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

1) No issues at all. Obviously, a bit of common sense is needed - but generally, Poland is a safe place.

2) Nothing is 'required' - but the CELTA is pretty much considered to be 'standard' here for a good teaching job. But again, if you know your stuff, you can blag your way into a job easily enough.

3) I don't know any in Poznan, sorry :P

4) Very friendly, except those working for the government. Many in private businesses will go the extra mile - for instance, my favourite cafe, the owner always offers to translate the menu for me.

Law / Setting up a Chinese Language School in Poland - good business idea? [41]

I would say it is - Japanese culture in Europe is much more fashionable than Chinese culture, for whatever reason. Many young Europeans will also be ideologically opposed to learning Chinese, particularly the ones from the former East.

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


Getting there from Poznan is a bit long winded without a car though :(

Food / Butcher Shops in Poznan? [7]

Get yourself a weekly tram ticket (32zl, though only irritatingly available from MPK points rather than most kiosks) and explore!

What part of the city are you in? I might be able to give you some ideas on interesting places to explore that's nearby if I know the area.

First question : Absolutely no idea, I'm afraid.
Secondly : Again, sorry, but no idea. I think though, that the connection probably is the same.
Thirdly : Now, this is what I might know about. There's two places that might sell such a thing that I know of - Media Markt and Praktiker. (sp?). Both are in the M1 shopping centre in Rataje, and they do quite a lot of things like this - though I don't know if they will actually have outdoor cookers. But they would be your best bet, I think.

Law / Setting up a Chinese Language School in Poland - good business idea? [41]

Yeah, this is the thing...will people want to go to the hassle of learning Chinese when they could simply do business with English speakers?

Work / Poznan - Career Path [22]


Hahaha :)

It's a very European thing for the girls to end up orange, though it's way worse in the UK than in Poland. It does make me laugh though, watching some of the idiots in this osiedle walk around completely orange while it's snowing.

Having said this, some of the women around here manage the fat part just fine too... ;)

The one thing I'd mention is that with any sort of food business, make sure to make it recognisably American. You know, the kind of place that screams AMERICA to you - because many places (like those horrible Sphinx places) will do American food - but badly, and in a lousy atmosphere.

Food / Butcher Shops in Poznan? [7]

There's a pretty big butcher's shop in Os. Czecha that seems to do all sorts of meat, though I don't do the shopping, I don't know if it will do that sort of thing, though.

(useless post, really)

Law / Setting up a Chinese Language School in Poland - good business idea? [41]


I think this is a dangerous assumption to make, because the languages are so incredibly different. I know there's good arguments for/against using the native tounge in the classroom - but I fear without rigid lesson plans, it could easily end up being disjointed.

It's an interesting concept, and thinking about this further, if you had a Polish teacher alongside the Chinese teacher, then it very well may work - I think it's probably too complicated for a Chinese/English speaker to be able to deal with effectively, but add in a Polish/English teacher with strict lesson plans and it might, just might work wonderfully.


You're definitely doing your homework here :)

The problem, as I can see, would be the costs. You would almost certainly have to write your own 'method' for the school to begin with, in order to make sure that the lessons were structured enough to work under the English/Polish banner. On top, as you've already seen, there's not much demand for Chinese being taught - and I'm certain that if there was a demand, schools like Profi-Lingua would advertise some dreadful course in it.

I would steer clear of the school idea for now, personally - it's just too risky to focus on a language like Chinese when many people in Poland don't have another language - English and German is unfortunately dominant. It's the kind of idea that might work in Warsaw - but Wrocław is likely to just be too small for it. To give some comparison, Poznan isn't much smaller and is regarded as being the business capital of Poland, yet there's nothing here in the way of Chinese language provision.

What I would do is look at the languages of communication between Europe and Asia - what's being used, why is it being used, etc. That might tell you all you need to know.

Work / Poznan - Career Path [22]


Of course, but looking around here, there's basically solariums, alcohol shops and food shops. There's nothing else - which is why anyone with a bit of common sense could make a killing around here.

