Ceremonial initiation of the first American Garden in Poland, “English Teaching” demo lesson and summing up of almost twenty-five years of running the program in villages and small towns – these are just a few items on the agenda of Polish-American Freedom Foundation Board of Directors special meeting with the Nidzica Development Foundation NIDA that took place at Kamionka near Nidzica on May 16, 2024.
“Cooperation of the Nidzica Development Foundation NIDA with the Polish-American Freedom Foundation for over twenty years means more than only unique the “English Teaching” program for more than 200,000 students and teachers all over Poland,” President of the Nidzica Development Foundation NIDA Krzysztof Margol said. “It means also many other initiatives and projects implemented thanks to funds granted by the PAFF.”
One of those projects was the Pottery Village near Nidzica where the special meeting of PAFF and NIDA Foundation representatives was held on May 16. The event was attended by: Andrew Nagorski, Joseph C. Bell, Prof. Alfred. B. Bieć, Angela Braw, Sara Gay Forden, Prof. Anna Fornalczyk, Jerzy Koźmiński, Stephen D. Mull, Sylwia Wilkos, Agnieszka Mazur, Joanna Lempart and others.
“The ‘English Teaching’ program has been changing the method of teaching English at schools at villages and small towns all over Poland for almost twenty-five years. I am privileged to have been coordinating ‘English Teaching’ and working for it under the aegis of NIDA Foundation since the very beginning,” program coordinator Justyna Kowalczyk said. “That allowed me to watch for over two decades how small schools change by creating or equipping language labs; and how teachers develop, become more professional, improve their teaching methods, become more available for small schools; and how Polish students at schools in villages and small towns change, get more and more equal opportunities as compared to their peers in cities, and their attitude to English change – from a school subject it becomes the language used for everyday communication,” Justyna Kowalczyk explained.
The participants of the meeting had an opportunity to see that change in practice during the demo English lesson conducted by Ambassador of the “English Teaching” program Agnieszka Kowalska.
A visit to the Pottery Village included of course a tour of a traditional Masurian pottery workshop and the Garden of Eden, where Krzysztof Margol showed the guests around three out of several dozen thematic nooks.
“The crowning point of Polish-American Freedom Foundation Board of Directors, Management and staff representatives visit to Kamionka near Nidzica was initiation of the first American Garden in Poland. You will find various American plants in that unique nook in the Garden of Eden,” Krzysztof Margol, the originator of that nook, explained.
“Together with representatives of the Polish-American Freedom Foundation, we start to build that unique in Poland green living proof of exceptional cooperation. You will be able to find dozens of plants characteristic for the USA landscape in that garden in the shape of the USA. Today we start with three trees, but soon we will invite you to admire many more,” Krzysztof Margol added.
To see you soon at the Pottery Village and the Garden of Eden!
