gday everyone - i'd love to come to Poland to teach English, but...

hi everyone im a 25 /yo bloke from australia (hailing from western australia) id love to come to poland (polska?) to teach english but i hope some people can fill me in on -

1) safety as an expat?
2) whats required to teach english - im thinking of doing the tesol course?
3) any aussie`s here Smile ?
4) how friendly/hospitable are the polish to foreigners?
thanks guys hope to hear some interesting views/replies!

all answers are already here on the forums. try 'seach' function. Good luck and welcome on PF

1) No issues at all. Obviously, a bit of common sense is needed - but generally, Poland is a safe place.

2) Nothing is 'required' - but the CELTA is pretty much considered to be 'standard' here for a good teaching job. But again, if you know your stuff, you can blag your way into a job easily enough.

3) I don't know any in Poznan, sorry :P

4) Very friendly, except those working for the government. Many in private businesses will go the extra mile - for instance, my favourite cafe, the owner always offers to translate the menu for me.

g'day Dan,

depending on what city you would want to come too, have you looked into this.

Many aussies around poland..

not too sure on where id like to work probably warsaw although alot of people seem to suggest krakow as nother good place. theres a company in australia called "teach international" im considering going through at the end of year who offer the certIV in tesol with guranteed job, id like to do the celta which cost approx the same from a well known university (curtin) but working full time atm until my current i.t contract runs out (9 months) its almost impossible to take the required 4 weeks off to do the course as its full time hours (9-5pm). this is going to be my first "foray" into teaching which id like to use to travel through europe and hopefully study another few languages (i speak broken italian) already) if all turns out well id also like to do a bachelors in languages or history so im hoping on embarking on a better career!

thanks for the speedy replies guys

I live and teach in Warsaw. I like it here. Its the kind of place that people love to hate.

Especially if you live in Poznan ;)

I asked a bunch of kids today in the school what they thought of Warsaw.

'Legia', 'fuck' and 'bastards' were used liberally :D

I did my tesol course through them many years ago, found them to be great.

excellent replies guys thankyou what would be a realistic salary per month/week/however the pays are paid ? bear in mind thiss would be for a new teacher

Hi Dan,

Just do a search for open position, these will normally give you the salary and conditions.

35PLN/hour in your hand after tax/under the table should be considered an absolute minimum. Any less than that and walk away, you simply cannot expect to live on less than that.

If you can get 20 hours a week at 50zl/hour before tax, you'll do just fine :)

i agree delph, i was offered 35/hour under the table 3 years ago, so 50/hour would sound about right today/

Yeah, these are the going rates. I'm lucky enough to get 30 hours a week at an average of 60/hour before tax. I actually have 3 separate rates at one of my schools. Still, it's nose to the grindstone most of the time. The good thing is, I don't work weekends anymore.

7K is quite healthy for a teacher here. Some of the earnings of business people here is sick. My fiancee deals with those who book holidays which cost more than my bank balance. Fiendishly wealthy.

For the most part in WaWa I charge 70/hour for private and make 56/hour through my school. For students and people who aren't directors I charge 50/hour for private. But with the zl going down I am thinking about upping my rates. After all I am an imported good... Some people charge much higher than me. I met one teacher of Polish who wanted to charge me 50/hour.

See, it's a very strange market in Poznań. You'd think, with it being a business city, you could get away with charging stupid rates. But no - quite the opposite. I've seen a few adverts for native speakers, charging 30zl/hour - and with them offering to come to your place. I can't work out what they're doing, or why.

But to give some comparison, I get 35zl/hour after tax - and the teaching environment is fantastic. I would hold out for more - but effectively, I'm allowed to experiment with different teaching methods and to try different things. I don't have to pay for housing - so the money on offer is perfectly fine. I'm a new teacher though, so the teaching practice in a supportive environment is much, much more valuable than the money at this stage.

But it's relative - if I had to pay rent/a mortgage, I would be holding out for more. Likewise, if the school didn't have a fantastic setup, I'd be holding out for much more to cover the time spent preparing materials. As it stands, they have pretty much everything I need.