Work / New English 'teacher' in Poland (I have no qualifications). [119]

just come into this ... responding to first post, erm, are you joking? you can't bloody take money off people when you have absolutely no skill whatsoever to offer them. do you think that just speaking english qualifies you to teach it?!!

sorry ... you can advertise for giving conversation sessions, but not english lessons.

eg, answer me this:

what is the difference between 'I made the coffee' and 'I've made the coffee' and 'I've been making the coffee' and 'the coffee will have been having been made' ... tell me. Oh, and by the way - I don't speak much English. But explain it to me, please.

Love / Do Poles ignore domestic abuse? [54]

Anecdotal is interesting, though.

As for getting out, isn't an option at the moment, for one reason and another. And it isn't bad enough, either, to do that - there are other things at stake, like the baby's contact with her father. Believe me - I have been over the alternatives in my mind, and staying put is at the moment the best of a bad lot.

but thanks

Work / New English 'teacher' in Poland (I have no qualifications). [119]


Funny, that. Have actually written v successful ELT course for Poland. And yes, it did include conversation.


It makes sense in an appropriate context, although, admittedly, it is a rare example. Was trying to demonstrate that being a native speaker alone, without training, doesn't qualify you to teach that language - most native speakers of a language don't have the language-consciousness to be able to explain the nuts and bolts of their own language, as they haven't yet looked at it like that - they've just spoken it without thinking, without analysis. A more palatable example of the above tense might be:

'Shall we take the children to see your sister in hospital tomorrow afternoon?'

'No way - she's having an operation tomorrow morning. She'll have been being operated on for 3 hours - she won't be in a fit state for anything.'

Without getting into total English tense deconstruction, yes, we do tend to avoid the more wordy tenses in favour of simpler options - so in the situation above, wd be much more likely to say 'No way - she's having that op - she won't be up to it' - BUT, learners coming to a foreign language will encounter all/most of the tenses, and will want to know what they are, why they are like they are, and when we use them.

OK, I know - it was late last night - I was harsh on the innocent poster. I'm not knocking conversation with a native speaker - it is a great thing. I first started teaching when I was 21, on a Greek island. I had an English literature degree, but had never taught English (so similar situation to the poster). My first English lesson was a disaster: the guy from the beach bar wanted to do First Certificate. He came in with a neat little piece of paper on which he had 20 questions. The first was: 'What is difference - 'I have gone' and 'I went'?' He looked at me expectantly. I though 'oh fxxk ...' Straight after the lesson I bought the whole of 'Headway' and first taught myself English ... taking cash off someone when I didn't have a clue seemed like a bad thing to do. He didn't have a lot of cash, and maybe the kids or adults going to the poster's lessons don't have much either.

My point is: if you want to teach English, you first need to learn how to teach it. You can do that fairly simply, if you have the right mind for it. Get hold of a good ELT course - probably for adults, or gimnazjum+ (13-15 year olds), and read it - fast!


See above. Students do. They don't know it's pointless - they just know there's something going on there, and want to understand why. No questions are pointless when you're trying to get hold of a language (in my humble opinion - but hey, you guys sure seem to know better ... ; )

Love / Do Poles ignore domestic abuse? [54]


not a wind up at all - calmness is when i am on my own at this computer

thank you guys SO much for what you have said - it is having the strength to make the right call that i need

and stupid of me to have posted about it because i don't really feel up even to talking about it. i don't talk to my mother or siblings or friends really about it any more. i just kind of feel sick every evening when he gets back now, though. told him that and he said 'co mi to?' (ie, what the fuck do i care?)

i have to stop being a victim. i know. anyhow, let's close this ... only i can change it. but thanks, you guys.

Work / New English 'teacher' in Poland (I have no qualifications). [119]


have to disagree - in context they could both sound perfectly normal, to me


sorry - not likely ; )
have a confidentiality clause in my contract ...


I don't entirely disagree with you - a language classroom is, in itself, a highly artificial environment, and almost the worst place in which to learn. See all the Polish builders who now speak beautiful English and have never seen an ELT book in their lives ...

However, it IS possible to learn a lot in the right classroom, with the right teacher, and the right book. I fought a battle for natural English and made myself v unpopular with the publisher for refusing to write unnatural crap for the sake of contextualising grammar - they may well have edited the crap in later, though ; ) An ELT book is v much Frankenstein's monster - so many people contribute, and yes, there is often a mishmash of old-school grammar and new-school 'communicative' methodology ... it is a totally imperfect science, in my view, and it's all up to the teacher, really, in the end, to use the material the best he/she can. Authors generally get something around a 10% royalty on the student's book - that shows you how much the publisher considers 'authorial' input to have been ... ; )

Work / New English 'teacher' in Poland (I have no qualifications). [119]


Actually, pretty much all of the UK-produced books now have targeted Polish language elements - eg, rubrics at lower levels are almost always in Polish, plus there are grammar explanations/summary in Polish, wordlists, etc. The big UK publishers have large Polish workforces on the ground in Poland, offices in all major cities, etc. It is very much a collaboration now, with the Polish offices having, generally, absolutely final say over published materials. It has changed hugely in the past ten or twelve years.


Agree with Mafketis that this is a nonsense - grammar per se is not taught/not properly taught in most UK schools any more, and anyhow, even when it was, it was not taught from the perspective of English as a foreign language. Tense labels such as 'present perfect passive continuous' (oh, my favourite ; ) and aspects of simple and continuous and oh, so much, just aren't taught - as they aren't needed.

Nope, just going to school in England really doesn't qualify you to teach English as a foreign language. I stick to my original point: teaching any language requires some form of training and skill acquirement and experience - otherwise you are taking cash from people under false pretences. Not on.