Work / Advice on Teaching English in Poland [709]


Well, there's two things to take into account - in school, and in company teaching.

In company teaching in Warsaw is expensive - and the salaries reflect that. Sure, you can get a "native" without a clue for 50zl an hour, but any credible school which offers credible teaching will be charging close to double that. Take away even 75zl an hour for the teacher, and the school still gets 25zl an hour for doing nothing.

In school classes - let's say there's a group of 8, all paying 15zl an hour (which is about normal). That's 120zl an hour for the school - minus 60zl (school classes always pay a bit less) - still 60zl profit right there.

Then you consider that Polish teachers often work for far less money - so that subsidises the cost of a native, too. In Krakow, there's so many native "teachers" that the price has collapsed - but in general, schools can usually expect to take 25-30zl an hour profit from each class. It's not bad money if you think about it ;)


It depends on a lot really - if you want a Cambridge examiner teaching you, then 100zl isn't that expensive. But of course, if you just want a 'native speaker' and don't care about the quality, you can get one for 50zl an hour without a problem anywhere.


I always did that. I remember one amusing job interview (that I went to because I wanted some interview practice and had no intention of working there) - I already knew they charged 62zl an hour for classes with a native speaker, so I asked for 70zl straight off. The look on their face was rather amusing.. :)


Normal tactic of disreputable schools and should be avoided at all costs.

Work / Advice on Teaching English in Poland [709]


Any credible school in Warsaw will be able to pay at least 60zl an hour without batting an eyelid. Asking for 75zl isn't actually that unrealistic there, especially if corporate classes are involved (with travel, etc).


It very much depends on the school - 65zl an hour sounds about right for Callan schools, but any credible, worthwhile school will be charging much more than that. I've actually got a list of what schools in Poznan are charging - and last year, the most expensive one-to-one class in the city was over 110zl an hour.


Maybe you're right and it's for a private school - I read it as public school, but who knows?

Anyway, in public schools, there's a set system based on the "work path" - there are always jobs for natives in public schools. But the salaries for someone without a Masters and recognised teacher training (ie, more than CELTA) are pathetically low.

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

Laura, I'm guessing that you didn't mean to post this here!

Give me an e-mail at office@lindenia - I'll be happy to tell you about Poznan, I've lived here for 4 years and know the place well :)

(I can also help you with that difficult social-life finding, we have weekly 'multilingual meetings' :))

Work / Advice on Teaching English in Poland [709]


I didn't see this - but -

In an ideal world, you'll get between 20-24 hours a week. The reality is that you'll probably get between 15-20 - though it depends on what kind of school it is. However - one desirable situation is to have 12 from one school and 12 from another.


Sadly, probably next to nothing. You aren't on the "work path for teachers" - so it's unlikely that they'll be able to offer you anything more than the amount paid to trainee teachers - which is next to nothing.


From a high school director, I can't see her getting anything close to that at all - maybe 20zl an hour if she's lucky, unless the kids are paying.

Travel / Overland travel between Poland to Belarus. How easy? [4]

Nope. You need to obtain the visa in the UK, or if you hold a valid residency certificate here, you can do it in Poland.

Work / How To Study In Poland and stay with my GF? Inability to move to Poland looks stupid. [60]

Of course, that's why I'm saying that if he wants this kind of cash, he needs to be incredible - he has to be someone that will change the world with his research.


He'll get over it ;)

Most Polish students could only imagine getting over 3000zl/month for their studies!

Life / American moving to Poland. How do I get/What is the cost of a cell phone, cable, etc...? [16]


Are you sure you want to do this? A retired Polish lady might not be too understanding of the student lifestyle ;)


It's impossible to say - there are so many different companies in Poland that serve different areas. As a guide though, I pay 69zl a month for the same - but this is cheap. More realistic would be about 100zl for the same thing.

Travel / Airline tickets from LOT... changing flights. [29]

It depends, but an outright cancellation pretty much triggers automatic hotel/compensation. The problem is that they frequently deny this at the time - but the courts all over Europe have been enforcing it.

What's insane about the system is that buses, ferries and trains aren't covered by the same kind of rules.

News / Prime Minister in Krynica on European integration [53]


Who else is going to pay for it?

I certainly don't see those "renta" types bothering to lift a finger to help Poland.

Travel / Train Routes - from Poland to Slovakia [12]

No, nothing. You'll have to go almost certainly via Cieszyn/Cesky Tesin.

Travel / Airline tickets from LOT... changing flights. [29]

You need to familiarise yourself with EU261/2004 before making such comments.

Work / How To Study In Poland and stay with my GF? Inability to move to Poland looks stupid. [60]


There are. However, you'll have to be truly brilliant and be of value to Poland. In short, you'll have to be someone. If you're serious about this girl, do your BA in Turkey, get the highest grade, do a lot of important research for free and become someone - then someone might give you 700 euro/month for your studies.

Travel / Szczecin from Warsaw Airport by Rail or cab? [10]


There's cheaper if you go by regional trains - 29EUR is for the headline IC service, but it can be done for around 10 Euro.


Doesn't apply anymore - if you hold a valid long term visa for one Schengen country, then you can transit through other Schengen countries for up to 5 days.

Travel / Airline tickets from LOT... changing flights. [29]


They legally can't, but don't let that stop you, huh?

Law / Why is US $ getting so high or Polish zloty falling? [60]


I think this is the problem - for the Euro to work, the countries need to be integrated further. It's not enough at the minute - but I'm not sure that most countries would be happy to open their books and agree to oversight from other countries.

