Lviv Polytechnicians have not wasted time during the quarantine period. There were a number of webinars in foreign languages, which could be joined by anyone. Nataliia Rozhankivska, a leading specialist at the Center for International Education, told us about webinars on the Polish language and culture.
Please tell us who the webinars were aimed at?
They were for all willing: students, academic staff and employees of Lviv Polytechnic. I conducted Polish webinars. They were for people who know Polish at an A1 level, i.e. those who understand the language and can say something. It was not language learning, but language comprehension. We also talked about culture and history of Poland. There were five webinars in total.
Did you invite people who could tell about historical and cultural aspects?
Yes, I invited competent people. Polish Consulate, which is very friendly to such initiatives, helped us to find them. There are many interesting people around us, but we do not know about them, we do not notice them. It is a pity that time was limited. These people know so much that two ZOOM meetings for 40 minutes were not enough to tell everything.
For example, our first webinar was «Poland and Poles in the world». We invited Ewa Rybinska (Kazimir Pulaski University of Technology and Humanities in Radom, Poland). She was Head of the International Department, travelled the world, and knows a lot about the universities where Poles study. There was also Olha Pavliuk, Doctor and Professor at the university in Katowice. She is an Associate Professor at the University of Zaporizhzhia and Vice-President of the Polish Society in Ukraine. She knows a lot and told us about Poles in the southern and eastern Ukraine, Polish societies and Polish identity. In addition to communication, listeners could play various games. For example, they guessed how many Poles there might be in a particular country. It was surprising that everywhere there are so many officially registered Poles. Outside of Poland, there are about 20 million of Poles worldwide.
What about next webinars?
At the second webinar we discussed culture and traditions of Poland. We invited Sister Lidia Zembowicz who is Franciscan Sister of the Family of Mary. The next webinar was «Goodness and charity. Why do we do it for someone or for ourselves?» conducted by Irena Galamai-Zelkner. She is President and Chairman of the Ukrainian-Wroclaw-Dortmund Catholic Charitable Foundation. This organization deals with many areas, including children’s education. Also it provides our students with the opportunity to do an internship in Wroclaw. For the third year in a row, we have been selecting students for free internships. Irena Galamai-Zelkner also told a little about charities, and what they are working on.
The next two webinars were dedicated to Polish music and culture, particularly in Lviv. We invited Edward Kutz, who is a Professor at both the Institute of Music in Wroclaw and Lviv Conservatory. He is an organist, conductor, cantor, teacher of music and liturgical music, organ master and expert in the field of acoustic and keyboard musical instruments. Edward Kutz’s webinar on music in post-war Lviv was very interesting.
The last webinar was conducted by Ivan Yaremko, a sports commentator and journalist. He told us about sports in Lviv. It was so interesting to listen to him! We have all seen how in China, for example, 100 or even 200 people come to the square and do the exercises at the same time. It turned out that in Lviv before and after the war, people (even 500 persons) could come to Rynok Square or the park and do exercises. It was ages ago. Interesting is the fact that there were 135 tennis courts in Lviv at that time. There were several stadiums. There were prominent athletes who took part in the Olympics.