Post by Bonobo on Jan 8, 2017 21:17:35 GMT 1
I observed a funny thing during English mock exams a few weeks ago. Advanced level exam requires high school students to write a formal letter, article or essay of about 250 words. This schoolyear one of the topics to choose from was: Write a formal letter to the editor of a travel magazine and suggest cheap but interesting summer holidays.
I found it so amazing that about half of my students wrote about spending holidays in the countryside in your family`s home, preferably grandparents`.
A quiet village, close to nature, a small cottage surrounded by an abundant garden far from the hustle and bustle of a big city like Krakow seemed an ideal destination. Of course, such texts got fewer points for not sticking to the topic.
Discussing the papers, I warned my students against thinking in Polish during an English exam.
A few students understood the topic. They explained they travel a lot with their families and surprisingly, it is even them who search through the net for last minute offers (real ones) and encourage the family to go. One boy even took his family to Spitzbergen on a last minute trip almost for free. Wow! We didn`t believe until he showed us some photos on his phone.
Yes, Polish character and tradition sometimes prevail. Compared to Germans or British, 5 million Poles who regularly travel abroad are too little to change certain fixed ideas about holidays.
Polish thinking
English exam thinking
I found it so amazing that about half of my students wrote about spending holidays in the countryside in your family`s home, preferably grandparents`.
A quiet village, close to nature, a small cottage surrounded by an abundant garden far from the hustle and bustle of a big city like Krakow seemed an ideal destination. Of course, such texts got fewer points for not sticking to the topic. Discussing the papers, I warned my students against thinking in Polish during an English exam.
A few students understood the topic. They explained they travel a lot with their families and surprisingly, it is even them who search through the net for last minute offers (real ones) and encourage the family to go. One boy even took his family to Spitzbergen on a last minute trip almost for free. Wow! We didn`t believe until he showed us some photos on his phone.
Yes, Polish character and tradition sometimes prevail. Compared to Germans or British, 5 million Poles who regularly travel abroad are too little to change certain fixed ideas about holidays.
Polish thinking
English exam thinking