TOC logical branch as a tool in teaching Polish as a foreign/second/heritage language to children

This article is devoted to the presentation of the author`s solutions in adapting one of the TOC thought tools to teaching Polish as a foreign/second/heritage language, specifically to children. TOC tools were primarily developed for the business sector as a tool for diagnosing areas which should be modified or improved. Applied in the sphere of education, the tools turned out to be universal methods of supporting students’ cognitive processes. In the existing research on the possible applications of the TOC methodology, no attention was paid to its use in the field of Polish as a non-native language didactics, and the TOC tools seem to be a useful solution in teaching foreign languages to children. The article presents proposals for the use of the so-called logical branch to explain grammar rules in teaching Polish to children. The discussed tool may perform this function well as it conforms to the standards of the methodology appropriate in children’s language education: It is attractive as a graphic tool, it shows the structure of the Polish language system in a transparent and orderly manner, it has mnemonic values, it can be also used for games, as well as allowing for flexibility (differentiation) of the didactic process.