Some details about Teaching in Poland

I know that there is an agency in England that send abroad people ( british) to teach English.
As I know they also run beforehand some grammar-teaching courses for candidates.

Does anyone know any details or their website?

Hmm - is it non-profit agency?

tefl.co.uk

this could be it, it's the only one I know - I only know one person who used it though

thanks I will have a look at it.

When I was in Poland we had English teacher in my Bank- coming twice a week.
Hsaid that he was recruited by agency in England he finished with them some course
( about teaching techniques, grammar) and than he could choose when to go Krakow, Prag.......many different places.

It sounds very similar to tefl

Hi everybody, this is my first post!

What exactly are the requirements of being an english teacher in Poland?

Umiem bardzo dobrze pisac i rozmawiac po Angielsku ale moj polski nie jest za najlepszy. Przylecialem do Australi 18 lat temu i zapominam niekture slowa! Nigdy nie bylem w polskiej szkole, tylko w zerowce ale prawie wrzystko rozumiem...

:)

-Greg

Feb 20, 07 [18:30] - Attached on merging:
teaching english in Poland

What are the minimal qualifications for someone to teach adults or young people? Does a native english speaker need to have the CELTA certificate? or is Poland a little more relaxed on this?

Hi sernik,

Now I'm a relative newbie on TEFL having got my CELTA this year. Nearly all schools in Poland will be looking for someone who has a CELTA and degree of one type or another. TEFL qualifications are accepted but you might find pay is compromised. Of course, you could always work on the black market, but this would mean you'll have to find someone who'll take you and you'll get paid dirt.

The time to be applying for jobs is now. Most schools will only take emails fro exceptional candidates, so really you hav to be on the street now, CV in hand. Once October comes it'll be bloody hard to find a position. Next round of recruiting will be in January for the second semester if any teachers drop out. From my experience in the last few weeks schools are also avoiding travellers who want to teach for a year/half year preferring candidates who'll stay for longer.

Once again, I'm a relative newbie, for further discussion on this go to the following link (if the admin tea doesn't mind me posting this:

Most questions should be answered there about all aspects of teaching in Poland. My advise is to use the search function before posting as some people on the forum get snotty about questions that have already been answered.

sernik,

Adults or young people ?

Do you want to teach in a private school or state/public school ?

Private schools will be more relaxed about qualifications. In fact the more they need someone the more relaxed they will be.

The law and teacher's unions have an influence on state schools.

The size of the city or town can be important too. A big city = more schools and more competition for a teaching post.

my first language is not English, but I speek it and write it very will, I lived in the US for 13 years, do you think I might have a chance to teach english in Poland, I have been in Poland so many times and I love it, I have a collage degree in Economics and flight engineer

What teaching opportunities are there for a non-Polish speaking person

Are there opportunities in Poland for a non-Polish speaking person?

And, are there schools available to learn Polish for the English speaker?

To answer a few people i have been living and teaching english in Poland for 2 and a half years. I live in Katowice which is not the preferred destination for most people looking to live and work in Poland it is an industrial and rather new city for Poland so it ain't so pretty. But because of this jobs for teachers are relatively easy to come by here. I started at a Callan method school, easy training and you can work after one or two weeks if the method suits you. It gets boring after a year. But after this first year I developed a good reputation and could basically choose my school, I have no TEFL or CELTA but I have a masters in teaching so that helps. I don't speak Polish very well and at first could'nt speak a word. There are plenty of schools to learn Polish PROLOG in Krakow is great for beginers and a lot of fun.

Oh I am Native speaker from America and very often I have seen schools hiring any idiot from English speaking countries just to say they have native speakers my school has a Brazilian "native speaker" for example. just be aware that things work differently in Poland like being paid on time and they expect you to do a lot of things for free, like travel to companies, on your own money or prepare extra lessons etc. I got fired for not helping my school rip-off the Callan book. Beware of TOP English Schools in southern Poland boss is a real back-stabber. And I have heard horror stories from people hired by Millenium services too.

Hi I am native English and I also speak Polish well ,I am not qualified as a teacher what are my chances of getting a job teaching and what would I expect to earn.

Thanks

I should clarify that the Brazilian Is by no means in any shape or from an idiot, it was actually TheKruk himself who was the idiot I mentioned.when I first started teaching, but I learned how to do it, as my masters was in theatre its like acting. Simply, my point was if the students like the way you do it you can always find a job.

