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[Music] We invite you to listen to episodes of the new

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podcast series "Polish Studies Newsletter Meetings" titled "Engaged Polish Studies."

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Polish studies are not a helpless observation of the world.

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They provide tools to find one's way in it, help understand it, and prevent exclusion

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and loneliness.

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This is the Polish studies we want to showcase through our project:

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Engaged Polish Studies.

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[Music]

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[Mariola Wilczak:] Good morning, everyone. Today we join you in Lutsk. On Monday, October 6th,

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the sixth Scientific and Methodological Panel

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, organized by the Lesya Ukrainka National University in Lutsk, began in Lutsk.

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Today, we are hosting Professor Svitlana Sukhareva and Associate Professor Natalia Tsiolyk

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from the Department of Polish Studies and Translation at the Faculty of Philology and Journalism of the

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Lesya Ukrainka Volyn National University in Lutsk.

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The first such scientific and methodological panel took place in November 2020

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, and since then, six such panels have been held.

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Participants in this year's meeting, including Professor Przemysław Gębal

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from the Institute of Applied Linguistics at the University of Gdańsk,

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emphasized your activity and the fact that the Lutsk center is a leading

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center in Ukraine when it comes to teaching Polish as a foreign language.

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He also emphasized that Lutsk can successfully participate in projects

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that are not limited to the Ukrainian context.

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Lutsk is also a very important place on our geopolitical map of Polish studies.

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We

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have also collaborated with your university and with you

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on numerous projects implemented by the Institute of Literary Research of the Polish Academy of Sciences.

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I would like to ask what,

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in your opinion, makes this event unique and special?

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[Svitlana Sukhareva:] Perhaps I should first say a few words about the idea that emerged

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around the time we started collaborating with the "Polish Studies Bulletin."

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We noticed we were moving in a strictly academic direction.

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We have various international conferences,

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we participate in various conferences, but the methodological and

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didactic aspects are still somewhat lacking.

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We learned a lot on the website, yes, on the "Polish Studies Bulletin" website

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. We also had the idea that we wanted

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to start something here in Volhynia, in Łódź, at the university.

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And we first called it the Polish Studies Autumn in Lutsk.

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Ms. Natalia might fill me in later.

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And it was also part of the fact that we had already had a Polish Studies Olympiad for a year,

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which Mr. Jerzy Kowalewski helped us organize, and it was very successful.

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We thought that perhaps scientists or practitioners would also

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want to join the Polish Studies Autumn in Lutsk.

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And so the idea arose that we needed to have such a scientific-didactic panel.

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The word "didactic" is quite appropriate here, and we named it from the perspective

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of Polish language teaching in secondary and higher education,

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so as not to alienate teachers from each other, not to alienate them in such a way,

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but to connect with various organizations and propose cooperation.

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We not only approached the "Polish Studies Bulletin," but also the

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Institute of Pedagogy of the National Academy of Pedagogical Sciences of Ukraine,

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the Volyn Institute of Postgraduate Pedagogical Education,

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and also Mr. Jerzy [Kowalewski] as the initiator of the Olympiad, the EduNowa Bilingualism Foundation.

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And now I'd like to ask Ms. Natalia

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to add to these memories. [Natalia Ciołyk:] These memories are very emotional,

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even though so many years have passed, because it all actually started in 2019,

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when the idea arose that we should organize a Polish language Olympiad.

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Why did this idea arise? Because Olympiads in English,

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Spanish, French—who knows which foreign languages

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​​our students are learning—have been held in Ukraine for years, Olympiads for students.

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There were no Polish language Olympiads at all, they didn't exist.

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Olympiads for students—yes, Olympiads for school students—these Olympiads have existed for years.

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Our consulate also organized such Olympiads, but there was nothing for students.

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We have a lot of graduates of Polish schools among our students

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, and my children come from school and say, "Ms. Natalia,

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I've been going to Olympiads all my life, I've participated,

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and here I am, a Polish studies student, no Olympiad. How can that be? There are no Olympiads?"

