa’ (Mr Blot's Academy) by Jan Brzechwa. To start with, the pupils watched a short extract from an older film adaptation of the novel and – as the teacher reports – followed it with great interest. The film was a good introduction to the extraordinary, fantasy-filled world of Mr Blot. The story of a school that admits only boys whose names begin with the letter A has for generations been part of the canon of Polish children's literature.
At the end of the lessons, the class sent warm wishes to those celebrating their name days in August. It was – as the teacher summed up – a truly wonderful day.
