Our students: Bartosz Piekielny (2nd place) and Adam Broszkiewicz (9th place) were in the top ten during the finals of the 25th National English Language Olympiad for Technical University Students in Poznań. Congratulations!

8 students from WUST qualified for the finals of the National English Language Olympiad for Technical University Students, organized by Poznań University of Technology on 10–11 May, 2024. Two of them returned with prizes. 

Bartosz Piekielny took 2nd place and, as he says, he was surprised by such a good result. Especially since he did not particularly prepare for the Games, apart from making a multimedia presentation, which was one of the tasks in the final stage.

 – I think it's simply the culmination of many years of independent language learning, which I treat more as a hobby. For me, English is primarily a tool for seeking knowledge – says the first-year student of Information Technology in Automation Systems. – If some material is not available in Polish, it is much easier to find something on a given topic from English sources.

Of course – like most young people – Bartosz Piekielny studied English in primary school and high school, and sometimes he also had additional classes while preparing for a specific test. But he learned most by talking on internet forums with people from all over the world.

– I have never been to England or any other English-speaking country, but I spend so much time with this language on the internet that I somehow have acquired it naturally, casually, I just pick up vocabulary and an accent that would be difficult to learn at school,” admits our student. “I think the best way to learn a language is to expose yourself to it and to have live contact with it, to be surrounded by it. You have to use it, speak, listen as much as possible. It is worth finding a forum consistent with your interests, where you have no other choice, because people are from outside Poland and to talk to them, you have to be brave and speak English.

Adam Broszkiewicz, who took 9th place in the Olympiad, when asked about his recipe for good knowledge of English, answers similarly:

– I won't be original – you definitely need to use the language you want to learn as much as possible. English is available everywhere now, there are films, books, podcasts, forums, so you can find whatever you want – says the first-year student of Applied Computer Science. – It's definitely difficult at the beginning. When I started watching films in English with subtitles, I stopped every now and then and checked what was being said. It was similar with reading books – at the beginning with a dictionary. But it's getting better over time.

He did not prepare for the Olympiad either, particularly for the first stage in January at Wrocław University of Science and Technology. Later, before the second stage, he took part in workshops prepared by employees of the Foreign Language Department, during which he had the opportunity to practice grammar and vocabulary in various technical fields.

– Technical vocabulary not related to IT, which I already know, was actually useful – smiles Adam Broszkiewicz. . 

The hardest thing is culture

The final competition in Poznań lasted two days. First, there were written tasks on grammar, listening, reading and a test on the knowledge of culture in English-speaking countries. As our students say, this was the most difficult element of the competition. Then each of the 54 participants gave a 7-minute presentation, the topic of which they could choose from the following three quotes:

• “If you can dream it, you can do it” (Walt Disney)
• “I’m not here to be perfect, I’m here to be real” (Lady Gaga)
• “The saddest aspect of life right now is that science gathers knowledge faster than society gathers wisdom” (Isaac Asimov).

– I chose the quote from Walt Disney, as it seemed the easiest to be addressed from the bottom of my heart – says Bartosz Piekielny. – I tried to appeal to the audience as much as possible, motivate them in some way, have an impact on their emotions. And so I got into the top ten in the competition.

On the second day, the top 10 competitors took part in the Oxford debate on the topic: Education in the era of Artificial Intelligence. The results were announced right after the debate.

Both of our students have further plans related to English. They include: certificates and participation in subsequent competitions.

– I'm going to the Olympiad again next year. I have the ambition to improve my result this year – says Adam Broszkiewicz. – Especially since the rules allow it if you finish no better than in the 5th place.