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Well, there are no Olympiads, and for many years now, everyone has had Olympiads in the fall, but

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there are no Polish language Olympiads. So we started thinking

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about the format of this Olympiad, and that's exactly what we were working on at the time,

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the Freedom and Democracy Foundation, where Mr. Jerzy Kowalewski worked.

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We approached them about organizing something like this,

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an Olympiad for students, and that's when the idea was born: it should

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n't be your typical Olympiad, where grammar, reading comprehension, and all sorts of traditional things are tested

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. It has to be something, well, specific,

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I don't know, different, because Polish studies students always do things a little differently than everyone else.

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And the idea arose that it would be Lutsk Dialogues with Polish Culture.

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The idea was that a student learning Polish shouldn't just learn

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Polish from textbooks; they simply need to be able to function normally

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in a language-rich environment. That is, they need to know how to ask for a key,

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for example, in a gas station restroom. They need to know

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why people laugh at a meme or an advertisement while standing at the same station.

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And not always, right? Our students, learning beautiful Polish from textbooks,

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don't always have time to pay attention to such things during their classes.

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At our university,

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the idea of ​​free-choice disciplines also emerged, and we introduced

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some language subjects related to culture and

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local studies. This also generated widespread interest among students

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, and that's why the idea arose to organize the first Polish language Olympiad in 2019

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, titled Lutsk Dialogues with Polish Culture.

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And it was a very unusual Olympiad. The first time it happened,

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we were a bit apprehensive because there were no travel or accommodation costs to cover

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. But when we wrote to our colleagues and friends

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from other projects across Ukraine, the rule was that only students

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from Ukrainian universities should participate, including students who were learning Polish,

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regardless of the department. Some were studying history, others were studying

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international relations, others were Polish studies, but were learning Polish in

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their respective fields. And that was precisely the rule: students from Ukrainian universities

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who were studying, who were learning Polish.

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We probably had over 80 applications that first year, and it was like this:

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at 4 a.m., someone was taking the train, who was taking the bus, to Lutsk. We had a group of

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pilots, students, who would meet our guests. We would make tea here.

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The entire floor of our university was dedicated to the Olympics, because somewhere

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we had to change, eat a sandwich, and prepare for the Olympics—

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not linguistically, but humanly,

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physiologically. And then there was this Olympiad in a huge hall.

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There were a lot of people, well, I don't know how to put it, a lot of them,

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because there were a lot of students, and each student had a lecturer with

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them. After the Olympiad, the students went sightseeing around the city. And here in this hall,

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where I'm sitting at the round table now, there were just piles

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of papers lying around, and we were checking everything. Mr. Jerzy

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was already in charge, and during this checking, during these

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conversations, the idea came up: listen, the students have something, and we're

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gathering as an Olympiad anyway. Maybe we should do something else

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for ourselves. Because everyone, while checking the Olympiad assignments, talks about how

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they learn Polish at university, whether as a first language, a second language, a

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third language, or even a choice of other languages. And I can actually say

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that the first such panel was held back then when

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the Olympiads were being reviewed, because the discussions lasted until the evening, because it really took us a while,

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because we had to check various things on paper

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and everyone remembered how the prizes were chosen,

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Because Mr. Jerzy arrived with a whole trunkload of various prizes. Everything was laid out

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from the floor to the tables on a tablecloth, a blanket

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, and the first person to score the most points would go out

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and choose their gift from everything on the floor

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and table. And it looked so interesting because everyone approached,

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and everyone's eyes darted around, wondering what they wanted, whether it was a book, a piece of candy, a

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pillow, or something else. It was so unusual, wasn't it?

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Because the organizers always think about who gets what for first place, second place,

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or third place, and so that also added a different atmosphere

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than a typical Olympics. And finally , it all started in 2019

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, because only because we were already in quarantine in 2020,

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we thought the quarantine was over and we'd all finally meet again.

