Work /
Polish Canadian ESL job/student advice [78]
The ESL game
The EFL profession can and does sometimes pay well, however you have to have something more to offer than a transient tefler. Basically superior qualifications, some niche skill, the ability to write a curriculum and materials and significant experience outside that industry. A thorough theoretical and methodological base helps - I sometimes recruit EFL teachers and am surprised (and disheartened) by how few can descripe the basic differences between pedagogy and androgogy. It also helps to be male, British, easygoing, and tolerant of less comfortable environments. In places like Iraq (I recently did 4 years there managing a training project, mostly though not only EFL) it's possible to comfortably make 6 figures in GBP tax free. Most teachers there made about half that which is still quite nice. Salaries for ordinary ELT work in countries that traditionally paid well are falling, not least due to the number of Saffers looking for work, that and improved skills among non-natives. I've mostly given it up in favour of management, however do teach the occasional specialist course and a very big plus is when you have some special sub-skill to fall back on (that and contacts for high-dayrate work that is never advertised).
can anyone recommend me some places that might pay higher wages to apply to?
The British Council, however they hire locally now and you would be competing with people who have the Council's favourite qualification, the DELTA (they have a thing about it). They pay a bit better than average so they can pick and choose and prefer people who are settled in Poland.
does .......a polish citizen with PESOL and passport and intermediate language skills help me in this job market?
Taken in order: No, it wouldn't help. Anyone can and does get a PESEL and having Polish roots makes no difference at all - Polish people would see you as a Canadian rather than a Pole. You say you're Polish - people who actually are Polish wouldn't necessarily see you as one of them. Nor does the passport help, since several thousand people in PL with British or Irish passports have exactly the same rights to be there as you and intermediate level Polish is not rare among foreigners in larger cities. Next, you can find private tutoring however unless you're in an out of the way place with a dearth of teachers, you'll find that you'll need to build up a reputation in order to get decent private work. Re. textbooks, no, there are language bookshops in Poland and Amazon deliver there.
About being a bartender, you would be surprised at how little they earn in PL - have you spent much time in Poland?
