Miejski Zespol Szkol is located in Kłodzko the Lower Silesia region. The school is combined with different levels of education i.e. primary school and middle high school. Miejski Zespół Szkół is a public local school, controlled and paid by the state. The students at the school are between 7-16 years old. The number of pupils attending the school is about 300. There are also 40 teachers and 16 administrative workers employed in the school.

The main goals of the school are:

• to make it possible for children to gain knowledge and skills which are necessary for graduation from primary school and middle high school;

• to provide the pupils with pedagogical care according to the needs and possibilities of the school;

• to ensure the protection and safety of our students.

At the school pupils study foreign languages such as English and German. There are a lot of activities connected with the development of language acquisition. The language teachers organise a lot of competitions connected with knowledge about European Union. In additional, our kids go to the swimming pool, go skiing in winter on a regular basis with the physical education teachers. There is also a range of sports activities. The aim of this is to develop pupils’ skills in athletics, aerobics, basketball and handball. Moreover, there are many extracurricular activities and classes which students can join.

The following are examples of typical activities for the volunteers:

• Assisting the English or German teachers during lessons, for example helping with pronunciation, conversations and preparing some materials;

• Working with the young children as well as with teenagers and organising games and activities for them during and after classes;

• Running after school clubs such as art club, drama club or sports club;

• Participating in intercultural camps, organized workshops for the students from our school on various subjects (EU, stereotypes, the volunteer’s country etc.);

• Making country presentations to pupils from different schools in the area (including the schools that other volunteers work in)

• Giving conversation classes to local youths and adults;

• Helping to organise school discos (elements of decoration, dance and music from volunteers’ countries);

• Co-operation with the student government (according to the schedule that will be prepared at the beginning of the school year);

• Taking part in national holidays (November 11th, May 3rd);

• Helping to organise the European Festival;

• Attending and helping to organise school ceremonies like Patrons’ Days, Kosciuszko Run, ceremonial ending of class 3 of middle school and class 6 of primary school,” Otrzesiny” (middle school warming); the first Day of Spring and Talent Show;

• Writing their work in a school newspaper or on a school website;

• Joining day trips or going to the cinema with pupils;

• Helping to prepare and working in a jury of the Contest of English Language for Primary Schools and Middle Schools of Klodzko Province;

• Taking part in charity actions (Great Orchestra of Christmas Charity, Penny Mountain, Clean up the World);

• Helping in organising of students’ exchange with a school in Bensheim, Germany;

• Taking part in art and sports classes (sculpture, working with clay, tennis, swimming, basketball, mediaeval dancing;

• Taking part in Adventure Academy meetings;

• Taking part and organisation of the (not)Foreign Language Day (tongue twisters, sketches, songs, multimedia presentations);

• Time for volunteers’ own work in a school library (teachers give topics for volunteers to prepare).

Museum of Kłodzko Land

Gimnazjum z Oddziałami Dwujęzycznymi Nr 1 im. Adama Mickiewicza, is a Junior High School with bilingual classes located in the region of Lower Silesia, Poland.  The students attending our school are between the age of 13 and 16. The total number of pupils is 400, there are also 40 teachers and 21 administrative workers employed. The school is open in the weekdays from 7.00 a.m. until 4.00 p.m.

At this school pupils learn two foreign languages English and German.  There are some bilingual classes in which students have additional hours of English lessons and during some subjects like Mathematics, Geography etc. The teachers present their lessons using English. There are also a lot of activities connected with the development of language skills. Language teachers organise a lot of competitions connected with the progress in English and broadening the knowledge about European Union and English speaking countries all over the world. Our school organises language-teaching tours e.g. to Prague, English training tours to London, international students’ exchanges, going to theater for performances in English, organising Languages Days.

The school has a lot of clubs, which can be joined by the pupils from our school such as: language, club, dance club, music club.. There is a club called “KEKS” and its main aim is to help children to discover the cultural aspects. Children are taken to the theatre and opera. Besides, there are tours organized connected with the history of Poland. In the school there is also a club which organises nights at school showing films (which are often displayed in the original language version). Some of our students are musically gifted, they attend musical lessons, learning to sing or play instruments and giving performances during school assemblies or performances for our town community.

In our school there is also the students’ council which consists of representatives from all the classes in school. The council often organises different kinds of competitions for students, take part in collecting food for poor people or homeless animals, organising discos.

The example of typical activities for the volunteers:

• the volunteer will organise or take part in workshops, which are usually carried out after class activities and or during regular lessons;

• the volunteer will take the part in sport activities such as skiing, tennis, swimming, volleyball, basketball;

• depending on the volunteer’s interests he/she can take part in PE, Art, Dancing, Music or other regular lessons showing students his/her skills and teaching them something new for example Traditional dances;

• the volunteer will take part in helping the student leading a different kind of clubs such as:  music, dance, art, etc.:

• the volunteer will also take part in school festivals and trips e.g. sport trips, visiting exhibition, and he/she will be free to initiate his/her own projects and ideas;

• the volunteer will also take part in regular English lessons, preparing presentations about their country, culture, geography but also topics connected with the students course book such as education system, types of houses, famous people;

• the volunteer with the co-operation of the teacher and pupils  will  help to improve  our website, finding the most interesting articles to write about, taking photos connected with school life and interesting cultural events.