I Liceum Ogólnokształcące has been organizing Foreign Languages Day celebrations since 2003. This school holiday is intended both to educate and entertain. Every year, individual classes from I LO and I Prywatne Gimnazjum prepare booths representing countries from around the world, selected in advance by drawing lots. “This year, they are less familiar and less popular countries,” Bogna Łasica, one of the coordinators of this year’s celebrations, told the IstotneInformacje.pl portal.
This was not the only new feature. For the first time, lectures were included in the Foreign Languages Day program. Talks devoted to Algeria and Romania were given by I LO graduates Adam Makuła and Krzysztof Syrycki.
The school corridors featured, among others, booths representing Estonia, Kenya, Georgia, Korea, Vietnam, Kazakhstan and Mongolia. “Basically, every year there were such well-known countries as Italy, Greece and Spain,” said Stanisław Ratajski from class III b, which prepared the Papua New Guinea booth. “This time it was more difficult,” he added.
That does not mean the students failed to cope with the task. Peruvian Indians, a Papua New Guinean tribal chief, a skier from Estonia, a Vietnamese master chef, Vikings and oriental beauties—in the halls of I LO, visitors could encounter a veritable kaleidoscope of colorful characters that day.
At the Romanian booth, someone tried to sell me a sweater, a hat and a “console” for games. “Poles primarily associate Romania with cross-border trade,” explained Tomasz Szczegodziński from class I e. “We tried to make what we prepared humorous. I think we succeeded,” he added.
Class II d won the competition with its Cuban booth. Class III b (Papua New Guinea) came second, while class II b (Lithuania) took third place. All classes received cash prizes funded by the Parents’ Committee.
The celebrations concluded with the School Foreign-Language Song Contest “Lingua et musica,” initiated and organized by teacher Agata Kozicka. Before the competition began, the excellent Chór Informatyków performed the song “Przybyli ułani pod okienko” on stage.
During the contest, everyone gathered in the I LO auditorium had the opportunity to hear eight performers. The audience reacted very enthusiastically, singing along with the young artists on some songs. After the competition, the star—that is, teacher Sławomir Zimniak—performed Michał Tarkowski’s “Jajco holenderskie blues.” The performance elicited tremendous enthusiasm from the audience. For an encore, the teacher played an immortal classic by Dżem.
The jury, consisting of Zuzanna Mróz, Dorota Startek, Paula Ryba and Leszek Idzikowski, gave a special mention to the band Derywacja Wsteczna from I Prywatne Gimnazjum. Maciej Cierniak took third place with Andrea Bocelli’s song “Con te Partiro.” The jurors awarded second place to Patrycja Rzeźwicka for the song “I Don't Wanna Lose You” from Tina Turner’s repertoire.
Alicja Kołacz from I Prywatne Gimnazjum took first place with Eva Farna’s song “Zapadlej Kram.”
(GA report)