Study / School of Polish for Foreigners at the University of Lodz [43]


Do you really think anybody would fall for that? It shows that your school considers its students or prospective students to be suckers.

Work / British English teacher moving to Poznan - work opportunities? [25]


Ungrammatical but sound in a culinary sense. Chips should be dressed with malt vinegar and salt.

Travel / Overstay in Poland (banned from entering Shengen for a few years?) [8]

polishfool. How about arriving early at the airport and declaring the situation yourself? That way the officials would be obliged (obligated if you prefer) to stamp your passport.

Work / British English teacher moving to Poznan - work opportunities? [25]

I'm pretty sure he's not an English teacher; just a guy trying to pick up a bit of work along the way.
You're right. If you want to hear good, clear English, go to Edinburgh. (Not Wester Hailes, though.)

Work / British English teacher moving to Poznan - work opportunities? [25]

Sidliste_Chodov
You're not including the op of course.

Life / The Blame Game (Have you ever noticed that a Polish person is never wrong!?) [205]

Avalon. Give it up, mate. You'll never get some people to admit that the bureaucracy here is often primitive compared with other countries. Their comments only confirm your observations.

From a personal point of view I'm happy to say that things are slowly getting better in many areas. When we were building a house here we found some offices very efficient and helpful; the staff had obviously been on training courses. My wife asked one guy what vodka he drank-she wanted to thank him, not bribe him- but he insisted that he was only doing his job. We were very impressed. It'll take a while for every place to become like this but I'm optimistic.

Life / 'Turkish' Conmen on the A4/E40 Krakow-Wrocław stretch.... [25]

I advise anyone who experiences this to be extra helpful and call the police to the scene to offer assistance.

News / Why Is French On Poczta Parcel Waybills? [13]


My stuff arrived today. Apologies to Poczta Polska who are, of course, wonderful!
Re: Royal Mail. Amazon wanted 13.50 to mail the posters, so I opted for free delivery to a UK address, my brother's. His wife took the posters to the post office. They wanted 26 quid (I siht you not) to mail them. They said that now it's about size and not weight. She (a Royal Mail employee) took the poster tube home, cut a bit off and went back to the post office. New charge 4.50. wtf

News / Poland Parliament elections in October 2011 [944]


I know two brothers, in their forties, who cycle 18km six days a week to get their MOPS lunch. They have coal delivered free every winter. They are fitter than me but have repeatedly turned down offers of work. Why should they? Live isn't too bad for them.

News / Why Is French On Poczta Parcel Waybills? [13]


Not a bad idea; hope it works. I'm waiting for some classroom wall posters which I know were send from the UK two weeks ago. I don't hold out much hope for them now, but it won't be any great surprise if they don't come, as it won't be the first (or tenth) time. I suppose that's anti-Polish.

I can only guess that par avion is on air-mail letters because the French perhaps pioneered the service. France used to be a much bigger player in the world of diplomacy and French was the lingua france of diplomats for a long time.

Life / The Blame Game (Have you ever noticed that a Polish person is never wrong!?) [205]


Bit strong, old chap, what? I live in a village in eastern Poland (mostly PO as it happens) and some of my neighbours must have voted PiS, but they're basically decent people. I think gullibility and lack of education plays a big part in people voting for a lobotomized gibbon like JK.

Life / Worlds most liveable cities (Krakow or Warsaw don't even hit the radar screens) [104]

The safest city in Poland, there's nothing 'B' about Białystok except its initial letter. Two-and-a-half hours from the capital, rich cultural mix, renowned theatres and orchestras, parks and gardens, good restaurants and cheap beer.

• 
  bstok2.jpg
  
• 
  bstok3.jpg
  

Life / Worlds most liveable cities (Krakow or Warsaw don't even hit the radar screens) [104]


Speak for yourself. I'm a south Londoner myself.


With an attitude like that perhaps Londoners have indeed changed since my day.

Life / Worlds most liveable cities (Krakow or Warsaw don't even hit the radar screens) [104]


You must have approached people the wrong way. Londoners are friendly, helpful and love a laugh. They smile in the street and in the shops, and you can easily strike up a conversation at the bus stop. Having said that, a lot of the people who live in London come from elsewhere, just like most big cities. As for Warsaw I haven't been there in six years, although I live 2.5 hours away. I'd be frightened to bump into amonia.

Life / People living in Warsaw are rootless peasants! [41]


I heard an English guy on the radio who had lived in Australia for 25 years. An aussi asked him how long he'd been there, and when told he said, "D'ye think you're gonna like it?"

Life / People living in Warsaw are rootless peasants! [41]

Why use the hospitality of this site simply to provoke people?


Sure about that? If so, you certainly don't show noblesse oblige.

Work / Professional development for teachers? the options in Poland? [11]


Good for them. All good teachers are magpies. I'm pleased if someone asks for a copy of my materials to use in their classes.


My comments about MA concerned knowledge gained, not money. If you want to make a lot of money, don't teach.

