My children do not attend Polish school. It's out of our budget and just too far from our house. Because of that, I have to find other ways to teach my children about Poland. I also am trying to foster in them a sense of belonging to Poland, a connection.
I found a link online to a free website run by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Poland and the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage.
You can play this interactive site in English, Polish or even Chinese.
Right now, we are playing it in English until my kids feel comfortable enough with it. Then, we will be switching to Polish and having them use their memory of the site and hearing it play in Polish so that they learn Polish with their visual reinforcing the language as they learn it.
So far, we have been exploring Wroclaw, since that is the city that my older daughter has visited and associates easily with Poland. The mountain village we were at is not on this site, which I didn't expect it to be.
The site offers several different key cities throughout the different regions of Poland. Each is represented with a key figure that helps children associate it with a piece of it's unique history.
Legends for some of the cities are shared, as well as several important details about each city.
The first day I introduced the site to my children, we were supposed to go to the park after school but we ended up playing this site for 1 1/2 hours instead. I couldn't get them away from it. I'd say it's successful.
Also, a tiny detail of many that work in the site for my family's needs. When loading each page, the words "momencik" comes up. My older daughter asked what it means (one moment) and she is now walking around using it with me and her sister.
It might seem like a little thing, but in my experience as an immigrant child learning a foreign language, it is a culmination of many tiny such details that make the difference between a child comprehending a language or not. The same goes for native speakers as children.
Na razie...
Disclaimer: I'm not compensated in any way for sharing this site. I was not asked to share this site. I just found it and thought it was very well done and worth sharing with you.
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Slimak, Slimak: Polish Children's Rhyme
A Polish Nursery Rhyme, Biedroneczka Mala and Planning the Next Trip to Poland
The Hussar in 15th Century England
Teaching My Children Polish
A Mama born in Poland with "Gypsy Blood" living on the American Prairie with her daughters, two future Miss Poland and Nobel Peace prize recipients :: Food, Travel, Life...
Showing posts with label Polish and Slavic Legends and Myths. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Polish and Slavic Legends and Myths. Show all posts
20 March 2012
02 December 2011
The Golden Duck of Warsaw and Brewster's Millions
I love reading to my children bedtime stories. But often times, there are only so many stories I can read to them before we are essentially retelling the same stories over and over in different versions.
Polish fairy tales are boundless and there are countless stories, if you can find them translated from Polish to English or can read Polish.
I remembered a story from my childhood about a golden duck and dug through my countless books about Poland and the various fairy tales I have from Poland.
I found the story. It's called the Legend of the Golden Duck of Warsaw (Złota kaczka).
The short version of the legend is that under the cellar of Warsaw's Ostrogski Castle, there is a golden duck which guards a treasure. The finder can keep all the treasure if he or she can spend all of a certain amount of money on himself down to the last coin, all within a certain period of time.
One popular version tells of a man who was lucky enough to find the Golden Duck, received the money for spending and was successful. Until he had one coin left and gave it to a poor beggar and thus, with his generosity, lost the treasure.
I never really noticed before that the story reminds me of Brewster's Millions. There are several film versions of the movie but they are all based on the 1902 book by George Barr McCutcheon.
George Barr McCutcheon also wrote several novels based in "Graustark, a fictional East European country" and Poland and Polish characters are regularly used in prominent and smaller characters throughout his novels. McCutcheon was born in Indiana, which at the time had some Polish immigrants living there.
Did McCutcheon have Polish ancestry? I do not know. It's certainly possible and it's also possible he wasn't.
It is also possible that McCutcheon might have learned of the Legend of the Golden Duck of Warsaw from nearby Polish immigrants living in Indiana.
I would love to learn if there is a direct correlation but for now, I will take it as a definite similarity between the two beautiful stories.
What do you think?
And, if you understand Polish or would still like to hear some, a video from Polish theatre of the Golden Duck of Warsaw.
Other Links Related to the Legend:
The Legend of the Golden Duck
The Golden Duck of Ostrogski Castle
Wikipedia's post on Złota Kaczka
Other Links Related to the Novel:
Wikipedia's post on Brewster's Millions
Polish fairy tales are boundless and there are countless stories, if you can find them translated from Polish to English or can read Polish.
I remembered a story from my childhood about a golden duck and dug through my countless books about Poland and the various fairy tales I have from Poland.
I found the story. It's called the Legend of the Golden Duck of Warsaw (Złota kaczka).
The short version of the legend is that under the cellar of Warsaw's Ostrogski Castle, there is a golden duck which guards a treasure. The finder can keep all the treasure if he or she can spend all of a certain amount of money on himself down to the last coin, all within a certain period of time.
One popular version tells of a man who was lucky enough to find the Golden Duck, received the money for spending and was successful. Until he had one coin left and gave it to a poor beggar and thus, with his generosity, lost the treasure.
I never really noticed before that the story reminds me of Brewster's Millions. There are several film versions of the movie but they are all based on the 1902 book by George Barr McCutcheon.
George Barr McCutcheon also wrote several novels based in "Graustark, a fictional East European country" and Poland and Polish characters are regularly used in prominent and smaller characters throughout his novels. McCutcheon was born in Indiana, which at the time had some Polish immigrants living there.
Did McCutcheon have Polish ancestry? I do not know. It's certainly possible and it's also possible he wasn't.
It is also possible that McCutcheon might have learned of the Legend of the Golden Duck of Warsaw from nearby Polish immigrants living in Indiana.