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Unfortunately, this war of ours is still going on, but we hope, we're keeping our fingers crossed,

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that it has to end someday and that we'll finally meet again,

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not for these meetings or this online Olympiad, but in person,

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and that we'll build a pile of these gifts again and we'll choose

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who wrote for it. Because it was very—I don't even know how to say it, I'm saying,

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I still have these emotions, because it was—well, it was three days that were very abnormal

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in a human sense, because I wasn't actually at home. And here

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the dean told us: what have you done to the faculty? I mean, the whole floor was

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a Polish language Olympiad. But until then, everyone remembers it

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as an event that simply brings everyone together,

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because we know each other somewhere, we meet at various

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competitions or conferences,

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but precisely in such a way that the students connect with each other, the lecturers,

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the academic staff. You simply don't get such emotions anywhere else,

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and you don't get such conversations anywhere else either.

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Even these very intelligent discussions, these panel discussions, were also great,

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but these conversations among ourselves: how it works, how it works for you, how it works for us,

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and what it's like for us, what textbooks you use, and how this topic works, how you study it,

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how you learn it. And honestly, one very positive effect

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is that we formed a couple back then, because one of our students and a student

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from Kamianets-Podilskyi are a couple, and now they've been together ever since

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. And it all started when our boyfriend Dima went to the train station somewhere

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, just to meet a group of students

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who had come here for the Olympiad. I think that even though we have a couple of students,

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the effects are linguistic, educational, and academic,

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as well as family-related. Sometimes we joke about it, saying that when they have children,

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they'll be grandchildren of the Olympics.

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We hope this tradition will be maintained as long as possible.

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That's why we need to do it again, not remotely online, but

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in person, so maybe some couples will get along.

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Personal life is also very important to people.

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[Mariola Wilczak:] I wanted to ask, ladies, what differences do you see between this first meeting

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and this year's panel? What differences are noticeable?

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Because the fact that the world has changed, for example because of the war, is obvious.

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But how did that affect these differences in organization and conduct?

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[Natalia Ciołyk:] Well, if I may, because if anything, I'll tell you what I remember right away: for example, it's very sad

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because we have very active scientists and students from Zaporizhzhia.

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Unfortunately, in Zaporizhzhia, they have catastrophic power outages,

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with no connection options, and unfortunately, Zoom hasn't been working for a long time

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. That means they write on Viber that they can send an email,

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but it won't connect from any device, from any other location.

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It simply doesn't work. I don't know why. I think for some

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security reasons, it seems that connection to Zoom is limited.

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And they, for example, couldn't participate in the proceedings. Even today, if students

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have such a meeting on Zoom, the students from Zaporizhzhia simply

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won't be able to join, and we'll send them separately via email.

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These links to the tasks, asking them to complete them, are unfortunately things like that...

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Similarly, for example, at the beginning of the Olympiad, before writing, we always ask

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if everyone is in a safe place. In case of any threats,

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if necessary, whether to extend the time or simply

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restrict access to the Olympiad, and then, once the alarms have passed,

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reopen access to the Olympiad. We always ask this because, well, safety

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comes first. It's not like the Olympics are the Olympics, but everyone has to be

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in a safe place. And obviously, internet access

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isn't very good in these shelters. And you can't write about the Olympiad either. You also need to have

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some technical capabilities, and in terms of content, you'll be able to explore it.

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On the other hand, I want to say that it's not just a sad picture, not

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about war, coronavirus, and so on, but at the beginning, the first edition

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of this panel, it was more like an international conference.

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However, we were still moving in that direction for a while. Now, however,

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we've included a lot of students. If there's a language, literature,

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translation section, and we have a methodology section,

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students always participate. It's so cool, they're

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doing their theses, and they have the opportunity to simply have their work approved, because

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they can present a section, some studies, or

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part of their research. Well, you can try it out,

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right? During these panel discussions, you can answer questions

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, and then they don't have that fear anymore. Once they have these theses defended,

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it's already been practiced. This is also a very positive

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practice, isn't it? Because students haven't had exams for a long time now,

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because of the coronavirus and the war, the traditional ones, like before.

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For safety reasons, these exams are

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no longer available in their usual format, and children have simply weaned themselves

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from such public appearances, from such public presentations.

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Not everyone, because some people are simply embarrassed and afraid to appear anywhere, even though they know everything,

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have everything written down. "What if they ask me something, and I don't answer something?"

