⁨Słowo daję!⁩ review — playful A1 Polish vocabulary workbook

What this book is

Słowo daję! — a Polish idiom meaning "I give you my word" — is a vocabulary workbook for level A1 by Anna Kowalczuk, published by START Polish (first edition 2019, second edition 2023, about 80 pages). It teaches around 360 basic words in 12 themed units using memory techniques: pictures, sound, movement and mind maps. It comes with 8 colour posters, printable flashcards and free audio. Instructions are in Polish. The ISBN above is for the 2nd edition.

Who it suits best

• Absolute beginners who struggle to memorise words.
• Learners who enjoy creative, playful tasks rather than word lists.
• Teachers — including teachers of children — looking for ready vocabulary activities.

Who should pick something else

• Learners at A2 or above, and anyone preparing for the B1 exam: the vocabulary is far below that level.
• Adults who want a quick word list with translations — there are none built in.
• People studying completely alone: some tasks are designed for a class or need your own materials.

What's inside

• 12 units, each named after a Polish proverb: clothes, accessories, the body, the gym, food, eating out, fruit and vegetables, transport, work and school, the city, home, family.
• Every unit starts by listening and labelling pictures, includes a "take a break" task in real life (name what is in your fridge or wardrobe), and ends with a mind map.
• Exercises: picture labelling, listen-and-mark, rhythmic repetition, hidden words, drawing words, sorting, building sentences.
• Posters on colours, adjectives, time, weather, numbers, everyday phrases and question words.

What learners and teachers say

The book received a full, positive review in the University of Warsaw's journal Kwartalnik Polonicum (Święcka, 2019), which praises its attractive design, original and often humorous tasks, and its usefulness for both adults and children — "it works great with children". We found no independent learner reviews: the single customer review on a bookshop site repeats the wording of that academic review, so we do not count it as a separate opinion.

(For transparency: the author of this review later co-wrote Zdaj się na polski! for START Polish, which also sells this book.)

Our verdict

A charming A1 vocabulary starter, not an exam book. If you are aiming at B1, skip it unless remembering words is your main problem — and when you are ready, test yourself on our free B1 practice tests.