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.

Identity in the North East of England

To find out what life is like for Polish families in the North East of England I wanted to capture something about where expressions of Polishness might ‘fit in’ to the broader urban context of the North East.

I used the research method of urban ethnography, visiting various parts of the region, walking the streets, sampling foods, going into shops, and trying to get an initial feel for the area. I took notes and observations in a field notebook and then looked for expressions of identity in the fabric of the streetscape, photographing and so capturing my data in a visual format. Using the online photo bank Flickr® I was able to code, collate and analyse each photo, and build up a photographic database of expressions of identity in the North East of England.

The project began in February 2010 and was completed in January 2011. 700 photos are stored on the account and I now plan to use this data as part of my doctoral thesis.

The North East of England is generally thought of as one of Britain’s less multicultural regions. My research however, found a rich and exciting abundance of national, religious, cultural and ethnic expressions being played out in North East cities, suburbs, towns and villages.

Here are some examples of my research findings:

African-
http://www.flickr.com/photos/identityinnewcastle/sets/72157624800662396
Japanese-
http://www.flickr.com/photos/identityinnewcastle/sets/72157624745383884
Italian-
http://www.flickr.com/photos/identityinnewcastle/sets/72157624581384390
British-
http://www.flickr.com/photos/identityinnewcastle/sets/72157625062644586
Polish-
http://www.flickr.com/photos/identityinnewcastle/sets/72157624083384267

To view an entire collection of photos on expressions of nationality and culture in the North East of England, please go here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/identityinnewcastle/collections/72157624162771035