EVS in Pomiechówek

     Polish and the Origin of European Languages Have you ever wondered where does your language come from? Why do we speak so many different languages in Europe? Why are European languages so similar to one another, but at the same time W hy are others too different from the rest? And most importantly, who were the first ones to start speaking? Well, the answers to these questions were already solved in the eighteenth century by the British linguist and researcher William Jones, who during a visit to India noticed similarities between Sanskrit, Latin, Greek and other European languages such as the Celtic varieties spoken in Great Britain and Ireland. He collected his research in the edited volume The Sanskrit Language , in which he developed a comparative analysis that led him to find a common root in almost all European languages. This is how the term Indo-European was born, which designates a primitive language that was the origin of modern languages that goes from ...

Hi, it's Sara! ¡Hola! I'm Sara, the Spanish volunteer working in Pomiechówek's library this year. I come from a little city in the south of Spain called Badajoz. My town is on the border with Portugal so it is common to see Portuguese people in my city. Actually, you can cross the border walking haha. However, for the last five years, I moved to another town in the North, called Salamanca, where I studied English literature and linguistics and recently finished my master's in English culture and literature. Since I was little I've always had a passion for good stories. I especially enjoyed reading about myths and legends from different cultures. One of my favourite books as a child was a collection of volumes about Greek mythology. I think that was the beginning of all.  I like to think that my passion for folklore comes from the fact that I was born on the 31st of October, the night of Halloween. That is why I usually refer to myself as a Scorpio by soul because I...

Dear readers, My name is Leonor Guise Carvalho, I’m a volunteer from Portugal. I wanted to present myself a little bit, because I see that “openness” is what connect people and inspire one another! So, I can tell you that I studied theatre in my hometown Porto, mostly because I found out in theatre a space to express myself freely. I worked as an actress, as theatre teacher, producer and creator in Portugal and I also had a lot of different jobs, like a hostess, a promoter, babysitter, worker in the supermarket, secretary, and others, which gave me a lot of notions on how to work with people and in the knowledge of the world itself. So, by now, maybe you can see that I really like to work with people alongside with expressing and creating! So… how did I end up here in Pomiechowék? Basically, I was feeling like something was missing in my career path. Someone told me that, in order to have a joyful career, we should gather the dreams you had when you were a kid, and the aims you hav...

From polish children and english fairy tales - or how to teach English in kindergarten Hello everyone! It’s been a while, but I wish everyone a belated Happy New Year! As some of you may already know from the instagram page of the library,I've been going to the kindergarten to read English fairy tales to the children there for a few months now.  At first I was surprised by the request. In Austria, I learned my first English words at the age of nine in fourth grade of primary school. That's why I was amazed that children here in Poland are getting in touch with other languages at an early age, especially since it's much easier for younger children to learn foreign languages than when they are older.  So I asked myself - how can I teach English in kindergarten? The answer was not that complicated. For the reading I always tried to choose famous fairy tales, which the kids already knew, so it’s going to be easier for them to understand. Beforehand I always prepared some vocab...