From playing school to teaching Polish

Playing teacher before becoming one

“I had a notebook filled with students’ names and grades. I would create tests on thirty separate sheets of paper because I had thirty imaginary students in my class,” Tomasz recalls with a laugh. “I spent hours grading them all.”

While he never consciously planned to become a teacher, Tomasz’s early play proved prophetic. “Nothing and no one inspired me to teach – my inner voice simply told me this was the right direction,” he explains. What began as a child’s game became a genuine passion that remained dormant until adulthood, when opportunity and interest finally converged.

Finding connection through direct teaching

In his lessons now, Tomasz prioritizes communication above all else. His teaching style centers on what he calls the “direct method” – immersing students in practical conversation rather than abstract rules.

“The direct method is closest to how we naturally use language,” he explains. “In each 45-minute lesson, I’m orchestrating different elements so students discover, learn, and understand Polish more deeply.”

This approach reflects his own childhood teaching games, where dialogue and interaction were central even when his only student was himself. Tomasz creates a classroom atmosphere where students learn by doing, making the language come alive through practice rather than theory.

The breakthrough that reminds him why teaching matters

One story particularly encapsulates what teaching means to Tomasz. While leading a German language class, he encountered a 70-year-old woman who had never studied a foreign language. For three weeks, she sat silently, paralysed by what Tomasz recognised as a profound mental block.

“She would always say, ‘Not now, Mr. Tomasz,’” he remembers. Then, during the fourth week, something changed. She began answering questions, making small but steady progress. Two months later, she excitedly told him she’d understood a phone call from Germany – her first real conversation in the language she’d been studying.

For Tomasz, these moments when students begin speaking without thinking – when the language becomes intuitive rather than calculated – are what make teaching meaningful. “When they naturally say something in Polish without having to think about it first, that’s beautiful,” he says.

Finding motivation in student progress

What keeps Tomasz engaged as a teacher isn’t external recognition but seeing his students improve. Each small step forward – from forming simple sentences to holding basic conversations – provides the motivation to continue developing his teaching approach. “I believe we pass on language most effectively when it’s unconscious,” he says. “The student’s progress inspires me to help them open up even more.”

This philosophy shapes his teaching methods, where flexibility and student-centered learning take priority. Having taught at several language schools, Tomasz appreciates that Let’s Learn Polish puts students first. “Everything concerning the student matters to the school – it listens and responds,” he explains, valuing how the program adapts to individual needs rather than forcing learners into rigid systems. Unlike his childhood teaching games where Billy Idol was permanently assigned poor grades, Tomasz now celebrates every student’s unique learning journey.

Baking bread and building a balanced life

Beyond the classroom, Tomasz finds joy in family life with his wife and two children, aged nine and twelve. His passion for cooking – particularly baking bread and yeast cakes – offers a tangible counterbalance to the intellectual work of language teaching.

“When I was small, I would make sandwiches for my father,” he recalls, linking his present hobbies to childhood experiences much like his teaching career. Now his culinary adventures have expanded to include various Polish specialties and homemade bread.

When time allows, he also enjoys cycling and escaping to Poland’s mountains, where he finds genuine rest away from daily routines. These personal pursuits reflect the same care and attention he brings to his teaching – a commitment to authenticity, whether in language or in life.

For Tomasz, teaching isn’t merely work but a natural extension of who he’s always been – from the child who played school to the adult who helps others discover Polish. Each student who begins speaking with confidence continues a story that began decades ago in a child’s bedroom, where a young boy named Tomasz first discovered the joy of teaching.