Made in Poland Festival 2012

The Made in Poland Festival is back ,and this year the line up is as inspiring as always.

Check out their website: http://www.madeinpolandfestival.co.uk for a comprehensive list of events.

 

 

MADE IN POLAND FESTIVAL 2012

Culture Kitchen

When: Saturday 13th Oct from 11am till 2pm
Where: The Beacon Community Centre, Fenham, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE4 9PQ
A great way of meeting interesting people over a meal. A professional cook from Krakow Restaurant with teach you how to prepare two typical Polish dishes and a dessert. Be quick! Number of places is limited to 12. Cost: £10, contact us on madeinpolandfestival@gmail.com for more details.

Children’s event: Who are you? I’m a little Pole. When: Sunday 14th Oct from 1pm till 4pm
Where: Toy Cafe, St. Matthews Church Hall, Summerhill Street, Summerhill Square, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE4 6EL
Event for children. Parents welcome! Let’s spend the afternoon playing, singing and having lots of fun. We will bring you closer to Poland.
Organiser: Multicultural Organisation Challenger

Dress the Poetry
When: Saturday 20th Oct from 12.00 till 4pm
Where: City Library, Charles Avison Building, 33 New Bridge Street West, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 8AX
Dress the Poetry – live music and poetry with Silver Belles, Graham Moffit, Jamie Adams, Simon O’Byrne.
Video animations and poems performed by Tymoteusz Sułek;
Fairtrade fashion show organised by Asia Lompart-Chlaściak;
Cakes and poems created by Barbara Kulikowska;
Special guest from Warsaw – poet Juliusz Erazm Bolek.
Organiser: Grażyna Winniczuk

Exhibition of drawings and paintings
When: Saturday 20th Oct 2012
Where: City Library, Charles Avison Building, 33 New Bridge Street West, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 8AX
Anyone can enjoy good humour – the exhibition of the drawings by Szczepan Sadurski and of the paintings of Polish artists in the North-East of England.
Organiser: Kasia Bobrzak

Polish short films When: Sunday 28th Oct 2012, 6pm
Where: Krakow Restaurant, 2-6 Shakespeare Street, NE1 6AQ
Polish short films. A unique opportunity to watch Polish 'shorts' that appeared as part of the Play Poland Film Festival.
Film Mountain
Droga mistrza/The Way of the Master, dir. Kamil Krukowski, Poland 2010, 12'
Twist&Blood, dir. Kuba Czekaj, Poland 2010, 32' (Silesian)
Drwal/Lumberjack, dir. Paweł Dębski, Poland 2011, 15'
Tajemnica spowiedzi/Secret of Confession, dir. Agata Jagodzińska, Poland 2012, 9'
List/Letter, dir. Jakub Janz, Poland 2011, 13'
Bałagan, czyli mnogość punktów widzenia jako przyczyna zaburzeń komunikacji interpersonalnej/A mess, meaning a multitude of perspectives as a cause of interpersonal communication disorders(musical), dir. Bartosz Kościelniak, 37'
Tickets: £6 (one ticket for two events).

Monika Lidke’s concert
When: Sunday 28th Oct 2012, 4pm
Where: Krakow Restaurant, 2-6 Shakespeare Street, NE1 6AQ
An unmissable concert in Newcastle! The incredibly talented jazz musician, Monika Lidke performing in Polish, French and English. An evening you won't forget!
Tickets: £6 (one ticket for two events)

Play Poland Film Festival in Sunderland
When: Friday 9th Nov 2012
Where: Studio Infinite, 17 Nile Street, Sunderland, SR1 1EY
An exhibition of Polish film posters and screening of Polish shorts
Mobile New Horizon Festival
Mask/Maska, dir. Quay Brothers, Poland 2010, 24' (Se-Ma-For)
The Work of Machines/Praca maszyn, dir. Gilles Lepore, Michał Mądracki, Maciej Mądracki, Poland 2010, 38' (MML Produkcja)
The Lost Town of Switez/Świteź, dir. Kamil Polak, Poland 2010, 20’ (New Europe Film Sales)
Esterhazy, dir. Izabela Plucinska, Poland 2009, 25' (New Europe Film Sales)
There will be a tasting of Polish delicacies.
Organiser: Daniel Krzyszczak and ICOS


