Description of activities
Polish schools have participated in Gift a Poem campaign for many years. This year, 23 member schools sent in reports of the Gift a Poem campaign. In preparation for the action, teachers in many schools devoted Polish language lessons to Zbigniew Herbert and his work, and together with students listened to a lecture about the poet given by Prof. Paweł Próchniak, the originator of our campaign. This year, Zbigniew Herbert’s poems were transcribed even in kindergartens (attached is the poem ‘Two drops’ from Kindergarten 409). The poems were rewritten during lessons in classrooms, during activities in school libraries and in various other settings. In one kindergarten, parents were invited to collaborate, rewriting the poems themselves, and having their children illustrate them. In a report from I High School in Bialystok we read: “Transcribing a poem by hand with someone special in mind, to whom we will give it or read it, makes the heart beat faster and creates a chance to reach into the core of meaning of the poem. The very personal gesture, discernible in the handwriting, the choice of writing and drawing tools, and most importantly the choice of the literary text itself, became a remarkable asset of this campaign. We participated in it in Polish lessons, as well as trying our hand at translating poetry, in English lessons.” The beauty of the campaign is that the poems are presented to a wide variety of people, people close to the students such as their colleagues, teachers and parents, but also to older people such as retired teachers, residents of care homes and hospital patients. Often, students give the poems to people who work at their schools or cooperating institutions, this way showing their gratitude and respect for their service. Poems have also been sent to schools abroad.
Schools involved
- I Liceum Ogólnokształcące im. J.I. Kraszewskiego in Biała Podlaska
- I Liceum Ogólnokształcące im. Adama Mickiewicza in Białystok
- II LO im. Adama Mickiewicza in Ciechanów
- Szkoła Podstawowa im. Janusza Korczaka in Czerwieńsk
- The American Elementary School in Gdynia
- I LO im. Jana Kasprowicza z Oddziałami Dwujęzycznymi w Inowrocławiu
- II Liceum Ogólnokształcące im. Cypriana Kamila Norwida w Jeleniej Górze 8. Prywatne Liceum w Józefosławiu
- VIII Prywatne Akademickie Liceum Ogólnokształcące in Kraków
- V Liceum Ogólnokształcące in Lublin
- III Liceum Ogólnokształcące im. Wł Broniewskiego in Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski
- Specjalny Ośrodek Szkolno-Wychowawczy im. Kawalerów Orderu Uśmiechu in Prudnik
- Szkoła Podstawowa im. kpt. Stanisława Betleja in Przewóz
- Zespół Szkół Rolnicze Centrum Kształcenia Ustawicznego in Sochaczew
- II Liceum Ogólnokształcące im. Stefana Żeromskiego in Tomaszów Mazowiecki
- Kindergarten 327 „Kolorowa kraina” in Warsaw
- Kindergarten 422 in Warsaw
- Kindergarten 409 im. Króla Maciusia I in Warsaw
- Prywatna Szkoła Podstawowa nr 105 im. Astrid Lindgren in Warsaw
- IV Liceum Ogólnokształcące im. A. Mickiewicza in Warsaw
- Zespół Szkół Ogólnokształcących nr 5 in Zabrze
- Szkoła Podstawowa Nr 21 im. Karola Wojtyły w Zespole Edukacyjnym Nr 3 in Zielona Góra
- Liceum Ogólnokształcące im. S. Banacha in Żagań
