Supporting Emergent Bilingual Learners
How a teacher in Warsaw learned to support children on the path to bilingualism
- English
- Українська
- Polish
Before Iwona walked into her new school in Warsaw in 2023, she had already taught biology, geography, and natural sciences for years. But this time, she felt uncertain.
Never before had she worked with students with refugee or migration backgrounds. Now, stepping into a diverse school environment with students from Ukraine, Belarus and Chechnya, alongside their Polish peers, she wondered whether she would be able to support her students effectively. One challenge is language. “There are some children who speak Polish very well – they can even joke and understand cultural context,” she says. “But there are also those who might not understand basic, functional language, and working with them is, of course, the most challenging.”
Soon after starting at the new school, Iwona received an email about an online course “On the path to bilingualism”, aimed at developing competencies in teaching Polish as a second language. The course is available on the Learning Passport platform and was developed by the Institute of Educational Research – National Research Institute in partnership with UNICEF Refugee Response Office in Poland and the Ministry of National Education.
For Iwona, it came at exactly the right moment.
“I received an email saying that such a course existed, and it was simply made for me. That was my biggest challenge, whether I was doing things correctly,” she says.
The course was developed in response to the need to support teachers following the escalation of the war in Ukraine in February 2022, when many refugee children joined Polish schools.
“First and foremost, we saw that teachers in Polish schools were not sufficiently prepared to work with students who have little or no knowledge of Polish,” says Małgorzata Pamuła-Behrens, a linguist and expert in language education and the author of the course. “We wanted to build a foundation – to help teachers understand bilingualism and to show how they can support students both in everyday communication and in the language of learning.”
One simple exercise changed Iwona’s perspective immediately. As part of the course, teachers were asked to distinguish between everyday language and the more complex terminology found in textbooks.
“That exercise gave me a lot,” she says. “You realize how difficult the school language is even for native speakers, let alone for children who are still learning Polish.”
She began adjusting her teaching: simplifying complex terms, and relying more on maps, images, and visual explanations. She also changed how students could demonstrate their knowledge.
“A student doesn’t always have to write; they can show me what they know. Giving them more time is also important,” she says.
But the course was not only about offering new teaching tools. It also encouraged educators to understand the emotional reality children may bring into the classroom.
“In addition to teaching methods, we also focus on the context,” including both bilingualism and intercultural competences,” explains Małgorzata Pamuła-Behrens.
“The idea is to help teachers see the students in a new context. Children with migration experience need support during the adaptation period. Language barriers are one thing, but they are often combined with emotional and adaptation challenges, and we want teachers to recognize that perspective as well.”
For Iwona, this approach confirmed practices already present in her school, including allowing children to use their native language.
At the centre of her work, however, is something even more important than methodology: empathy.
“When children from Ukraine go to visit their families during holidays and then return, they are often emotionally unsettled. They miss home, they miss what they left behind, they carry difficult emotions. We cannot overwhelm them with tests to catch up on,” she says.
“We need to be understanding, give them time to readjust, and simply be empathetic.”
Katarzyna, a doctor of humanities in psychology from the Institute of Educational Research – National Research Institute, says the course is part of the wider “School Accessible for All” project, a joint initiative of Polish Ministry of National Education, the Institute and UNICEF launched during joint refugee response activities.
“The main goal of this project was to support the competencies of teachers and specialists in working with students with diverse needs, with a particular focus on children with refugee experience from Ukraine,” she says.
The Institute later evaluated the course and found that teachers felt more confident working in diverse classrooms and supporting students with migration experience.
“The results showed that participation in this course contributed to an increased sense of self-efficacy among teachers working in diverse classrooms. In other words, it strengthened their sense of intercultural self-efficacy. I think this is a very important outcome.”
This important work for refugee children from Ukraine in Poland is made possible thanks to the generous support of the Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration of the U.S. Department of State (PRM).