Law / Setting up a Chinese Language School in Poland - good business idea? [41]


The last part should tell you what you need to know - that the market will be very limited. Wrocław isn't really a big enough city to have much demand - and as I understand it, the city is more orientated towards manufacturing than services anyway.

Even if the Chinese speakers speak English, you still have the problem of accent - it's not difficult for me as a native English speaker to instantly work out linguistical quirks/etc - but it may be a struggle for Polish people. Remeber, English fluency isn't that high in Poland - younger people will understand, but people of management/director age may not have had the opportunity to learn it in a formal context and instead rely upon their conversational skills. This represents a barrier for education in this respect.


From the people I teach, I can tell you that the language of communication is English - in fact, one company is making all the workers learn English in order to communicate effectively with their suppliers in Asia.

Now, if you were based in Wrocław and could supply Chinese teachers who were fluent in Polish to companies throughout Poland, you may be on to an absolute winner.

Work / Poznan - Career Path [22]

Local info, it seems. I've looked for a website, but the only websites that cover commercial property tend to have ridiculous prices for city centre shops - not small kiosks/shops in your average osiedle.

Travel / Darts in Poznan [8]

The thing that drives me mental is that before coming to Poland, I was starting to really hit my stride with darts. I was even starting to hit 100+ checkouts from time to time, but now? I fear it's all been lost...

Having said this, I'm still waiting for my first 180. I've hit endless 140's and just cannot hit the magic 180 :(

I've done a bit of investigation into this, and it seems there is a regular tournament/league scene in Poznan. But alas, it seems to be bloody soft-tip only.

agawaclub.com.pl

But then, I found this...

cronit.cyberdusk.pl/viking/content/view/15/54/

So there clearly is a board somewhere, in a pub, in Poznań...but where?

I'm going to hunt down the Agawa pub tomorrow and check, just in case there's a board there.

Travel / Anyone know a pub in Poznan that shows English football matches? [13]

Surely it's not beyond the imagination of one pub in this entire city to regularly show Premiership matches? :(

Then again, I guess they might not want the bother of having Lech fans turning up...maybe a mandatory English test on the door? :D

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

Lucky so and so, I want to visit Ukraine :(

Law / Setting up a Chinese Language School in Poland - good business idea? [41]


Highly unlikely. It's not practical in the way that English is, nor is it useful like German is for many Poles working in German-owned businesses.

Even in the UK, a country which is service-orientated, it's not like it's easy to find a private Chinese school. If someone really wants to study it, they'll do it at university - just like in the UK.

Out of curiosity, how are you going to find bilingual Polish/Chinese speakers? It seems to be my observation that Chinese speakers in Poland generally have very weak Polish. For instance, go to the 'Chinski Market' near Poznan PKS and speak Polish to them. They won't reply in Polish, they'll either show you or use English, bizzarely.

UK, Ireland / What do Polish people think of Ireland and the Irish? [50]

I do wonder if it's a Poznan thing, seeing as this city is completely Boruc-crazy and there's always loads of Celtic-themed stuff going on.

Travel / Darts in Poznan [8]

I've definitely had enough now, how can people in Poland play with those awful electronic boards? There's no skill involved at all..Last time I was playing, I kept getting bounceouts, yet it was registering treble 20's :/

There's apparently a pub in Poznan that organises darts leagues and so on, but I've never been there. I don't have the guide to hand, so I can't check - but I'm inclined to go and have a look later on today.

Ah ha, this is the place -

inyourpocket.com/poland/poznan/bars_pubs__clubs/barspubs/ve nue/33308-Agawa_.html

If there's not a proper board there, then there's no hope :(

Life / Living In Poland For The Expat [67]


Difficult if you don't speak the language - you simply cannot rely on someone being able to understand even basic English, and so you have to adapt. But if you have someone Polish - then it's much, much easier.


Yep, the people are generally friendly - unless they work for the State.


It's actually not as bad as the UK - yep, it's colder, but it's much drier too. It hasn't rained here in weeks - and right now, the skies are blue and the sun is shining. It's still absolutely freezing, mind - but it's much more pleasant than the constant rain in the UK.


