Required Polish Language Courses
All summer students are required to take one Polish language course. Students complete a placement exam on-site to determine their level and are placed in one of the following courses. Courses taught in Polish are listed in orange.
BEGINNING LEVEL A1 – Introduction to Polish – Breakthrough (5) – Conducted in Polish
This course is designed for students who with no previous background in the Polish language. Students will increase their vocabulary and knowledge of grammar. Students should be able to read basic texts.
BEGINNING LEVEL A2 – Waystage (5) – Conducted in Polish
Students are taught to read texts with proper intonation and accent, learn basic grammar, and use Polish in its communicative function in a set of life situations. Using about 1,000 words, they can speak about themselves and the world around them.
BEGINNING/INTERMEDIATE LEVEL B1 – The Threshold (5) – Conducted in Polish
This course is meant for those who come to Poland as pre-intermediate students of Polish. After the course, they should attain a basic knowledge of Polish grammar and possess basic communication competence. They should know about 2,000 words of the Polish lexicon.
INTERMEDIATE LEVEL B2 – Vantage (5) – Conducted in Polish
This course is meant for intermediate students of Polish. The students are taught the structure of the Polish language and how to use it appropriately. This course prepares students to function in most everyday situations and to actively participate in conversations in Polish.
ADVANCED LEVEL C1 – Effective Proficiency (5) – Conducted in Polish
This course gives students a firm grasp of Polish grammar. Students are taught to function adequately in everyday situations and to participate in Polish conversations. On this level, specialized Polish is introduced. Students are prepared to speak and write on specialized topics, and to understand specialized Polish (e.g. lecture note-taking). It is assumed that students on this level should use about 6000 general Polish and 500-1000 specialized Polish words.
ADVANCED LEVEL C2 – Proficiency (5) – Conducted in Polish
Advanced students of Polish are placed in the Proficiency program. The program aims at teaching the students individualized linguistic behavior in all communicative situations and a full range of Polish language structures. The students are also taught to write longer essays and compositions. Achieving a full understanding of written and spoken Polish texts is an important aim of this curriculum.
Language of Instruction: Polish
Recommended US semester credits: 5
Polish Art: Past and Present
The development of Polish art since the 10th c. Special emphasis will be placed on the importance of Poland within Europe, including the formative effects of geopolitics on the development of Polish artistic movements, Polish church art, folk art, poster and architecture. In-depth art history lectures will be conducted both at the University and in museums. The course will be accompanied by a program of field trips.
Language of Instruction: English
Course Level: Lower Division
Recommended US semester credits: 2
Course Level: Lower Division
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Polish Culture: Lessons in Polish Literature
A presentation of some of the most interesting problems in the thousand--year history of Polish culture, with special emphasis on themes related to national existence. Literary masterpieces of the past and present, including poetry of the two Nobel Prize winners, Polish Romanticism, culture in a political context, the phenomenon of exiled culture, literature and totalitarianism, and other Polish culture will be discussed.
Language of Instruction: English
Course Level: Lower Division
Recommended US semester credits: 2
Course Level: Lower Division
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Polish Grammar
A series of lectures on the structure of the Polish language – its morphology and syntax, in English. The lecturer will let you know everything about the Polish grammar you always wanted to know but never had any occasion to ask.
Language of Instruction: English
Course Level: Lower Division
Recommended US semester credits: 2
Course Level: Lower Division
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History of Poland: From Kingdom to the Third Republic
A survey of Polish history from the Piast dynasty through the period of Jagiellonian rule, the time of the elected kings, 123 years of partitioned Poland, the 1920s and 1930s, World War II, the creation and functioning of the People's Republic, the collapse of the communist system.
Language of Instruction: English
Course Level: Lower Division
Recommended US semester credits: 2
Course Level: Lower Division
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The Jews in Poland
This course will make students familiar with the long and glorious history of Jewish communities in Poland as well as with the period from 1939 to 1945 (the Holocaust). Post-Holocaust history of the Jews and Jewish culture in Poland will also be covered, with emphasis on Jewish-non-Jewish relations and anti-Semitism, and recent revival of the Jewish life in Poland.
Language of Instruction: English
Course Level: Lower Division
Recommended US semester credits: 1
Course Level: Lower Division
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