The University of Lodz employees also provide assistance in the issues related to teaching Polish, organising education for Polish children in Australia, promoting language correctness and as a result maintaining ties with Poland and integrating the Polish community. Each month we will conduct 12 hours of remote consultations on these issues. They will be conducted by educators, experts in glottodidactics and linguists, available through our Australian partner – the Australian Polish Chamber of Commerce.
– explains dr hab. Tomasz Cieślak, Associate Professor at the University of Lodz, from the Institute of Polish Philology and Logopaedics, University of Lodz, project manager.
As part of the project regular, open poetry workshops, during which participants talk about their work and analyse it together, are organised every day.
Those interested can also take part in prose workshops on old and contemporary epic works, recommended by Polish readers. In addition, there are monthly book discussions at one of Sydney's literary clubs. Moreover, meetings are organised with Polish writers and poets who are already known or may arouse interest in the Antipodes.
A series of lectures on Polish literature and culture has also been prepared for Poles living in Australia. The plan is to create 50 videocasts, prepared by scientists from the Institute of Polish Philology and Logopaedics at the University of Lodz, devoted to various issues in the field of Polish literature – from the Old Polish period to the latest times.
All the programme activities take place online, in the evenings (New South Wales time), on weekdays, Saturdays and Sundays.
The project "Badania nad literaturą polską jako narzędzie wspierające integrację Polonii australijskiej" [Research on Polish literature as a tool supporting the integration of the Australian Polish community] began in December last year and will run until the end of November 2026. It is co-financed by the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Republic of Poland under the Social Responsibility of Science II programme (the amount of funding: more than PLN 300,000).
Source and photos: Institute of Polish Philology and Logopaedics, University of Lodz
Edit: Daria Knera, Press Office, University of Lodz