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hrvatski · Joined: 16 Nov 2008 Posts: 270

I'm not in Poland now, but I was wondering how lessons are going in the days / weeks after the plane crash. I tend to base my lessons on a lot of fun and joking, so I can't think of too many existing plans I have which I could teach during a mourning period. Not that the mourning period is being all that well respected.

How have you guys found teaching in the days after? Has anyone actually tried in class to talk about the tragedy / Wawel controversy in depth? I'd probably avoid getting into it like the plague since there are a lot of different opinions out there and it's a pretty touchy time.

Curious if any of you were brave / stupid enough to get into it though and what the atmosphere has been like in class or if attendance has been down.

Master Shake · Joined: 03 Nov 2006 Posts: 1202 Location: Colorado, USA

Things have been pretty much back to normal over the last week. There were lots of people in the center last night out drinking, carrying Polish flags, partying. I'd say the atmosphere is far from somber. But most bars stopped serving alcohol around midnight last night. Prohibition will contiue for most of today, I think

I've had whole lessons spent discussing the tragedy. Few people I've spoken to are touchy about it and they are eager to hear a foreigner's opinion.

But a bit of an argument did kick off in the staffroom yesterday about the Wawel controversy. It seems obvious that burrying Kaczynski at Wawel is a political move and would never have been considered if it hadn't been for the plane crash. But one Polish teacher (out of the five people in the room) thought otherwise and got a bit passionate about it.

simon_porter00 · Joined: 09 Nov 2005 Posts: 505 Location: Warsaw, Poland

Been talking about nothing else all week. There are so many angles to explore on this one with new tid-bits coming out every day to keep the discussion kind of fresh. And when all that fails you can always talk about who the next PiS candidate will be? When that fails, talk about elections in general and should people be forced to vote? And if you're really desperate then talk about the current bunch of idiots in the UK trying to win and test their knowledge of British politics and why no-one understands the American voting system of how one person can get more votes than the other and still lose.

Generally though, people have been quite happy to talk about it and let's face it, if nothing else it opens up a new area of vocabulary that you won't find in textbooks - national tragedies.

hrvatski · Joined: 16 Nov 2008 Posts: 270

Interesting, due to bad experiences with militant students in the past, I tend to err on the side of avoidance with anything seriously divisive these days. I've had one student break out in tears in class and one storm out when controversial topics (eg. Catholicism) have been broached and the group gets way too into it. Probably bad classroom management.

I found Poland to be a relatively socially inactive country on issues which affect Poles' everyday lives - i.e. few protests, the youth aren't particularly idealistic, not much activism taking place. It's interesting then how many Poles are getting passionate about the Kaczynskis on Wawel - an issue which though symbolic, won't change their daily condition. For me that sums up a lot about life in Poland, big on symbolism, low on action.

I personally think that Lech's presidency on its own would not deserve a Wawel burial, however the circumstances in which the Kaczynskis plus the delegation died do. People like Wojciech Wierzejski are definitely not helping the case against Kaczynski on Wawel, as you can read here: http://www.pardon.pl/artykul/11350/byly_posel_lpr_jaroslawa_tez_mamy_pochowac_na_wawelu

scottie1113 · Joined: 25 Oct 2004 Posts: 375 Location: Gdansk

Like Shake and Simon, I discussed this in depth in my classes with the same results. What else can you do?

silesia · Joined: 19 May 2008 Posts: 16

I agree with openly discussing the tragedy.I had five 1to1 business lessons with a particular company on Thursday and each one of them wanted to talk about it in depth

miraethwyn · Joined: 01 Aug 2010 Posts: 7

I decided to briefly discuss it at the beginning of class and then get back to the regularly scheduled program.

Then when I got to the teachers' room at break I was chewed out by a bawling teacher that my students had been laughing and she told me flat out that I was totally insensitive to their feelings (meaning her feelings). I had asked the students about it and they didn't seem to feel it was a big deal.

The next day my private student (fourteen years old) asked me why everyone was so upset and I couldn't give her an answer.

I still can't.

Mir