ADVICE: Teaching English in Poland, will I get hired

I am a recent University and College Graduate. I studied criminology. Before beginning my career I want to move to Poland for a year and teach English.

I moved to Canada when I was 5 with my parents, but most of my family is in Poland. I've spent the last 5 summers in Poland and I loved it. I was wondering if I will get a job there either teaching in an elementary school, high school or private institution. These are my qualifications as of now:

Fluent in Speaking, reading and writing in English
Fluent in Speaking, reading and writing in Polish
University Graduate
College Graduate
I am also very outgoing and great with people.

I will do the certificate course for TEFL at oxford seminars in the next couple months, but before I start what are my chances of being hired. OHH and I also want to teach in Wroclaw since thats where most of my family resides.

Thanks

You'll get a job no problem. But don't bother wasting your money on oxford seminars: anybody who will give you a job on the strength of that qualification will also give you a job if you have no qualifications. The course is a complete rip-off. For slightly more money ($1170) you can do the only training course worth doing: the CELTA. And that is the price of doing it in Wroclaw too. The downside is that the course takes four weeks of intense study but the upside is that no school will question your qualifications at all.

Well thats actually cheaper, the oxford program is $1500. The CELTA is an adult course, would I still be able to teach at a high school or an elementary school?

I think my qualifications are pretty good considering the fact that i am fluent in Polish as well.

You could teach at one but you wouldn't want to: the money at state schools is terrible (less than a quarter what you earn in the private sector), classes are large and the resources are shoddy at best.

Your qualifications will be acceptable once you get a CELTA but they are nothing special. The fact that you only want to teach for one year is going to count against you. It takes the first year to learn your ar*e from your elbow as far as teaching goes.

By the way: that price I gave was in US dollars. You should speak to International House in Wroclaw to get the prices for this year, they're the people who run the course.

A high salary would be great but my main reason for going to Poland is living there, my last shot before I start my career, but i cant just go there and not do anything so I want to teach, meaning I need an assured job.

This international house, I want to do the program in June in Toronto. Im planning on going to Poland in mid-july. In an ideal situation i want to have a job before i actually go to Poland in July, would they hire me without being in the country?

Soooooooo many questions grrr :)

It's not like in Japan where applicants should, in most cases, be in the country. Just look at gaijinpot.com to verify that. You might just need a phone interview as I had to get my first post in Poland. Try contacting them delivery and certainly fire your CV off. It may well turn out to be more than a specualtive application.

No chance in a public school - a Masters degree with a recognised teaching qualification/element is the requirement. They might be flexible on the Masters requirement, but you'll still have to have the recognised teaching qualification.

I'm not certain as to the private schools that teach children - but a quick look at the British school in Poznan shows that most of their teachers have a Masters - and I would stab a guess at them being qualified to teach too.

Do you have an EU passport? If you don't actually have an EU passport, then it's trickier as you're into the world of work permits and permission to stay and so on.

Go for a private language school that also teaches kids :)

whoever actually taught english in Poland, how long did it take to hear an answer about the job once u applied, and what was the interview like?

So then my best bet is doing the CELTA course, but with that im not going to be able to teach at any other level then just adults...right

in a private school-yes,not in any other.

so the best program to do is the CELTA for my qualifications, and i pretty much should and could teach in a private school. Do you guys know of any private schools in wroclaw

In regards to other questions, i was born in poland so i have a polish passport. and from my understanding the requirment is a BA, in poland u go to university for 5 years and u graduate with a masters.

The telephone interview was short and I heard quickly. I think you have the wrong end of the stick about CELTA. Having CELTA doesn't mean you can't teach kids. I have taught kids here and have it.

Mmm...do you have a PESEL and a Polish ID card? If so, combined with CELTA, you should be very employable.


I don't have it (yet!) and I somehow teach kids too. I don't know how or why, apart from that my boss is clearly a mentalist. But I get on with them and don't expect much from them, so maybe there is something there. Having said that, one particular kid cheated at HANGMAN. They then had an hour long class all about cheating as punishment ;)

No I don’t have a PESEL yet, so I don’t have osobisty dowot, I wanted to apply for one but I wasn’t in Poland for long enough to get all the details sorted out last time. Awww who cheats on hangman...super cute, but imp sure an hour of cheating and punishment taught them a lesson. :)


soooo how did u get a job before u completed the program, and did u apply living in another country?

I guess my issue is I want to be guaranteed a job having completed this CELTA course, I don’t want to dish out the money and waste a month and then not have anything to show for it, I’m going to Poland regardless July 20th and before that time I want to complete the course and have a job before I leave Canada.

Should i apply for a job before i do the CELTA course?

If you are in Wroclaw, with a CELTA in your hand, in late August / early September, you are guaranteed a job. Schools will hire based on telephone interviews but they much prefer face-to-face interviews.

You could apply for jobs before you get a CELTA but I wouldn't think it is necessary to do that.

yeah, you'll probably get hired but not always get paid :-(

Well im thinking that ill contact a few places before just to hear from them, I wanted to get the job before I book my ticket so I know if i should book a one way or a round trip!


Why wouldnt i get paid?

You don't need CELTA (or any TEFL qualification), basically - it just depends on the location and how desperate they are. Obviously in places like Warsaw/Krakow/Wroclaw, they can be a bit more fussy - but in Poznan, it's not so attractive to foreigners (why not, I don't know, it's a great place!) and so simply speaking the language and having some education behind you is good enough for some schools. It all depends on your expectations, really.


In all honesty, CELTA will get you a job somewhere. It's a gold standard of sorts - if you've got it, combined with a degree, then you shouldn't have any problems whatsoever finding employment.

Yeah, a caveat though. Be careful where you put yourself. I had the CELTA, 6 years exp and 2 degrees before accepting my current assignment. It's a good school but things are getting very repetitive. I don't feel like I use my CELTA knowledge now. Experience takes over. It opened a door but you get places by making your face known.

First of all you guys are awsome, thanks a lot for all the responses i feel soo much better about the whole teaching thing.

So do u guys think that maybe i should call a few of the schools and try to apply before doing the CELTA course, and see what they say?

I definately want to work in Wroclaw or even Dzierzonow( my grandma's town) which is like about 40 mins from wroclaw.

I would. The CELTA is expensive and is only really an entrance-level qualification. The DELTA is the one which shows fuller dedication to the process of teaching. MSc's too. Stall on it until you hear from the schools.

Ya it definatley is expensive, do then I should apply too private schools! Does anyone work currently or has worked for a school Wroclaw, wondering if anyone can give me some suggestions, list some schools???

does anyone know of any schools in wroclaw that i can apply too?