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And they're so scared, but here they can practice it, and

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even in their more serious presentations,

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they're calmer, they know it's nothing special, that these are just casual conversations

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, not to show anyone they're stupid

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or haven't learned anything, but just to ask, because maybe someone, even students,

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can research, describe, and read up on some very interesting things,

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because you can't handle everything, right? There's so much information these days

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that even some examples of literary texts

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don't always notice that something has been published in Polish,

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and students sometimes even figure it out faster than we do.

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[Svitlana Sukhareva:] And we have two more important things. First, a sponsor: the Consulate General

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of the Republic of Poland in Lutsk. And even if Mr. Jerzy doesn't have those gifts anymore,

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we always have some gifts and certificates for the panel participants.

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We encourage young people, so they're very eager to participate; they're looking forward to these days.

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We know a certain Mr. Yuri Prokopenko who joins us every year.

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He's very interested. We also know others who graduated from school,

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participated in the Olympiad, participated in the panel, and it turned out they were

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still students at the school. Then, as students, they participated, and one guy

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won first place, received the first prize, was thrilled

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, and still participates in the panel and the Olympiad. Secondly,

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besides sponsorship, there's an international dimension. So, while we started

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within our own circle, we're now trying to expand it.

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As you've noticed, Poznań, Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań, joined us this year.

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We also had a course there to improve our qualifications,

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for which we are very grateful to the lecturers who joined us

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during the plenary sessions of our panel. And as we mentioned,

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Professor Przemysław Gambal represents the Institute.

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Applied Linguistics at the University of Gdańsk and the Institute of

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Polish Language Development in Warsaw. We think this is already a significant achievement for us

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, and we'll continue to pursue this direction. That's why we always say

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we invite Polish, especially Polish, partners to collaborate.

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We're such a rewarding field where we can do anything, right?

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Publish textbooks, then some scholarly collections, hold various meetings,

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and also these projects. Maybe one day this Polish Studies Autumn will become a

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major project. We don't know yet.

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[Mariola Wilczak:] Yes, thank you very much. I'd also like to ask about the competition about knowledge about Poland. How is it going this year?

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[Natalia Ciołyk:] Well, maybe I'll tell you, because

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I'm in charge of the technical side, and the various submissions and technical side

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of getting the tasks into Forbes are my job. It works like this:

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if the first year, as I said, there were about 80 people,

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then it stayed more or less the same for several years, even though

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it was online now. The highest number was last year, with 108 people.

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This year, we have 93 applications, but the important thing is probably not so much the number of registered participants

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as the geography itself, because, as I said, we have geography from Ukraine,

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from Kharkiv, Zaporizhia, to Ivano-Frankivsk. So, in fact, Ivonofankivskyi,

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Lviv, and Polish students from various faculties are also applying here.

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At our university, they study in various faculties,

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including the history department and the international relations department, because our university

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is implementing double-degree projects, and many students are learning Polish,

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and they are also eager to participate in such an Olympiad.

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We do have a lot of applications at the moment. [Svitlana Sukhareva:] But these tasks are becoming increasingly difficult,

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because perhaps the Polish reality is a bit different than in these textbooks.

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Maybe that's why.

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[Natalia Ciołyk:] If someone is completing the Olympiad tasks so unspontaneously, so calmly,

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it's a good idea to take a closer look, because some of the hints for some questions

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are in the pictures for the tasks before... If someone is attentive and precise enough,

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they'll notice that some of the hints can be found in the test itself. It seems so,

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because I've already analyzed them, because every year I do these tasks,

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I mean the technical ones, from the technical side, because

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Mr. Jerzy Kowalewski always comes up with them for us. But I would say they're, well, not easier,

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maybe more like, there's less politics this year, because of things like that...

