Curricula for teaching Polish as a foreign language in the European reality

The author’s comments and remarks on the new curricula for teaching Polish as a foreign language are preceded by the analysis of the curricula published in the volume Język polski jako obcy. Programy nauczania na tle badań współczesnej polszczyzny (1992a) [Polish as a foreign language. Curricula in relation to research on contemporary Polish language], which were based on the results of the vocabulary and grammar categories frequency studies for the Polish language. They were to find the answer to the question "What to teach while teaching Polish at the three levels of language proficiency?" Having discussed the most recent research into the structure of the Polish language, the author presented the European standards included in The Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (2001) in accordance with which the Polish language certification is conducted at levels B1, B2 and C2 since 2004. The author also described the changes in the circle of specialists in teaching Polish as a foreign language which took place in the last 20 years. The final part of the article is devoted to the process of designing new curricula which were prepared in the Center for Polish Language and Culture in the World of the Jagiellonian University and published in 2011. New curricula include the following parts: 1. curriculum’s basic goals for each European level, defining its users and the conditions of implementation, 2. aims of language instruction, 3. syllabuses: theme-based syllabus, grammar- and syntax-based syllabus, stylistic syllabus, notionalfunctional syllabus, sociolinguistic syllabus and cultural syllabus, 4. methods and techniques of developing particular skills and teaching the components of the language system, 5. method of evaluation of the learners’ progress.