Study / Looking for English Language schools in Katowice [48]


See, this is where we differ. I don't do it, the school as a rule doesn't do it - unless the person is actually struggling to answer. It's completely 'wrong' according to all the rules, but it makes classes a lot more laid back and enjoyable for most people. I do do it sometimes though, just out of boredom.

It's probably fair to say that Callan is also a good way of showing someone what teaching is about - if you can't control a Callan class, then you shouldn't be teaching full stop. Although it does depend on the school, I guess - again, students in my school are encouraged to ask questions - but in many schools, it seems that it's banned.

Work / Non Polish nationals living in Poland - What do you do for a living? [23]

No reason why someone couldn't be a tour guide in a major European language without speaking any Polish, no?

Likewise, washing dishes/collecting glasses is probably doable with no Polish.

Study / Looking for English Language schools in Katowice [48]


It depends. I think though, that Callan is a good start to the language - it's easy and it does give people an introduction to English that isn't dreadfully dry. But it falls down miserably after the first 4 stages or so because of the need to introduce grammar. Callan clearly didn't realise that it's absolutely impossible to use his 'method' to teach grammar - and I suspect that he didn't understand it himself.

I think the best teachers (and consequently, the best schools) are the ones which mix Callan with other forms of teaching depending on the need. My school does this - and while Callan gives them the base from which to learn new words, all sorts of different materials are used to make sense of the grammar/etc.

Anyone who follows the Callan 'rules' rigidly should also be shot, in my opinion. You're right - anyone who follows Callan (or similar) blindly isn't teaching. This is why new people to the job should insist that they're allowed to mix up lessons - and if the school is so rigid that they cannot accept that someone might want to teach something different, then they shouldn't work there.

The one huge problem with Callan in my view is that 'bad' students will go away and never look at the books between lessons. Or they'll memorise the books off by heart, but never do any outside learning. Until someone writes a method which forces people to work independently outside of schools while still allowing them to learn quickly, there'll always be the same problem.

But I go back to my original point - Callan is good for new teachers. It allows them to try different things out in the classroom (if the school is good!) - with the crutch of the book if whatever they've tried hasn't worked. It's obviously hopeless to those with experience - but this is where a good school should allow teachers a free reign to use whatever materials they feel are appropriate.

Seanus - your point about the grammar. I managed to negotiate two things with teaching Callan classes - a) I don't teach the grammar, b) I don't teach stage 1/2. Needless to say, it makes life much more enjoyable...although it does make Polish teachers want to murder me when they discover a huge chunk of grammar to be taught :P

Travel / An experience on the train in Warsaw [30]


Oh come on, haven't you ever dealt with some of the knuckleheads that work in the UK system?

Out of curiosity, what photo ID did you get? As far as I understood it, they stopped issuing any sort of official ID to EU residents.

Incidentally, in such cases, just give them a UK address. If they won't accept it, then get the police involved. The police simply won't bother you - they realise that it's more hassle than it's worth to try and enforce a fine against a non-Polish national. Of course, they probably won't want to get the police involved if you do have a valid ticket.

I once had similar problems in Poznań with a particularly alcoholic ticket inspector. He tried all sorts of threats, including that I'd get a 360zl fine if the police got involved. I told him 'ok' repeatedly, until he gave up :)

But one word of advice : never, ever, ever give up your passport in Poland. Give them a photocopy, or even better, carry around a UK driving licence (provisional will do!) - but do not hand over the passport. It's simply too valuable for some idiotic ticket inspector to even touch.

Travel / Advice for English guy on travel in poland; is it safe to travel alone? [3]

£ódz is quite a scary place for me, vast parts of it are incredibly run down and it just doesn't 'feel' comfortable for me. I know others will disagree, but that's my perspective - it's not really a great place to visit. The whole city seems to be based upon one huge shopping centre, so it's really not a great place to go! It should be nice and cheap, though. I should say though, I've never seen any signs of trouble in £ódz - it just seems absolutely run down to me.

