©University of Silesia, Katowice

The School of Polish Language and Culture of the University of Silesia organized summer workshops called “21 days in Katowice – European City of Science 2024”. Scholars from Slovenia, Hungary, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Romania and Bulgaria took part.

The program included classes aimed at improving communication skills, language proficiency and arousing interest in the richness of Polish science, culture, history and knowledge about contemporary Poland. 3 thematic areas had been emphasized: tourism, dance and information, which was combined with events organized as part of the cooperation of the Academic Consortium of the "Katowice City of Science." Language classes covered topics related to, among others: Polish literature, ecology and environmental protection methods and text editing. Lectures and seminars covered many areas, so that everyone interested could find something for themselves: Polish and Silesian cultural heritage, urban space, important historical figures and events, photography, film, music. An additional attraction of the course were meetings, trips and workshops organized as part of the European City of Science. Some of the afternoon and weekend meetings and activities were held by CEEPUS scholarship holders with a group of students from the Lviv University of Technology (Ukraine), who stayed in Katowice as part of the "Transform for Europe (T4EU)" consortium. Students visited the Silesian Museum in Katowice, the former mining district of Nikiszowiec, the castle in Bedzin, the Silesian Park and the ethnographic park “Skansen”. The stay in Katowice provided the participants with constant contact with a living language that they had to use in everyday matters – during classes and the teaching trips, visits to cultural institutions, etc.