I would love to learn if there is a direct correlation but for now, I will take it as a definite similarity between the two beautiful stories.
What do you think?
And, if you understand Polish or would still like to hear some, a video from Polish theatre of the Golden Duck of Warsaw.
Other Links Related to the Legend:
The Legend of the Golden Duck
The Golden Duck of Ostrogski Castle
Wikipedia's post on Złota Kaczka
Other Links Related to the Novel:
Wikipedia's post on Brewster's Millions
31 August 2011
Wordless Wednesday: A Collection of Kings and Lech I
My Babcia brought this on one of her trips to America to visit us when she was younger. It is a collection of the Kings of Poland.
I always loved looking through it but was always told I wasn't allowed to touch it.
The price was 450 zloty. Because I am not sure exactly what year this was from, I cannot tell you how much that cost in US Dollars at the time.
This is a description page of the collection of cards. There is a list of the kings up until Stanislaw Poniatowski.
And here is the card of the first King of Poland, Lech I.
The text below his picture reads: "Lech I. Family name of Slowianczyk (sort of like a Dynasty), first King of Poland, The city of Gniezno from a nest of an eagle that he found he created [the city]; Lived around the Year 550. Christian Era._" Poland was not at that time Christian, however, the years mentioned are from the Christian calendar.
Here is a link to a beautifully written version of the legend of Lech and Gziezno.
And here is another about the Legend of the Polish Eagle. The red fields they talk about I have seen for myself and they are a beautiful color.
This video is a favorite of mine. In the very beginning, you see an eagle flying and then a man stab his spear into the ground and a town grows from nowhere. That is Lech and Gziezno. The video is worth watching all the way through.
Na razie...
I always loved looking through it but was always told I wasn't allowed to touch it.
The price was 450 zloty. Because I am not sure exactly what year this was from, I cannot tell you how much that cost in US Dollars at the time.
This is a description page of the collection of cards. There is a list of the kings up until Stanislaw Poniatowski.
And here is the card of the first King of Poland, Lech I.
The text below his picture reads: "Lech I. Family name of Slowianczyk (sort of like a Dynasty), first King of Poland, The city of Gniezno from a nest of an eagle that he found he created [the city]; Lived around the Year 550. Christian Era._" Poland was not at that time Christian, however, the years mentioned are from the Christian calendar.
Here is a link to a beautifully written version of the legend of Lech and Gziezno.
And here is another about the Legend of the Polish Eagle. The red fields they talk about I have seen for myself and they are a beautiful color.
This video is a favorite of mine. In the very beginning, you see an eagle flying and then a man stab his spear into the ground and a town grows from nowhere. That is Lech and Gziezno. The video is worth watching all the way through.
Na razie...
17 June 2011
Weeping Willows and A Rusalka
As long as I remember, I always wanted a house near a creek with a Weeping Willow (in Polish, "Wierzba płacząca", as my blogger friend Mom Photographer reminded me in Wierzba, which literally translates into "Crying Willow") leaning over the water.
Even after my mother would tell me with a smile that I would have to watch out for the ghost.
The ghost she was talking about was a Rusalka.
A female ghost with either golden hair, like the bare branches of a Weeping Willow in wintertime, or green, like the branches during summer. Who drowned either because an evil deed or suicide from being pregnant out of wedlock. Or even possibly being born out of wedlock and therefor, unbaptised.
A Rusalka, like Eveshka from C.J. Cherryl's Rusalka. I have owned a paperback copy of this book since middle school and have read it so often that the book has fallen apart. It holds a special place on my bookshelf, between Secret Garden and Quo Vadis.
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A Rusalka, such as the one the Opera with the same name is about. Yes, I love opera and I hope to one day see this particular one live. Although, I doubt it will ever happen.
My older daughter now knows about the Rusalka and when we see Wierzbi, she wonders if there is a Rusalka hiding in the cold dark pool of water around the roots. I tell her to never wander over there without me. But that probably there is no Rusalka.
After all, I don't know whether Rusalki are only on the European continent or if they are all over the world. But, better not to chance it.
And definitely best not to walk around a Wierzba alone at night.
I still want a house with a creek running past it and a Weeping Willow leaning over the creek.
Even after my mother would tell me with a smile that I would have to watch out for the ghost.
The ghost she was talking about was a Rusalka.
A female ghost with either golden hair, like the bare branches of a Weeping Willow in wintertime, or green, like the branches during summer. Who drowned either because an evil deed or suicide from being pregnant out of wedlock. Or even possibly being born out of wedlock and therefor, unbaptised.
A Rusalka, like Eveshka from C.J. Cherryl's Rusalka. I have owned a paperback copy of this book since middle school and have read it so often that the book has fallen apart. It holds a special place on my bookshelf, between Secret Garden and Quo Vadis.
A Rusalka, such as the one the Opera with the same name is about. Yes, I love opera and I hope to one day see this particular one live. Although, I doubt it will ever happen.
My older daughter now knows about the Rusalka and when we see Wierzbi, she wonders if there is a Rusalka hiding in the cold dark pool of water around the roots. I tell her to never wander over there without me. But that probably there is no Rusalka.
After all, I don't know whether Rusalki are only on the European continent or if they are all over the world. But, better not to chance it.
And definitely best not to walk around a Wierzba alone at night.
I still want a house with a creek running past it and a Weeping Willow leaning over the creek.
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