In cooperation with: Play Poland Festival, ICOS, NEPCO CIC, Culture Connect, Pegaz, Fundacja Młodej Polonii, Multicultural Organisation Challenger, Sunderland Black & Minority Ethnic Network, Vistula in Cumbria, NECS CIC
Media Partners : The Northern Echo, Polska audycja NE1fm, Polnews, 2B Magazine, Polish Radio Bigos, Emito, Magazine 'Emigrant', Portal 'Londynek', Polish Radio in Londyn ORLA.fm, Portal Kobieta w UK, Portal POLEMI, Portal Informacje24, Polska Chata, Portal Cumbria.pl, The Independent
Main Sponsor: Camps Solicitors
Sponsors: 'Polskie Smakołyki' in Sunderland, Polish shops Małgosia’s and European Foods, Kraków Restaurant, Nasze Targowisko, PLGB Accountancy and Taxation Services
Coordination of the Festival: Daniel Krzyszczak i Danka Kudłacik
madeinpolandfestival@gmail.com

Book: Countries - Poland

Wayland Books Popcorn series is a set of books which aims to introduce younger readers to the countries of the world.  The Popcorn series is written in conjunction with a literacy consultant and so contain simple sentence construction which helps to build readers' confidence. This also makes the series ideal for those who have English as their second language.

Poland (2010), a recent title in this series, is written by Ruth Thomson. Themes covered in the book include, Where is Poland? , The Weather, Shopping and Sport. Readers are also provided with a few essential Polish phrases and instructions on how to make a ‘Polish papercut’ (which are said to be traditionally used by Polish women to decorate their homes). I know these little decorations as ‘paper snowflakes’.

The book offers a short fact about Poland on each page which I really enjoyed, so for example, people in the Polish countryside sometimes keep bees in straw beehives, the white of the Polish flag means peace and the red symbolises bravery and strength, and there are more than a 1,000 lakes in Poland.  

If you’re interested in buying this book it costs £10.99 in hardback edition (ISBN: 978 0 7502 6304 7)

Alternatively Newcastle Libraries and Information Services carry copies of this book on long term loan.

Also, if you visit the series website: www.waylandbooks.co.uk/popcorn you’ll find lots of downloadable educational resources for children including worksheets which correspond with this book series.

Book: Moving to Britain from Poland

Book recommendation: Deborah Chancellor, Moving to Britain from Poland, Franklin Watts: London, 2008 (photographs by Chris Fairclough). ISBN: 978 0 7496 7857

The Franklin Watts ‘Moving to Britain’ series includes the title ‘Moving to Britain from Poland’. This is a useful book for Polish families as it is designed to help children understand their new lives and remember the traditions of their country. In ‘Moving to Britain from Poland’ 11 year old Karolina was born in Bytom and has spent the past three years living in the south of England. She is photographed in her new hometown, with her family, at school and going about activities she enjoys. The book includes a few key phrases in Polish and a glossary and index of words to help simplify the book for younger readers. There is also a short fact file on Poland and some suggestions for further reading about Polish culture on the Internet. Karolina is shown enjoying preparing pierogi for the Christmas Eve meal and looking at cards on her name day with cousin, Igor. This book would make an excellent brief guide for any young child from Poland who is currently getting to grips with life in the UK.

More about the Franklin Watts Moving to Britain series can be found here: 
http://www.franklinwatts.co.uk/CITIZENSHIP-AND-PSHE_Books_MOVING-TO-BRITAIN_Series_26387_57540.htm

Northumbria University Polish Language Research

Below is an advertisement by colleagues at Northumbria University looking for participants to take part in a language study. Please do feel free to contact them for more details or to take part.  Best Wishes, Rachel

"The Department of Humanities at Northumbria University is conducting a study comparing the linguistic performance of native and non-native speakers of English. We are interested in recruiting Polish volunteers to participate in the study. The study consists of six short multiple-choice tasks and takes about an hour and a half. Volunteers will receive a £15 love2shop voucher (redeemable at thousands of retail outlets) as compensation for their time. If you would like to participate, please call 07733085095 or e-mail cogling@unn.ac.uk.

The purpose of this study is to explore individual differences in native and non-native speakers’ knowledge of English, and whether these differences are related to their language experience and abilities. The results will be analysed to find out which areas of language are most difficult for different speakers. As we are interested in looking at a varied sample of the population, we are recruiting people from all walks of life. You will be given three language tasks: “sentences and pictures” (where you will be asked to choose the picture that goes with a particular sentence), “familiar phrases” (where you will be given sets of phrases and asked to choose the one that is most familiar to you), and a multiple choice vocabulary test.  You will also be asked to complete a spatial reasoning task, an author questionnaire (where you will be asked to identify familiar authors), a language learning task (where you have to try to work out how to say simple phrases in a foreign language), and a short questionnaire about yourself. Your participation in the study is entirely voluntary and you can withdraw at any time if you don’t want to continue. Your taking part in this research will be kept confidential, as you will be allocated a participant code that will be used to identify any data that you provide. You will also be making a valuable contribution to scientific research on how people learn language.