It's a doddle to pick up once you're actually here - though I agree, it does seem more difficult - probably because of the weird alphabet.


I prefer it to the UK, simply because the pace of life is considerably slower. People are more relaxed here - even the local drunks seem more chilled out. And the lack of kids getting drunk in parks is very very notable.

UK, Ireland / What do Polish people think of Ireland and the Irish? [50]

Absolute nonsense.

The Irish (and Scots) are very well received in Poland - Celtic culture is quite popular among young people, and even the complete blockheads in society will get excited at the thought of you knowing about Celtic FC.

English people on the other hand aren't so well received - I've had comments about being English on the tram before, only for my girlfriend to tell them that 'Actually, he's Scottish' - and it being met with big smiles.

Many Polish people (and I believe that it's even taught in schools!) are sympathetic towards the Irish - viewing them as kindred spirits in many senses.

So, don't worry about it :)

Law / "Texas style" steakhouse in Poznan. Worthy investment? [35]

Beer? In this weather? Are you absolutely crazy?

I haven't even thought about beer since the new year, it's just been too cold to comtemplate one...

(and you're making me hungry, the blandness of the food here gets to me sometimes...)

Work / Poznan - Career Path [22]

No problem, feel free to give me a shout if you need any more help. I'll let you know if I hear of any jobs going.

One other note : I'd advise to try and keep afternoons free if you can. There's so many opportunities for private enterprise in Poznan, it's getting ridiculous - one example is that a kiosk in my osiedle (which is one of the biggest!) is available for rent for 700zl a month. That's absolutely nothing - and there's such a big population within five minutes walk, that it would be easy to do something with it.

There's also a couple of schools that should be avoided, but I'll drop you a PM with the details.

Work / Irish girl to move to Poland. Is it dangerous (beauty therapist) [29]

Oh come on, we sing about being in Scotland before someone else, even when we're already there!

Law / How do I get Permanent Residency in Poland? (Required for mortgage). [10]

Isn't the Karta Pobytu permanent residency as it is?

Work / Irish girl to move to Poland. Is it dangerous (beauty therapist) [29]


Are you as bad as the Scots in terms of singing about how much you miss your homeland, even while in a pub in the middle of the homeland? :D

I made a terrible mistake once. I was working as a 'promotions supervisor' (read : supervise people handing out flyers) and thought it would be funny to take some of the leaflets and pretend to be Irish. Next thing, two hideously ugly women grabbed me and told me how much they love Ireland and how they love Irish accents and Irish men.

I've never impersonated an Irishman again :/

Work / Irish girl to move to Poland. Is it dangerous (beauty therapist) [29]

One came up to me in KFC in Poznań Głowny and told me that she was hungry and wanted money. I told her with the straightest face possible that I was hungry too...with a mouthful of chicken in my mouth :)

Travel / Darts in Poznan [8]

I'd absolutely love a game, I haven't played since last summer (apart from with the dreadful soft tip darts, and I think my game is ruined!). Watching the Barney-Taylor match made me even more annoyed at not being able to play.

And do whatever it takes, bribe them, anything to get such a dart board. The strangest thing is that they sell the real boards in shops, and there's a shop in Wilda that sells quite a broad range of darts accessories - for both steel and soft tip.

I've been here since August now, and I'm unsurprisingly teaching. Not very exciting really, but it's easy money...me? cynical?

Work / Poznan - Career Path [22]

*deep breath*.

Okay, most schools are located in/around Plac Wolnosci and Sw. Marcin. There must be about 8-10 schools in that area alone, if not more. I'm terrible with names, but just look for the UK flags on the signs - that's how I found most schools, anyway. There's also a Berlitz school in the shopping centre next to the Wrocławska tram stop, and some school in Stary Rynek - I can't describe which part of the Rynek, but it's in the 'fast food' corner as I put it - the corner with (usually) a huge advertising poster.