Poznań on the other hand couldn't be safer. As long as you avoid the knucklehead bars/areas, you really won't have a problem - ie, if you stick to the beaten path, then it's very unlikely that you'll see any issues. Poznań doesn't have the same trouble with British drunks too, so people are quite happy with them here. People certainly don't get aggressive when they hear English - in fact, as long as you have some knowledge of football (and especially Lech Poznań!), then no-one will bother you except to talk nonsense about football. The other thing is that Poznań is studentville - so many people you can expect to meet on a night out will be students and therefore not particularly interested in beating you up.

I'd advise going to Wrocław instead of £odz - it's just a much nicer place and far more geared up for tourism. But of course, the Brit-Drunk problem is common there.

Life / Daily comute from Warsaw to Lodz [14]

I wouldn't rely on the train for such a commute - PKP are hardly known for their reliability. If you were driving, it's probably doable - but by train will just be too risky to rely on.

....and you really don't want to be going anywhere near £ódz!

(sorry, personal hatred showing through :P)

Life / Good Gym's in Poznań? [23]

The remplus place previously mentioned has good reviews from people, so it's probably worth checking it out. I haven't been personally, though.

Food / Asian food - is it easy to find in Poland (particularly Lublin)? [39]

You tried all of them in Poznan?

You poor thing...I wouldn't risk some of them.

Study / Looking for English Language schools in Katowice [48]

For me, I spend about 20 minutes for a two hour class. It can be much less - just depends on exactly what I'm doing. I've spent half an hour searching for just one thing in one textbook before.

For Callan, it's perfectly possible to turn up 5 minutes before. I don't, but I like to chill out and talk to people/etc - but if I wanted, it would be perfectly possible to turn up 5 minutes beforehand to teach a Callan class.

In my opinion, anyone new to teaching should try and find a school where they can do a mix of Callan-style and traditional teaching. The Callan stuff is good for getting used to teaching - and places less demands upon you as a teacher.

Life / Living In Poland For The Expat [67]


I declared war on the ticket inspectors on the 'other' bus company here.

Every single time, I loook veerry slooowllly through my pockets for my ticket, just to irritate them. One of them made the fatal mistake of talking about me in Polish (having assumed that because I was talking to people in English, none of us would speak Polish) - which pretty much guaranteed that I'm going to thoroughly waste his time from now on.

I'm comtemplating slyly photographing them and putting their pictures online for all the fare dodgers in Poznan to study ;)

Travel / Krakow or Warsaw?? Which is the best to stay in for one month? [10]

Come to Poznań, we have Stary Browar!

Travel / Poland is becoming too expensive to visit. It is a nice country, but [46]


You've forgotten to mention the Union Jack shorts.

I propose a mandatory idiot tax of 100GBP on every idiot who wears such a thing.

Life / How much do you spend a week (or month) on food shopping in Poland? [19]


Worse, I've got the flu and have absolutely no will to eat anything but soup and pate :(

I opened the fridge earlier and it's full of nice meats/etc. Apparently it all smells really nice, there's even a nice huge bit of bacon sitting in there. But of course, the smell of meat is making me want to throw up :(

Life / How much do you spend a week (or month) on food shopping in Poland? [19]


It is bad when you've eaten nothing but that in 5 days :(

Life / Passport stamped when leaving Shengen territory? [12]

I wonder how quick they would be to revoke a resident permit on the basis of crimes, alleged or real in another Schengen juristriction?

Life / Dog's life or what to expect when living in Poland with a dog [22]

Buses : some cities yes, some cities no. Just depends on the local bus company.

Yep, there's a dog licence. I think it's waived if the dog is neutered, or if you can get a paper from a friendly vet saying it is. Obviously this won't work for a male dog ;) But it's a tiny amount anyway.

No general rules, but a large dog barking might just make your neighbours try to poison it. Of course, all flats are different - ask the landlord or the administration for more advice.

Life / Passport stamped when leaving Shengen territory? [12]

On the basis of the Schengen acquis, a valid residence permit from a Schengen Member State, together with a travel document, can substitute for a visa. Thus, a third-country national presenting his/her passport and a valid residence permit issued by a Schengen Member State is allowed to enter another Schengen Member State for a short stay without needing a visa. This equivalence does not apply to residence permits issued by the United Kingdom and Ireland, since they do not apply these provisions of the Schengen acquis.

Basically - yep, you can travel, but only within the Schengen zone.

