Hello,

We have a wonderful Winter in Poland this year. It is not too cold but still very white. I miss only a big warm fireplace where I could sit and write my articles:)

I did not look for the inspiration for this weeks article for a long time. I used to meet many Polish families living abroad whose children, despite their roots, could not speak a word in Polish... and sometimes actually did NOT want to speak it. I was wondering what caused their negative attitude towards culture of their ancestors. I realised they simply did not feel it was their culture anymore. They missed the bedtime stories and all the legends I learnt at school, they never got to know ‘Mr Inkblot’ and never sang ‘Little Beans’ songs. All the best ways of learning Polish culture, that is non formal education, they missed because of leading different life than they would back in Poland. They lack the knowledge that children in Poland automatically gain in everyday life.

Polish culture learnt abroad has certainly different dimension than the one gained when living in a country. But we can create opportunities and provide experience that a child would have in Poland. Think about numerous stories, legends, songs, traditional carol songs, movies and poems... they can all be the source of love for Polish culture and language. In my latest article I provide some tips on how to use it...

Polish culture for children
Gaining knowledge on the country we do not live in is a hard task. As one does not have permanent contact with a given culture, the learning process is much slower. Therefore, it is the best idea to provide experience of the culture already in childhood.

Read more on Polish Culture site at BellaOnline.com.

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Feel free to forward this newsletter to anybody you feel would be interested in Polish Culture. In case of any questions or advices feel free to email me:)

Many greetings from snowy Poland!

I just looked through the window... it is amazingly beautifully white!!!

Barbara Swiech, Polish Culture Editor
http://polishculture.bellaonline.com