Bilingual materials for schools in the UK
Welcome to our bookstore dedicated to bilingual Polish/English children, parents and teachers. Our bookstore is dedicated to supporting bilingual education by providing high quality educational materials for Polish families and schools in the UK and in Europe.
Why support bilingual children
There are so many advantages of being bilingual. Research shows that being bilingual helps to concentrate better, solve problems, focus, multitask and show more empathy, apparently it also seems to protect against dementia. There are so many practical benefits – better job prospects, ability to understand diverse cultures better, not many people know that for example kids can take their GCSE and A-level exams in Polish as a foreign language.
‘Czytam i mówię po polsku’ means ‘I read, and I speak in Polish’ and our goal is to support parents and teachers of bilingual children by providing quality materials to help them to be fluent in speaking, reading and writing in Polish as a second language. The company is based in Leicester and was established in 2011.
We are working with over 200 Polish Saturday Schools in the UK and in Europe, and we are the main distributor of specialist Polish workbooks used in Saturday schools created in the USA by Malgorzata Pawlusiewicz. We are also supporting parents and teachers through our blog and Facebook page where we share useful advice and expert opinions on bilingual education.
We also provide parents with Polish books to support independent reading and writing at home. Our offer grows each year and we currently have over 800 titles on our website, including specialised workbooks for the Polish Saturday Schools, bilingual Polish / English books, classic Polish literature, poems and tongue twisters, fun learning (games, crosswords, colouring books and word searches) and materials to find out more about Poland.
How UK schools can support bilingual children
UK schools can have an important part in helping to support children in becoming bilingual. Becoming bilingual doesn’t just happen naturally, it takes a lot of hard work, determination and commitment. Whilst the main responsibility for this is with the parents and a growing number of Polish Saturday Schools, we believe that there are many things that the UK schools can do to support Polish children in becoming bilingual; having Polish materials as part of the school’s library, taking an interest in the child’s second language and finding positive opportunities for the children to talk about their bilingual skills and their second language (it could be as simple as a ‘show and tell’ or letting them explain the difference in the Polish alphabet), to name just a few.
As part of our role in promoting bilingual education, we are open to any ideas that you may have that would help engage with the Polish community in your schools, for example reading to the children in Polish.
If you are looking for specific books or recommendations, please get in touch to discuss your specific requirements.
I hope that you will find our offer interesting and if there’s anything that you would like to ask or suggest, please don’t hesitate to get in touch to discuss how we could support your school.