I agree 100%

I have two American friends who teach in Poland. The one in Warsaw has a CELTA; the one in Gdansk does not. Both do well. I met them face to face last summer. I can't imagine teaching ESL with NO training so I'll be doing the CELTA in Warsaw in August before heading to Gdansk to find work.

There's a lot of information in the Poland forum on esl cafe.

good idea Scottie makes things easier less panic.

Hiya everybody!
Would be strange if there are strict requirements for native speakers who wants to teach over here. I know many Polish teachers of English with very basic qualifications some do no even have FC some do not even know the language :(.

Anyway, good luck to everone who wants to teach our kids, I really appreciate. That is a nightmare when you go to for example Italy and a taxi driver, who claims to speak English, when asked " escuse me, how much time do we need to get to the train station?" says "YES" and took me to the bus stop :-)

my best greetings
Anna

Yes, I agree. As far as I am aware, anybody can teach English in Poland-even a Polish native speaker with First Certificate can teach in a Polish school. English Language teaching is an unskilled job, which receives zero for skills on the Australian points system. It is mainly a job for young backpackers and gap year students. It is understandably low paid as any such job should be.

thanks for that. iused to teach English in Poland and I don't agree with you. It is not an easy job and I am not sure why you have such a bad attitude towards teaching English in Poland and teachers in general. I was a good teacher and I made pretty good money, so what are you basing your opionion on?

For many.

There are some who are qualified to degree standard. This must be worth something.

Teaching to proficiency level takes skill and good knowledge. Helping someone pass the Matura requires less skill.

If you are a qualified teacher working in a state school in England with a P.G.C.E. for instance that is different. TESOL teaching is nothing even I have a TESOL certificate and I can hardly read or write!


I have nothing against you personally as I have never met you but I can say that I have met a lot of teachers of English overseas, in Poland, and on the whole, I did not like them at all. All wanted to earn lots of money and give private lessons-only talked about how much money they were taking off the poor students-not my cup of tea at all, sorry.

Fair enough. However, you cannot base you opinion on irresponsible people alone. Those people could be found in all trades. I agree, there are a lot of lousy teachers and some have lpoor qualifications. There are also a lot of deceant teachers, so please, stop generalizing.

I never generalize

huh? Maybe you need to look the meaning up.

I feel you are trying to dupe us here you have made no mistakes in your writing. Moreover your writing has the flow and cadence of a natural speaker of English.

Just because you had a bad expeirence don't GENERALIZE as you did see above.
I take particular offense as I know how important it is for my students to learn English and how expensive it is to take lessons at my school, am I always excellent ? no. Do I have bad days when I am tired because my baby kept me awake half the night ? yes.

Do I always try to teach to the best of my ability? Yes.
Yes there are plenty of bad teachers or part time students who teach, But none at my school all native speakers there have been in Poland two years or more teaching.And there are many great teachers here Native speakers and Polish! The best is to be able to learn from both. So go cry on your Momma's shoulder. You got me all worked up now I need a drink!

I think that it would be a good idea for you to go and have a few drinks-most English TESOL teachers know how 'to put it away' if not teach! I do not have the priviledge of being able to cry on my momma's shoulder as she died of cancer aged fifty nine twenty years ago! I do not know what you mean by my bad experience as I have never had one-I have never worked as a teacher of English in Poland and I have no wish to-I would want a job with a much higher status. I studied Russian and French at university and have an N.V.Q.4 in Business Polish so I would be looking at translation work of some sort-not lesson plans! Anyway, who would work for a hundred pounds a month! It is also all hypocracy as when I was in Russia as a student twenty three years ago the Polish had no time for the English anyway. In England you could not study Russian and or Polish as you were looked upon as an 'odd ball' and/or a communist sympathizer and now with the fall of communism the Americans can not get in to the former Eastern Europe quick enough with McDonalds and Pizza Hut. As a teacher of English all you are doing is spreading American global aims by the back door. All Poles want four- by-fours to do their shopping in Tescos and return home and switch on their Sony television sets to watch Sky sports. The Poles learn English to go to Australia and the USA to work-it has nothing to do with being in Europe.

If you live the Polish lifestyle it includes the Polish rates of pay.


We live in different times.


They are here because we wanted them.


I don't see the logic here.


Some do.


Sony TV's are made by LG Electronics in Poland. So they are buying a Polish made product.


Sky Sports is not available here to ordinary subscribers.


The figures quoted by posters on this site show something different.

Michal, do you have anything good to say about Poland?

Michal,
you seem to be very bitter and I gather it has nothing to do with Poland. Your knowledge is a bit outdated and you think in stereotypes. No wonder you are so unhappy.

m,

I agree.