The elements of civics during the lessons of polish as a foreign language

Abstract

During preparatory courses for foreigners who intend to study in Poland, there is a need to introduce a specialised language variety and harmoniously combine teaching language with the transfer of knowledge necessary in selected fields of study. This article concerns the teaching of candidates planning to undertake the studies in humanities. It presents the manner of introducing the elements of civics to the tasks that serve to develop and test language competences at the B2 level. It presents lexical and grammatical exercises, text comprehension tasks and stimuli to oral and written assignments, which are to familiarise students with the principles of the Polish electoral law, introduce them to the world of Polish politics and promote the desired social behaviours. The training of language skills becomes an excellent opportunity to disseminate knowledge in specific fields and, at the same time, shape civic attitudes. Thus, voting can be thought of as the manifestation of both language skills and social activity which young people should be encouraged to undertake.