Work / Professional development for teachers? the options in Poland? [11]

I have to disagree with the opinion voiced by a couple of posters that an MA in English Philology from a Polish university is worthless. If you mean that it isn't as highly valued as one from, e.g. a British uni, then you may have a point, but in terms of education, the two-year course is much more intensive than people might think. I teach MA students at a state uni and I can tell you that the course is no joke. At the end of it students not only have a thorough education in three branches of linguistics (synchronic, diachronic and phonology), but they will also have studied teaching methodology, literature, academic writing, grammar at a deep level, and several other subjects. I doubt that MA programmes from UK uni's offer anything as comprehensive.

I agree that almost all private uni's offer worthless degrees.

DELTA is an interesting but exhausting course and well worth doing if you want to get into EFL management or senior teaching positions. UK summer schools usually require DELTA or MA for DOS positions, which can be very lucrative.

As for publisher-organised seminars, they are very hit and miss, and frankly I haven't bothered for years.

So come on guys, tell me why a Polish MA is a waste of time.

News / Poland Parliament elections in October 2011 [944]

Ironside. Yes, insult is your stock-in-trade. You can barely post anything without personally insulting another member. Believe me, this does not make you look reasonable or intelligent.

If you knew anything about contemporary Poland, you would know that it is as far from being a banana republic as it is possible to be. Your prediction will not come true. When the PiS-lead coalition was in power Poland was a laughing stock abroad; now it is a respected partner in international affairs.

Sorry if I was mistaken when I described you as an American. I was under the impression that you had U.S. citizenship and had pledged alliegance to that country.


That's right, although I don't catch the significance of 'even'. I just live here (in Poland), where I work hard, pay my taxes, take part in society and make informed choices at election time.

News / Poland Parliament elections in October 2011 [944]


Illogical nonsense with an insult thrown in. That's what I meant when I said you sound like a PiS supporter.


I'm not quite sure what you mean as what you write is unclear. If you mean something like, "You/your statement are/is crazy. Is voting for a certain party a crime?", then my answer is no, as far as I know, voting for a certain party is not a crime. I think, however, that you should be prohibited from voting because you are an American.

News / Poland Parliament elections in October 2011 [944]


You certainly sound like a PiS supporter.


I don't own a TV. I read. It improves the mind.

News / Poland Parliament elections in October 2011 [944]


Not only Poles. I'll vote for the bugger too. Or rather vote against the others. I havent voted for anyone for thirty years.

Polonia / Inquiry about invitation letter to Poland (I'm from the Philippines) [12]

I saw a film called Trade last night. Be careful Jasmin. Be very careful. btw my sister-in-law is a filipina so I mean well for you.

News / Andrzej Lepper committed suicide [98]


Any evidence for that?


I'm sure you've heard plenty. I don't believe what govenments say for the reasons you state but I try not to invent alternative explanations just to fit my prejudices.

There's always the possibility that Lepper hanged himself, plain and simple, no?

News / Andrzej Lepper committed suicide [98]


It's so much more fun to deal in conspiracy theories. Ordinary people die in plane crashes, car crashes or kill themselves; famous people are always the victims of some dark force. Let's face it, if JK died of a heart attack in his bed tonight, this forum would be full of ominous stories of political assassination. btw if you don't have "further evidence", how can you assess it at 50/50?

Work / Graduate Certificate in TESOL - respected by potential employers in Poland? [17]

Do yourself a favour and buy some teaching theory books before you do the course. Any CELTA centre can tell you what you should read before the course. It's been 20 years since I did it, but I think they still recommend Jeremy Harmer's book, Practical Teaching, or something like that.

News / Multi-culti (in Poland) -- roadmap to disaster? [344]


If you went to a black church or a community centre, you'd find exactly such sentiments being expressed. There are lots of decent, hard-working non-pink people; try not to tar them all with the same brush.


I've lived in both and I dispute what you say. Of course there are significant problems in some areas of London and other UK cities, and nobody is denying the fact that a lot of young people expect the world to be their oyster without contributing anything, but that goes for pink people, too.

You suggest you've been in London for a long time, so you must know all kinds of people of all colours.

News / Multi-culti (in Poland) -- roadmap to disaster? [344]


Never heard of Operation Trident? It's a Metropolitan Police unit specifically dedicated to black-on-black gun and drug crime. Their actions were blamed for the recent riots, although this was bs.

Life / Moving to Poland - what is the most important thing I need to do, once I'm in Poland? [51]

I take it your tongue was in your cheek when you wrote that, but in Poland the problem is in finding good translators. There are still too many around who got their stamp automatically on gaining their MA in, e.g. English Philology. I spend quite a lot of my time proofreading the work of Polish translators and I have to say I'm underwhelmed, sometimes shocked. The new system of courses and exams is a good start, but it should also apply to translators who had their stamp before the changes.

Life / Moving to Poland - what is the most important thing I need to do, once I'm in Poland? [51]


2000 quid would do it but how are you going to get work? You can register with established agencies and get jobs from them (you don't need to be a sworn translator), but they will ask your gf to do one or two sample translations EN-PL and PL-EN, and they would expect it to be good.

Get CELTA if you don't want to work for a mickey mouse outfit or, even worse, Callan. And brush up on your punctuation!