Looking for English Language schools in Katowice

It had to be said

Well, I agree with a lot of it. Callan is McDonalds English.

Actually, and this is a common misconception by people - there's actually a huge amount of grammar in Callan. It's badly explained and taught in the 'method' however - as it seems that Callan realised that he needed to explain grammar, but didn't have any sort of experience and so forced it into fitting the 'method'.

My school uses Callan more as a frame in this sense - while the Callan explanation for the 'past progressive' will be used to begin with, it'll be backed up with proper teaching of the relevant grammar. It seems to work well - Callan gives the quick guide to it, but they will be given exercises and more exercises until it's thoroughly understood.


This again is where individual schools differ. For instance, in my school - giving the 'wrong' answer according to the book is encouraged, provided it's correct. But when you get schools that insist on the answers only being 'book' answers - then they're quite clearly dreadful and exist solely to make money.


Everyone is trained properly at my school, thankfully. But we are encouraged to put our own slant on things - which means preparation. Essentially, we mix Callan and other styles as appropriate - which is entirely down to us as teachers. Obviously there's communication between the secretarial staff and the teachers as to what people are thinking, but generally speaking, it works rather well.


Likewise, many of these problems are solved in my school through careful teaching. Generally speaking, those who rely on memorising the book are weeded out quite quickly - as we're allowed to change the questions as we see fit. It's always rather satisfying to nail the 'memory learners' with changing a question around - or even asking 'why?' when they're least expecting it.

But these people are encouraged to learn through other methods of teaching too. For instance, I always try to introduce new things which get people thinking in/about English. My latest trick was to make people give a presentation with absolutely no notice about a certain European landmark - and made them ask questions and give answers. Given that even the worst Callan class will have one or two confident speakers, it worked beautifully in terms of getting people to talk. But that's my style - everyone is different.

All those negative things you've mentioned are definitely huge problems in a 'real' Callan school. I can name a school in Poznań which is actively putting people for the FCE exam after completing the 'Avalon' course - yet because of the complete lack of preparation that it provides, they are basically putting people forward to fail. It's disgusting to watch, as it really is purely about money.

I think ultimately, Callan (or any other method)'s success is in getting beginners to talk in a comfortable environment. But once they can communicate in English (no matter how badly), Callan falls down badly - and as you say, only succeeds as a moneymaker.

Hello,

I am a native english speaker looking for a job in katowice or the surrounding cities. I've applied to a few schools to be an English teacher since last year 2008, but happen to be no reply from them yet.

Can anyone recommended a school i can get a job ? I can't say l'm the best teacher but i i know i can cope somehow to be one.

Thanks for any help :)

Go visit all the schools in person. Thats what I will have to do this Thursday

Thank you... I will try that today .

Good luck on Thursday.

Where u able to secure a job for urself? i mean by visiting the school, did it work out for you?

Eddie

I remember they were hiring natives in British Council in Gliwice, and I think they were expecting some experience in teaching. That was around 5 years ago..

No it didn't, none of the Callan schools here were hiring, they said to come back and reapply in May or August. I will take my CELTA before then and repply for all schools, not just Callan. I have been teaching students privately, I have a hell of a lot of material to work from. Pretty good.

Just for information, The British Council school in Gliwice closed at the end of the 2007/2008 school year

Where do you teach now, keithush?

Oxford School of English

On Zwycięstwa Street?

That's the one

How often do you go out? Can you send PM's now?

They closed? wow, that's a surprise, I'm at the uni from time to time, and I think I can always see their sign still there. Well, shame, I liked it there. Do you know why did they close?

They had to give up their rooms and the ones that they were offered were not in a good place so they decided to close instead. New Dean and all that made it almost impossible to continue. To make matters worse the Uni didn't use the rooms for a year so the school could have continued anyway!

Does anyone live/work in Katowice? I move there in September to teach at the IH school. Would be good to get in touch with some of the expat community. I'm 24, from Manchester and this will be my first proper teaching job, also first time living abroad...

Hi Tommo,

I live in Katowice and been here for 6 months now, teaching english. I dont have any formal qualifications so I have to take work in some of the smaller local towns as the ones in the city seem to be sticklers for qualifications...hey ho, drifting off point a bit. So just to say you can feel free to contact me anytime you want. Kato has a small expat community mixed of Brits and americans and most of em are a good bunch, generally we all meet up in the Irish Bar to chat pish and sink Zywiec whilst watching the footy

irishmbassy.com/Katowice/EN/index.html

Even though I've been here for 6 months, it's still quite difficult meeting and befriending locals as you would expect when you move abroad but most people I do meet are good folk and keen to get together. partly to blame for this is the schools I work in, most of the teachersaren't so young in places I work or indeed they acually live in these small towns outside the city and rarely do they venture in here

Anyways, feel free to contact me whenever :0)