Work / Teaching English in Poland, no degree just certificate [41]

Gjene, are you in Poznań at the moment? It's much, much easier if you're actually here - not only because you can collar the directors to their faces, but also because you can judge where is worth putting CV's into in the first place.

Having said this, it seems to be a very Poznań trait to completely ignore your CV, then call up several weeks later enquiring as to your availability. Infuriating.

Life / Exchange US DRIVING LICENCE IN POLAND by taking practical test only? [11]

Just for information purposes :

It's possible to take the theory test in Poznań in English, and the requirement is the same re sworn/certified translator.

However, I've been told that the driving examination centre isn't particularly bothered about the credentials of the translator, provided they are capable of doing the job. This being Poland though, I wouldn't rely on this - it's quite possible that it's wholly dependent on the examiner/secretary on the day, and so not worth risking. Any concrete information would be nice concerning the need for the sworn translator.

And while I'm at it - a sworn translator for the driving part only should cost no more than 120PLN.

Life / NHS/NFZ assistance for British expat [12]

Jesus, I'm a complete moron. I've just noticed the 'British Expat' part in the title.

Don't bother with the NIP if you don't need it, especially as not being registered will probably cause all sorts of confusion and arguments with the tax office. You (officially) don't need to be registered in Poland to get a NIP - but I wouldn't fancy my chances of explaining this to the tax office ladies!

Finding an English speaking doctor is going to be tricky - but did you know that you can often see a private doctor ridiculously cheaply? I was quoted 120zł in Poznań to see an (English speaking!) doctor and to get the tests done. It might be worth just doing that in the meantime, until you can get your hands on an English speaking doctor.

You've got my pity that they won't phone around for you - I can't for the life of me understand this attitude of certain schools, who seem to fail to understand that foreigners here need sometimes just that little bit of extra support.

As for the medical book - nope, no need for it. But the problem is that many of these NFZ-funded practices are still stuck in pre-EU times - my local one had never seen the European card before!

Work / Little Help finding out right to leave 1 yr contract. [15]

Wise crack? It was as much aimed at myself as it was aimed at others.

I know some Polish teachers earning less than me, who, in my opinion, are far superior teachers. Their accents are absolutely spot on - in one case, I was convinced she wasn't Polish. Should they really earn less, when their language skills are probably higher than 90% of people living in the UK and definitely higher than quite a few native speakers I've met?

Of course, you have to pay the big wages to attract the good native speakers in the first place - but I'm not wholly convinced that there's actually a need for them.

Work / Little Help finding out right to leave 1 yr contract. [15]

To be honest, the contract probably wouldn't be worth enforcing, either on your part or the school's part. It does depend how much less hours you're working - if it's contracted for 20 and you're getting 15, it's not really worth kicking up a fuss about. But I can understand if it's contracted for 20 and you're only getting 10 - so you really have to weigh it up. I'm not familiar with where you're from, so you have to consider that it might not be so easy getting another job too - at the very least, I would stay in your job until you land another one.

Are the other teachers getting their contracted hours? It might very well be that they just can't afford to pay you for more hours - many schools will overpay their native speakers (wrongly, in my opinion) compared to the locals, only to realise that there's no real benefit in having a native speaker around.

But another thing - what kind of director would put a 3 month break clause into a yearly contract? Seems absolute nonsense!

As for private lessons - if it's not in your contract that you're exclusive to the school, tell them to get lost, particularly if you're doing it to make up the hours that he's not giving you.

Life / NHS/NFZ assistance for British expat [12]

Yep, it pretty much works like that. Make sure to take the European health care card along when you register and when you see the doctor, and there shouldn't be any issues. There isn't any clearcut guidance as to what is and what isn't free - my local osiedle doctor doesn't charge for anything that Poles would get free, but I've heard of doctors charging for everything and then leaving it for people to apply for a refund from their home country.

Of course, if you're not EU, then it complicates things :P

Work / Teaching English in Poland, no degree just certificate [41]

Wow, Poznan is all the rage these days.

Anyway, hello! I'm in Poznan, and I'm on an industrial year from Writtle College, near Chelmsford..but I'm Scottish. Don't ask, long story ;) But anyway, it shouldn't be too difficult for you to find a job.

If you want, I can help you with the locations of schools - Google is pretty useless, and it's highly annoying having to walk around Poznań to find schools. I know what it's like, having had to have done this at the start of September. Some schools you should also avoid like the plague - Profi-Lingua is the big one, but some of them in Poznan should be avoided too. I won't say which ones publicly - but there's at least one where the director will happily hire you after two minutes conversation with her, only for her to then expect you to be a natural at teaching Callan after 10 minutes.

What else...basically, if you need any help at all in Poznan, feel free to give me a shout - I'm contracted for 15 hours and rarely work more than 20 in a week, so I've got more than enough free time to be able to help :) Having a Polish boyfriend will really help too - my girlfriend is Polish, and without her help in certain respects, I would've been banging my head off the wall.

And yes, I would definitely say that it's worth just trying to find any job for a few months until you know what the score is. I'll ask around for you as well if you want - people know people who know people and all that ;)

I could talk about this subject all day...