Polish through Art - Online Exhibition

Polish through Art - Online Exhibition

The project

SCILT’s Polish through Art project, developed in collaboration with Bilingualism Matters, showcases through art, a multilingual approach to language teaching. A multilingual approach recognises that each learner has their own individual repertoire and opens the classroom door to languages and experiences learners bring to the classroom. This approach to language learning and teaching does not require that a teacher knows all the languages their pupils speak, on the contrary, it accepts that each learner has a different individual repertoire so the process of learning will look differently for each of them. 

Scotland is a multilingual country that welcomes many diverse languages, cultures and people. In 2020 there were 168 languages spoken in mainstream Scottish schools. Polish is the second language, after English, spoken by most pupils in Scottish schools. It is followed by Urdu, Scots, Arabic, Punjabi and Chinese. Such inclusion of local languages not only makes all our pupils feel welcomed in Scottish schools and, by extension in Scotland, but it teaches that all languages are valuable. 

In early summer 2021, SCILT began to recruit teachers for the Polish through Art project. We were looking to recruit teachers, both from mainstream schools and Polish complementary schools, to pilot a multilingual approach to language learning and teaching by using art and art-based activities with their learners. Since early autumn, we have been working alongside and supporting teachers from Cradlehall Primary in Inverness (Highland), Portsoy Primary (Aberdeenshire), Bowhouse Primary (Falkirk) and the Polish Complementary School in Glasgow, who were exploring and implementing this approach in their schools. The teachers have been carrying out art-based activities with their pupils who learned Polish greetings, basic vocabulary and interesting idiomatic expressions whilst exploring the languages they know and the languages that are of interest to them. Each piece of art created by the pupils is a reflection of their multilingual and multicultural identity. The creativity displayed by the pupils is insightful and inspirational and every individual masterpiece exhibited in the online gallery is unique to them. 

We hope you enjoy browsing the online gallery and we thank all our wonderful artists for supplying such a super selection of artwork.

The launch

On Thursday 3 February 2022 SCILT hosted the Polish through Art - online exhibition launch event. The event provided the opportunity to hear from pupils, teachers and partners who participated in the project.

The launch commenced with opening remarks from SCILT and CISS Director Fhiona Mackay. Fhiona introduced Professor Antonella Sorace, Founder of Bilingualism Matters, who spoke about the multilingual approach behind the project. 

We were also joined by Dr Łukasz Lutostański, Consul General of the Republic of Poland, who commended the pupils and teachers on their hard work, and praised the collaborative approach between mainstream and complementary schools. 

Attendees then had the chance to hear directy from participating teachers about their experience taking part in the project. Teachers from Bowhouse Primary, Cradlehall Primary, the Polish School in Glasgow and Portsoy Primary provided live or recorded remarks outlining the positive impact the project had in their classroom. 

Participants were then treated to a viewing of the exhibition launch video, an inspiring showcase of pupils' artwork highlighting their creativity and linguistic skills.  

Finally the online exhibition was unveiled on the SCILT website, where all submitted artwork is available to view. 

View the exhibition launch video below:

Bowhouse Primary School

Bowhouse Primary - Pupil A

Bowhouse Primary - Pupil B

Bowhouse Primary - Pupil C

Bowhouse Primary - Pupil D

Bowhouse Primary - Pupil F

Bowhouse Primary - Pupil G

Bowhouse Primary - Pupil H

Bowhouse Primary - Pupil I

Bowhouse Primary - Pupil J

Bowhouse Primary - Pupil K

Bowhouse Primary - Pupil L

Cradlehall Primary School

Cradlehall Primary - Pupil A

Cradlehall Primary - Pupil B

Cradlehall Primary - Pupil C

Cradlehall Primary - Pupil D

Cradlehall Primary - Pupil E

Cradlehall Primary - Pupil F

Cradlehall Primary - Pupil G

Cradlehall Primary - Pupil H

Cradlehall Primary - Pupil I

Cradlehall Primary - Pupil J

Cradlehall Primary - Pupil K

Cradlehall Primary - Pupil L

Cradlehall Primary - Pupil M

Cradlehall Primary - Pupil N

Cradlehall Primary - Pupil O

Cradlehall Primary - Pupil P

Cradlehall Primary - Pupil Q

Cradlehall Primary - Pupil R

Cradlehall Primary - Pupil S

Cradlehall Primary - Pupil T

Cradlehall Primary - Pupil U

Cradlehall Primary - Pupil V

Cradlehall Primary - Pupils W & Y

Cradlehall Primary - Pupil X

Cradlehall Primary - Pupil Z

Cradlehall Primary - Pupil AA

Cradlehall Primary - Pupil AB

Polish School in Glasgow

Polish School - Pupil A

Polish School - Pupil B

Polish School - Pupil C

Polish School - Pupil D

Polish School - Pupil E

Polish School - Pupil F

Polish School - Pupil G

Polish School - Pupil H

Portsoy Primary School

Portsoy Primary - Pupil A

Portsoy Primary - Pupil B

Portsoy Primary - Pupil C

Portsoy Primary - Pupil D

Portsoy Primary - Pupil E

Portsoy Primary - Pupil F

Portsoy Primary - Pupil G

Portsoy Primary - Pupil H

Portsoy Primary - Pupil I

Portsoy Primary - Pupil J

Portsoy Primary - Pupil K

Portsoy Primary - Pupil L

Portsoy Primary - Pupil M

Portsoy Primary - Pupil N

Portsoy Primary - Pupil O

Portsoy Primary - Pupil P

Portsoy Primary - Pupil Q

University of Strathclyde Education Scotland British Council Scotland The Scottish Government
SCILT - Scotlands National centre for Languages