Wydział Nauk Humanistycznych Uniwersytetu Northumbria serdecznie zaprasza Polaków do wzięcia udziału w badaniach mających na celu porównanie zdolności językowych między obcokrajowcami i native speakerami. Ochotnicy bedą mieli za zadanie uzupełnienie sześciu testów wielokrotnego wyboru. Łączny czas trwania badania to około półtorej godziny. Chętni do wzięcia udziału w tym przedsięwzięciu zostaną nagrodzeni bonami na zakupy love2shop o wartości 15£ do wykorzystania w tysiącach sklepów na terenie Anglii.

Wszystkich zainteresowanych prosimy o kontakt pod numerem telefonu 07733085095 lub adresem email: cogling@unn.ac.uk.

Projekt będzie miał na celu zbadanie indywidualnych różnic w poziomie znajomości języka angielskiego pomiędzy obcokrajowcami i rodowitymi obywatelami Wielkiej Brytanii. Dzięki tym badaniom będziemy chcieli udowodnić, czy te różnice wynikają z nabytych osobistych doświadczeń w używaniu języka i własnych zdolności.

Rezultaty badań zostaną poddane analizie, aby ustalić,które aspekty języka wydają się najtrudniejsze do przyswojenia dla danej grupy językowej. Jesteśmy dlatego zainteresowani pozyskaniem osób z różnych środowisk i o różnym stopniu znajomości języka angielskiego. W trakcie testu kandydatom zostaną przedstawione trzy różne „problemowe'' kategorie językowe do rozwiązania. Będą to: „zdania i obrazki'', w którym uczestnicy będą mieli za zadanie dopasować zdania do kontekstu znaczeniowego obrazków. W części „znajome zdania i powiedzenia'' ochotnicy zostaną poroszeni o wskazanie najbardziej„swojskiej'' i najlepiej kojarzonej przez nich formy językowej. Kolejne części zadania to ocena znajomości słownictwa na podstawie testu wielokrotnego wyboru oraz uzupełnianie luk w tekście najbardziej odpowiednim słownictwem. Na sam koniec poprosimy Was o rozwiązanie zadania „kwestionariusz autorski'', gdzie poprosimy Was o skojarzenie znanych nazwisk oraz zadanie dotyczące przyswajania języka, w którym uczestnicy zastanowią się nad poprawnością wymowy prostych fraz językowych. Po skończonym teście zachęcimy Was do wypełnienia krótkiego kwestionariusza osobowego.

Wasze uczestnictwo w badaniu jest całkowicie dobrowolne –w każdej chwili będziecie mogli zrezygnować z wypełniania testu, jeśli uznacie,że sprawi Wam trudności.

Uczestnictwo w w/w projekcie pozostanie anonimowe -każdemu z uczestników zostanie przydzielony indywidualny kod służący identyfikacji dostarczonych przez niego danych. Mam nadzieję, że nasi ochotnicy będą mieli swój pozytywny wkład do badań naukowych nad metodami uczenia sięjęzyka.

Tłumaczenie: Arek Alberciak"

The National Trust

In Poland outdoor pursuits are held in high esteem; camping, hiking and nature watching in particular. The best way to enjoy these pursuits if you have a young family and live in the North East, I am finding, is to join the National Trust.   

The National Trust is a UK conservation charity which was founded in 1895. It aims to protect the nation's heritage and open spaces. It protects historic buildings, gardens, parts of the coastline, farmland, woodland, archaeological remains, nature reserves and villages of historical significance and much more. The charity’s main concerns are about the environment, food, farming, transport and heritage.

Family membership to the National Trust gives you unlimited free access to 300 historic houses and gardens, and countryside and coastline spaces.  National Trust owned estates in the North East include Gibside, Wallington, Seaton Delaval Hall and Cragside. All have fantastic play facilities for children, with large playgrounds and lots of open space for running!  Gibside has the famous ‘Strawberry Castle’ children’s space: http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/home/view-page/item405111/248903/  - which is surrounded by fields and trees, and Wallington has a large playground in the woods: http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/wallington/things-to-see-and-do/for-families/ - which includes dens built from branches. Fantastic!

