The Artistry of Polish Children

When I first walked into the Cisie School this week I saw a beautiful display in the hallway of children's art. I have been meaning to take the camera all week in order to photograph it and did that today.

Above is a beautiful water scene that features the storks who spend their summer in Poland, along with photos of other birds.

Today the 4-6th graders from the school in which I teach in the morning were gone on a field trip. Instead we were asked to work with the younger children and I spent the morning in the kindergarten room. In Poland the class is called Grade 0 because the word kindergarten is associated with what we in the United States would call preschool. Below are two views of the kindergarten room.

 

With just a little bit of help these kindergarters were able to another volunteer and me their name and their age, in both instances answering in a simple sentence. We had flash cards and asked them to name animals, body parts, and clothing along with the colors of these objects. One card I had was of a zebra, an animal they all know in English because the Polish word is so close. When I asked them what colors are zebras they looked puzzled. The teacher whispered to me that they teach all the colors except black and white and so the children couldn't name the colors of the zebra. 

During the second hour the students sang several songs they use to learn numbers and vocabulary for family members in English. 

Meanwhile I was busy looking at the wonderful art on the wall. 

 When I see the insect even in the United States I think biedronka. 

The picture above is beautiful spring flowers. The picture below is done as a mosaic using small pieces of paper.

The three art pieces above were done by children 5 or 6 years of age. 

Somehow I think we give children in the United States a subliminal message that they cannot draw and they aren't artistic. I hope the Polish children are never given this message.