Katarzyna Władyka
POLISH A: LITERATURE
Out of my love for literature and Polish language, I graduated in Polish studies and Teaching Polish as a Foreign Language at the Jagiellonian University in Krakow, and out of my passion for theatre – the School of Applied Drama in Warsaw. Music and sport are also an important part of my life: I studied Vocal performance at the Krakow School of Jazz and Contemporary Music and the Vocal and Acting School in Krakow, and since 2016 I have been a Zumba Fitness instructor.
At Da Vinci’s International High School, I am a homeroom teacher of the 3rd HS, I teach literature in the Polish A course in the IB Diploma Programme, and Polish Language Acquisition. I also prepare theatrical shows with our students. I believe that education is a relationship.
I spent over a decade of my life in the UK, where I prepared bilingual Polish students for GCSE and A-level Polish language exams and foreigners for Polish certificate exams. For 7 years I was the editor-in-chief of the educational magazine “Together, Young Friends”. I am the co-author of a textbook for bilingual children “Po prostu po polsku”.
I like the British sense of humour, dark chocolate, Greece, peonies, and trips with my family to nature. I passionately read novels, dramas, biographies, and interviews. Literature is a mirror of reality, an escape not from life, but to life. I listen to rock and jazz. I am interested in people and their worlds. I never regret the time spent on conversation.
“You want to know who you are? Don’t ask. Act. Action will define and establish you. You will learn from your actions”. | W. Gombrowicz, “Dziennik 1953-1956”
Beata Wojnarowska
POLISH A: LITERATURE
I am an experienced teacher of Polish language and literature, supporting students at various stages of education for many years. In my work, I attach particular importance to creating a space conducive to creative activity, reflection, and open discussion. I treat each student individually, recognizing their needs, potential, and pace of development.
I understand teaching as inspiring – encouraging others to discover their own potential, build self-confidence, and shape lasting values. Effective communication and relationships based on trust and mutual respect are important to me.
I combine my professional work with continuous personal development and pursuing my passions. I am interested in psychology and sociology, which has resulted in a doctoral dissertation on the education of national minorities.
In my free time, I read, go to the theater and cinema, and play sports. I like to travel, discover new places, and learn about different cultures. However, I value the moments spent with my loved ones the most—they give me energy and motivate me to keep going.
“Logic will take you from A to B. Imagination will take you everywhere.”
— Albert Einstein
Simon Dale
ENGLISH A: LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE
I love reading, reading literature, reading about literature, reading philosophy, mythology, sociology, psychology, theology, politics. That is, I love reading about people, people alone in their thoughts, people in groups, in the family, in the town, city, country, and region, in the world, and with God and the gods. I love reading the stories we tell ourselves, tell our friends, our families, tell our rivals and our perceived enemies. I love reading about being in the world in all its squalor, its banality, its sublimity, its mystery, its pain and its joy.
I love walking in nature. I love walking, its rhythm, in which the mind is focused. I love being in nature, in which I can feel like, as R. S. Thomas wrote: I walked on/ Simple and poor, while the air crumbled/ And broke on me generously as bread.
“Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire” | William Butler Yeats