Also, membership to the National Trust allows you to park in any National Trust car park for free, and if you like visiting the Lake District this comes in very handy- lots of National Trust car parks there.

Family membership currently starts at £70 a year so to make it value for money go to a National Trust property (or playground! ) at least once a week. Most of the properties are well connected by public transport but check timetables especially for Sunday services which often see buses run infrequently.   

This weekend Gibside and Wallington are hosting various Jubilee related events, with lots of free activities for all the family.

For more information about the National Trust go to: http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk

Polish Chocolate in the Newcastle

I love all chocolate, especially Polish chocolate and especially the famous Nestle Princessa bar (which is much like the Nestle Kit Kat).I usually find one of these in the bottom of my stocking at Christmas as they’re truly my favourite.  I recently heard for a friend that you can buy Polish chocolate in the Grainger Market (though have never seen it sold there myself). Meantime, if you are looking to source a good Polish chocolate bar in the North East try our local Polish shops, Małgosia’s and Groszek for example; they seem to have a good supply of Princessa: Polish Shops in the North East Link

And for those interested in learning how to appreciate a little Polish chocolate, I recommend this very enthusiast little You Tube exert: You Tube Polish Chocolate Sketch

Websites to inspire creativity

If you fancy doing some creative activities with the kids this Easter, here are two excellent websites which will help you get some ideas:

The Imagination Tree: Creative play and learning in the early years http://www.theimaginationtree.com/

Kids Activities Blog: Quirky mums kids activities blog
http://kidsactivitiesblog.com/

And check out the latest edition of 2B magazine:
http://issuu.com/magazyn2b/docs/2b56

Or follow 2B magazine on Twitter: @2BNorthEast

Family Friendly Swimming in the North East

Swimming makes a fantastic family activity and here in the North East of England there are many incentives to help families swim for free, if not, for a very low cost.

If you live on the Newcastle side of the river, make sure you get a Fusion Card: http://www.activenewcastle.co.uk/fusion-scheme/ to take advantage of discounted swims.

If you’re living in or around Gateshead, get the Active Card: http://www.gateshead.gov.uk/Leisure%20and%20Culture/sports1/prices/activecard.aspx
for cheap family swims.

For those serious about their swimming, Swim North East is a listing site about all swim related fixtures in the North East of England, including information about awards and coaching children:
http://www.swimnortheast.org.uk/

Here are some swimming pools I would recommend for family friendly swimming in this region:

Gateshead Swimming Pool, Bensham
http://www.gateshead.gov.uk/Leisure%20and%20Culture/sports1/facilities/GLC/home.aspx
The facilities include three pools, including the 25m main pool, a sauna and a steam room. Children seem very welcome at the pool and staff kindly open the small pool for little swimmers, even when it’s very quiet.

Gosforth Swimming Pool, Gosforth
http://www.activenewcastle.co.uk/venue-results/view/gosforth-pool/
Two large pools, including warm children’s pool with inflatable session on Saturdays. Despite a recent overhaul the changing facilities are still a bit basic.

The Lakeside Leisure Centre, Killingworth
http://www.northtyneside.gov.uk/browse.shtml?p_subjectCategory=1224
Which includes a good 25 metre pool with 6 lanes. The water is chlorine-free and ozone sanitized. There is also a 13m x 7m, 30ºC learner pool.

Research Findings: Identity in Newcastle

Here's an Imap view of my image based research findings.
The project sought to locate expressions of identity in Newcastle city centre.
I hope you find it interesting,
Rachel

British children’s books, Polish illustrator: Pieńkowski

The bestselling Meg and Mog stories, first published in the 1970s and still a mainstay of British children’s literature today, were illustrated by Polish born Jan Pieńkowski. Pieńkowski came to live the UK in 1946 settling in Herefordshire. Design appears to have been in Pieńkowski’s blood as he comes from a family of artists and architects, and he showed a talent for poster and stage design when reading Classics and English at Cambridge. This inspirational Polish migrant helped pioneer the modern children’s pop-up book and will be remembered for his cult illustrations in the fantastically titled classic Meg’s Eggs (witches and dinosaurs, what more can a child want?!). I enjoyed Pieńkowski’s fabulous stories as a child and my son now reads them again, and again and again today. To find out more about Pieńkowski’s work visit the Jan Pieńkowski website: http://www.janpienkowski.com/home.htm where you can download a selection of his books and play some Meg and Mog themed games.