Life / How much do you spend a week (or month) on food shopping in Poland? [19]


I want one :(

Alas, I've completely lost my appetite and seem to be existing on nothing but pate sandwiches and soup. Dreadful :(

Life / Living In Poland For The Expat [67]

No no, not so high. 100zl on the spot, or 200zl if you pay more than 14 days afterwards.

But *how* are they going to fine someone who pretends not to understand a word of the language, who only has a foreign ID with a foreign address?

I'm told the reality is that they simply give up if the person persists in refusing to pay/understand.

Life / Living In Poland For The Expat [67]

You lucky bugger.

They 'lock' the validators in Poznan, so if you're caught without a validated ticket, boom, fine. But seeing as I carry my UK driving licence and a copy of my passport as ID, I still want to know what the consequence of being caught actually is. I was caught by some other bus company - but giving them 'no polish' and smiling broadly when they threatened me with the police if I didn't pay drove them crazy (and let me go for free!).

Life / Living In Poland For The Expat [67]


Oh yes. My favourite is when they stand and glare at you, while invading your personal space to make you give them the seat. Of course, I sit there and smile to myself like a lunatic, safe in the knowledge that with such rudeness, there's no way they're getting my seat.

I tend not to give my seat to any evil looking pensioners as well, but :P

Law / HOW DO I REGISTER MY BUSINESS NAME IN POLAND? [17]

To the original poster:

I'm not being funny, but you seem to have a lot of questions about some very basic things such as setting up a company and what permits/etc are needed. Do you really have the knowledge to succeed in Poland, particularly as the business culture here is quite different to the English speaking world?

I would put the business on hold for 6 months and research, research, research.

Life / Living In Poland For The Expat [67]


I've never been to the United States, but people can be terribly rude here. But I think part of it is accepting it and being rude straight back at them. For instance, while waiting at Wrocławska in Poznań for the tram, some old guy decided to push pretty much right in front of me. So, I took advantage and when the tram doors opened, I pushed right back in front of him and claimed the only free seat. His loss :) The worst thing about it was that if I'd gotten on first and claimed the only free seat, only for him to have to stand up - I'd have given him the seat.

But in some respects, people are much less rude - old people routinely get given seats on the tram, for instance. That happens much less in the UK, or at least in my experience.

UK, Ireland / Formal Qualifcations in Polish- UK [10]


It's mindblowingly easy as well, I had a look at the past papers and I reckon I could blag a pass in it :/

UK, Ireland / Formal Qualifcations in Polish- UK [10]

There's a GCSE in Polish, I know that much.

Life / Just cross the damn road...Is Poland strict about road crossing rules? [13]


God, I used to do that all the time...I wouldn't risk it here, not a chance!

Work / gday everyone - i'd love to come to Poland to teach English, but... [15]

See, it's a very strange market in Poznań. You'd think, with it being a business city, you could get away with charging stupid rates. But no - quite the opposite. I've seen a few adverts for native speakers, charging 30zl/hour - and with them offering to come to your place. I can't work out what they're doing, or why.

But to give some comparison, I get 35zl/hour after tax - and the teaching environment is fantastic. I would hold out for more - but effectively, I'm allowed to experiment with different teaching methods and to try different things. I don't have to pay for housing - so the money on offer is perfectly fine. I'm a new teacher though, so the teaching practice in a supportive environment is much, much more valuable than the money at this stage.

But it's relative - if I had to pay rent/a mortgage, I would be holding out for more. Likewise, if the school didn't have a fantastic setup, I'd be holding out for much more to cover the time spent preparing materials. As it stands, they have pretty much everything I need.

Travel / Poland/Ukraine Border at Medyka - Parking? [14]


People obey speed limits in Poland??!

Work / gday everyone - i'd love to come to Poland to teach English, but... [15]


35PLN/hour in your hand after tax/under the table should be considered an absolute minimum. Any less than that and walk away, you simply cannot expect to live on less than that.

If you can get 20 hours a week at 50zl/hour before tax, you'll do just fine :)

Work / gday everyone - i'd love to come to Poland to teach English, but... [15]


Especially if you live in Poznan ;)

I asked a bunch of kids today in the school what they thought of Warsaw.

'Legia', 'fuck' and 'bastards' were used liberally :D