The first port of call should be to try all them - some are Callan schools, some are traditional. After that, you can try elsewhere. Let me know if you need more schools to target - I know more, but they require about ten million lines to explain where they are :)

Moneywise, it depends. Certainly, don't take any less than 35PLN per 50 minutes for Callan teaching, and that's 35PLN in your hand. Some schools are quite happy just to give you the money in your hand, others will want it to be legal - but either way, make sure that you have physically 35PLN in your hand for every 'hour'. The beauty of Callan is that it requires absolutely no preparing - so you have no issues with turning up five minutes before a class.

For other teaching, it's hard and should really be judged on the situation - if they want you to teach Business classes for example, then you should hold out for 50PLN minimum. The best advice in this respect is to use your instincts - if you have to prepare lessons, then demand more. And also, if they want you to teach advanced Business classes, you can hold out for much much more - basically, demand what your MBA is worth if you're teaching material of that level.

As for private lessons - it's probably worth holding off on them right now. Not because I have a vested interest (I'm too lazy to do such lessons...) - but because people won't have much money after Christmas/New Year. But it certainly can't hurt to put up some advertisements in places such as the British Council Library - although my advice in this respect is to make it clear that you have the experience and business knowledge and will charge accordingly. I've seen one particularly idiotic native speaker charging 30zl an hour - simply put, you can charge 50zl for conversation alone - and if you know your stuff, you can easily charge more than that for specialist Business private classes.

The thing that strikes me is that you've got an MBA. It might very well be worth sending CV's to the big companies in Poznan on a speculative basis - although if you don't need to earn a huge amount of money (2000zl a month is ridiculously easy to get when teaching!), then there are far more opportunities for someone willing to go it alone so to speak.

One note : for some reason, people in this country want a photograph with the CV. I've never understood this, but it's the way it is :s

Any questions? :)

edit : I forgot the most important thing. Post an advert asking for a teaching job on gumtree.pl (there's a Poznan localisation), and keep an eye out on there. I got my current job through that website, anyway :)

Travel / Darts in Poznan [8]

I WANT TO KNOW THE SAME THING.

It's driving me wild - the soft darts are just too light for me to throw (I throw 26g darts, so throwing with 20g at the heaviest is impossible).

If you find out, please, please, please let me know :)

Work / Poznan - Career Path [22]

I saw that 'Native English' school a few weeks ago and rolled my eyes at it - any school only offering native speakers simply won't be able to provide thoroughly for someone learning English. At least in my opinion, anyway :)

As for schools taking people without teaching experience - now is certainly the time to get a job. The semester is winding down, and they want to ensure that people keep coming back next semester - and having a native speaker on board might just convince some people to keep on paying.

Having said this, I wouldn't want to try and find a job at the minute in this weather...-16c going to school today IN THE SUNSHINE. How..?!

Work / Poznan - Career Path [22]


Ooh, I'll bite.

Poznan is a very strange city - it's without doubt the business capital of Poland, yet multinationals are very reluctant to come here. Many students at my school are involved with property/shares/etc, which shows that there's work for this kind of thing here - yet barely any of them have had regular contact with native English speakers in Poznan. I really don't know why - even one of them is constantly begging for me to take her on a night out so that we can hunt down native speakers for her to practice on.

Kraków appears to be attracting much more in the way of English multinationals at least - why, I really don't know, but it's probably related to the popularity of the city with English speakers.

One thing that's notable is that there's a lot of German companies in Poznan - if you can speak German and (obviously) English - then a job should be easy to find.

I think the best bet in your case is simply to teach for half a year - it'll give you time to really find your feet in Poznań - and (no offence intended to many of the teachers on here!) teaching is light enough to allow you to investigate other things too. You might find that students are useful contacts too - although I have no interest in doing anything at the minute, so I don't know how true this might be.

To be honest, I'm really struggling to think of how else you could find something. I don't know of the expat scene here at all - or even if there is one. Apparently there's a bar in the Sheraton that's very English-orientated, but how busy/populated/useful it might be, I'm unsure. There's also a place called Coxy's according to the ever-useful In Your Pocket - but I've never been inside, and when I've been past, it's either been locked up or playing hideously loud and crap music that makes me flee to the nearest cafe.

But any questions, feel free to ask.