POLAND Poland officially The Republic Of Poland is

POLAND

Poland officially The Republic Of Poland is stituated in the heart of Europe, bordered by Germany, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Ukraine, Belarus, Lithunia, Kaliningrad Oblast and Baltic See. Area: 312, 679 square kilometres Population: over 38. 5 mln people Official language: Polish Capital: Warsaw

Flag and Coat of arms

Warsaw is the capital and the largest city of Poland. It is located 260 km from the Baltic sea and 300 km from the Carpathian Mountains. It’s the 9 th most populous city proper in the European Union with its over 1, 5 milion residents. The area of city covers 516. 9 square kilometers.

Cracow is the second largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. The city dates back to the 7 th century. It was Polish capital from 1038 to 1569. There are over 800. 000 people of people living in Cracow. The area of city covers 327 kilometers square.

Wrocław is the biggest city in western Poland. At a various times it has been part of the Kingdom of Poland, Germany, Prussia and Bohemia. It’s population in 2011 was 631, 235 making it the fourth largest city in Poland.

Copernicus Science Centre in Warsaw Science interactive museum for everyone

The Warsaw Uprising Museum in Warsaw Dedicated to the Warsaw Uprising of 1944

The Mazurian Lakeland One of the most famous lake discritcts In Central Europe.

The Wieliczka Salt Mine near Cracow It was built in the 13 th century, one of the world’s oldest salt mine still in operation.

The Tatra Mountains They are the highest mountain range in the Carpathian Mountains.

The Auschwitz. Birkenau State Museum in Oswiecim It is a memorial and a museum. The German concentration camps from World War II.

Polish Culture Polish culture is related to its more than 1, 000 years of history as a country in Central Europe. Since its inception, for many centuries it overlaps with influences from Western Europe, especially Germany and Italy, and Eastern Europe and the Middle East.

Polish cuisine • The most popular Polish dishes (all are also popular in neighboring countries) include: dumplings, cereal, noodles, cabbage, stew, soup (barley soup, beetroot soup, sour soup, chicken soup, with sour cherries), a choice of cabbage and potatoes, bread (rye bread, wheat), pastries, vegetables, fruit (apples, pears, various berries, currants), cottage cheese, and all kinds of meat (especially pork, chicken and beef), prepared in various ways, and to a lesser extent marine and freshwater fish. The specific Polish dessert is faworki, gingerbread and donuts. • A popular drink is tea (usually black), which is drunk until recently, mainly in glasses, often with a slice of lemon and sweetened with sugar. Tea came into Poland from England shortly after it’s appearance in Western Europe.

Sport in our country • The most popular sports in Poland are football, volleyball, slag and winter sports. The European Football Championships were held in 2011. • Polish volleyball players were European Champions, World Champions and Olympic victors and for the year taking place in our world Championships in this sport. • Polish speedway riders are World Champions. • Justyna Kowalczyk Polish cross-country skiing is World Champion and Olympic Champion

Polish Folk Art is a symbolic realm Polish folk culture. It takes diverse forms in terms of social groups and ethnographic region. Each region of Poland has different traditions, folk dances, costumes and fun associated with various holidays.

Types of recreation in Poland Ways of spending free time • Relaxing activities : watching TV, reading books, magazines, sleeping, listening to music, going to the cinema, theatre, museum, concerts and art exhibitions, taking pictures, surfing the net, playing computer games, hanging out with friends, keeping a pet, cultivate the garden, play a musical instrument, painting • On the move: going fishing, going for a walk, travelling, sightseeing, going by the river, lake, at the seaside and to the beach, going to the mountains, • Doing sports: jogging, football, basketball, handball, hockey, volleyball, tennis, swimming, cycling, dancing • Extreme sports: scuba diving, rafting, caving, paragliding, motor racing, skying, rollerblading, martial arts, horse riding

Relaxing activities A lot of people in Poland prefer safer and not risky leisure activities. Polish teenagers are sociable and like taking up new hobbies.

On the move There are some people who don’t want to stay in one place. They like to be on the move. Polish families spend free time together in this way.

Sports Polish people love being active. Even kids are interested in sport. People in Poland enjoy team sports, as children, they learn how to cooperate with others from their early childhood.

Extreme Sports There are brave people who like risky sports. POLES look for new adventures !

EDUCATION IN POLAND

Since the Reform of 1999, compulsory education in Poland starts at the age of five or six for the 0 class of kindergarten and six to seven years in the 1 st grade of primary school. The law requires that children complete one year of formal education before entering 1 st grade and do so by age 7. At the end of 6 th grade when the students are 13, they take a compulsory exam that will determine to which lower secondary school (Middle School/Junior High) they will be accepted. They will attend this school for three years for grades, 7, 8, and 9. They then take another compulsory exam to determine the upper secondary level school they will attend.

There are several alternatives from then on, the most common being the three years in a high school or four years in a technical school. Both end with a maturity examination, and may be followed by several forms of upper education, leading to Bachelor (the Polish Bologna Process first cycle qualification), Master (the Polish Bologna Process second cycle qualification) and eventually Ph. D (the Polish Bologna Process third cycle qualification). The system of education in Poland allows for 22 years of continuous, uninterrupted schooling.

• The grading is done every semester (twice a year), not just once in a school year. Depending on the subject, the final grade may be based on the result of a single exam, or on the student's performance during the whole semester. In the latter case, usually a point system, not the 2– 5 scale is used. The points accumulated during the semester are added and converted to a final grade according to some scale. • As a failing grade means merely having to repeat the failed subject, and can usually be corrected on a retake exam (and in some cases also on a special "committee exam"), it is used much more liberally, and it is quite common for a significant number of students to fail a class on the first attempt.

GRADING SCALE • Annual (semester) assessment of the classification of classes ranging from Class IV elementary school, established in stages according to the following scale: Excellent – 6 Very Good – 5 Good – 4 Satisfactory – 3 Allowing – 2 Insufficient - 1

THE ANNUAL EVALUATION OF THE CLASSIFICATION OF BEHAVIOR: Examplary Very good Good Correct Inappropriate Reprehensible

FOREIGN LANGUAGES • Students in Polish schools typically learn one or two foreign languages. Generally, the most popular obligatory foreign languages in Polish schools are: English – 67. 9%, German – 33. 3%, French – 13. 3%, Spanish – 10. 2%, Russian – 6. 1%, Italian – 4. 3%, Latin – 0. 6%, and Others – 0. 1%.

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