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not even politics, but things related to symbols and so on. Because if,

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for example, in the first Olympiad, there was a question about "is this the Polish coat of arms?" and

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it was the Polish coat of arms, only without the crown on the eagle, well, that was a problem for some people

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, because I understand the students are in Lutsk, and not everyone there might be familiar with it,

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and not every teacher tells us in class that there was a time

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when the Polish coat of arms didn't have a crown. Well, for example, it was a bit strange to me

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that there were so many errors in this question, whether it was a Polish

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flag, and it depends on how the flag is hung in the picture. I remember someone

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saying that even Poles, when they noticed a flag at Belweder Palace

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, called the city hall and said the Polish flag was hanging upside down,

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only to find out it was from some other country, Monaco, with

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the flag upside down, not the Polish one. Some Poles also don't really know

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whether it's red on top or white on top. Well, I'd say there are fewer such things.

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But this year, for example, there's a question about what paprikash (paprikash), a canned food, is made of

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, and whether it contains chicken, pasta, rice, or something else. It

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's definitely paprikash, but do they know what paprikash is made of? Because that

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's another question, does anyone wonder what paprikash is made of?

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So I say, it's not so much that they're more difficult, but perhaps

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they're more geared towards everyday life. There are fewer symbols,

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things related to borders, and other things, and more of those,

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I'd say everyday questions. And in my opinion, that's better, because when

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they go on various student exchanges, they go on various

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educational stays, well, things like that, because when I first come here

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For example, I'll go to Poland and pick up this paprika from a shelf somewhere in Biedronka, so

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you have to find out what it's made of. Then you'll know.

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[Svitlana Sukhareva:] And we can also say that

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we include these materials from previous Olympiads at the end of these scientific collections and say they're

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Olympiad results, some downloadable materials, so that next year

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there won't be any such questions. So you can still learn everything later.

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Natalia Ciołyk:] Well, yes, because the questions aren't repeated. Unless

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they're transformed somehow, maybe some images are repeated, but the questions definitely

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aren't repeated. [Mariola Wilczak:] Regarding the event, which is still ongoing,

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I also wanted to ask about the publications that resulted from these meetings.

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Could you tell me a few words about these publications, where

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they can be found, whether they're available online, or perhaps

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distributed to libraries somewhere? [Svitlana Sukhareva:] We have a partnership with the publishing house Weża-Druk

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, and every year we publish a collection of publications

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by our students and researchers, practitioners, and teachers in print

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, and every year they ask us when the printed version will finally be released. But now,

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during the war, it's not that easy when, for example, someone won't give us

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the printing costs, right? And so on. That's why we do it in different ways.

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We also have an electronic version now. We're posting this electronic version

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in our Volyn University Library repository.

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You can just type the name of our panel there, and we'll find it. And from previous years,

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all the electronic versions have already been deciphered

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, and we can find everything there. That's great. [Natalia Ciołyk:] Well, it's definitely good

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because you don't have to send it, spend shipping costs, or print it. And I have to say,

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I think this digital version is better, because even if I want to refer to

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a text myself, I can find it more easily on the computer than at home, somewhere among the books.

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Although I prefer the printed versions, I like having a book

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in my hands, but everyone is already accumulating a bit of this collection at home. So, I'm saying

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the electronic version is cheaper and faster. But

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we still have to return the paper copies to the library. These are the ones printed for libraries.

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And for participants, who submit materials for printing,

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everyone receives either a link to the library where they can download them,

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or we send a PDF of the electronic version for everyone to have.

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[Mariola Wilczak:] In that case, we'll provide a link to this electronic version in the episode description

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so listeners... [Natalia Ciołyk:] Right now, the link will be to last year's materials,

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to last year's materials, because after this conference, after this panel,

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it will all be collected in about a month, processed,

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edited, and then it will be ready by the end of November [2025].

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[Mariola Wilczak:] Oh, great. I'm very pleased, because on the first day

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of this general meeting, attention was also drawn to the substantive value of these materials

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and the high level of research you are conducting, so

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it's worth remembering that too. [Music]

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The "Engaged Polish Studies" podcast series was produced as part of the

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"Polish Studies and the Challenges of the Modern World" project. It was co-financed from the state budget

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under the Science for

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Society II program of the Minister of Education and Science. The project number is provided in the description [NdS-II/SP/0264/2024/01].

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We invite you to listen to subsequent episodes available on

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Spreaker, Spotify, and YouTube, as well as in the online "Polish Studies Bulletin."

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See you soon. [Music]