As for Poland - my feeling is that deciding the exchange rate will be a huge problem. Historically, since the introduction of the new Zloty - it's stayed at around 2:1 with the DM, 4:1 with the Euro - but that seems a bit low. It's one reason why I think Poland will stay out - that, and I'm not so sure that the Euro is able to 'swallow' such a huge country easily.


Not much to say - the Zloty suffers from being a small currency that people will abandon for sometimes trivial reasons. There's absolutely no justification behind the recent fall - which is why it will probably bounce back. 3:1 against the Euro was far, far too strong though - and was bad news for Polish exporters. Ideally, a rate around 3:5-6 would be perfect.

Work / Average monthly salary in Poland is around 1000 PLN (few hundred bucks). [387]


What's legal in most of Europe is to use tips to contribute towards their wages. But they must be paid minimum wage regardless of what's left on the table.

The sign saying that service isn't included sounds like a scam to try and convince American tourists that they need to pay - when in fact, you've already paid.

Law / How to report and find the consultants in Poland [15]


Greatest scam of the lot, if you ask me.


Any lawyer can help you, for around 200-300PLN/hour of course.

Law / Is there some way to extend the residence permit here in Poland? I have a tourist visa. [50]

Control zone. Essentially, the Soviet era had a system where the actual borderline wasn't heavily protected (well, apart from barbed wire) - but there was a border zone in which you couldn't enter/live without permission. That second line tended to be quite secure, and could reach quite far into the territory. Ukraine dropped this, but chose to reintroduce it a few years ago.

Law / Is there some way to extend the residence permit here in Poland? I have a tourist visa. [50]

Many places. But, just for kicks, I'll tell you about one border crossing that's on a road the whole way.

maps.google.com/?ll=49.051905,22.710457&spn=0.007439,0.019248&t =m&z=16&vpsrc=6

Easily accessible - bus from Krakow to Sanok, then Sanok-Ustrzyki Gorne, then minibus from Ustrzyki to Wolosate. Walk from Wolosate into the national park, then take the first road on the right after a couple of kilometres. Walk a bit more (about 200m) - you'll come to a barrier about 10m short of the actual borderline. The barrier is just a normal road barrier and can be ducked under/walked around.

No watchtowers there, nor are there any guard posts. It's not far to the village of "Lubyna" in Ukraine, too. Bear in mind that it's within the Ukrainian "zona kordona".

Law / Is there some way to extend the residence permit here in Poland? I have a tourist visa. [50]

The problem is that Americans are fixated on the 'stamp' as being some sort of entitlement. The truth is that the stamp (as clearly outlined in the Schengen Borders Code) is merely for informational purposes and does not imply the existence of any sort of visa. So - even if you get back in, there's no guarantee that you won't be caught at any time. Once you're over the 90 days, you're over - regardless of what stamps are in your passport.


Deepak's a lunatic who probably doesn't have an e-mail address to register with ;)

Law / Is there some way to extend the residence permit here in Poland? I have a tourist visa. [50]


And this - is actually completely wrong. I don't know why some of them are interpreting the law in such a way - they have the power to extend your residency, so there's absolutely no need to cross any borders at all.

One of those Polish mysteries, I guess.

Work / Average monthly salary in Poland is around 1000 PLN (few hundred bucks). [387]

Are you saying that Poles are thieves?

Law / Is there some way to extend the residence permit here in Poland? I have a tourist visa. [50]


They're lying to you - I know how strict the checks are on the Eastern border, and there's absolutely no way anyone would get away with it "for years" - once if they're lucky, but given that they really, really closely look at documents there, there's no way someone could get away with it.


Ukraine is better by miles. Lviv is a great place to spend 3 months. It's also quite a bit cheaper than Poland.

By the way, the deal is that for every day 'out', you gain a day 'in', up to a 90 day limit. So you can go to Ukraine for 30 days, come back to Poland for 30 days, etc etc.

Law / Foreign bank interest and Poland taxt office - ensure you declare gross interest accounts [3]


As I understand it, he had a non-Polish account which paid interest gross (not net, like Polish bank accounts - they pay the tax straight to the tax office) - and he failed to declare this.

Law / Is there some way to extend the residence permit here in Poland? I have a tourist visa. [50]


Nonsense. Complete and utter nonsense.

Poland is applying the rules regardless of the origin of the person - the only way to stay in Poland without time limits is to be from the EU/EEA/CH, or to hold the Karta Polaka. Or to have permanent residency.

Incidentally, they don't stamp "deported" either. Standard practice in Schengen is to stamp your passport with a red exit stamp, along with putting the details in the SISOne4All database of your ban.


I can tell you where to cross. But I can't promise you that you won't get caught - the Soviet-era border zone is still intact in Ukraine, Belarus and Russia for a start.

Work / Average monthly salary in Poland is around 1000 PLN (few hundred bucks). [387]


In Europe, such courses are worthless.


10zl an hour in Poznan/Krakow/Wroclaw.

News / Polish Students Striking in Lithuania [80]


As have Lithuanians.


Lithuanians living in Poland aren't foreigners, they're Polish citizens.

Work / JOB in Wroclaw for a Business Student fluent in ENGLISH/FRENCH/RUSSIAN/ROMANIAN [56]


.....you're a woman?!

Shows how much attention I pay to those signs :/

News / Polish Students Striking in Lithuania [80]


And the compulsory studies in Polish, too. The same thing that the parents (not the children!) in Lithuania are going crazy about.

Even some Lithuanian names are barred in Poland - for instance, Agne, Egle, Giedre and more. All valid female names, yet due to the requirement for female names to end in 'a' in Poland - no such luck here.

And I doubt that names such as "JADVYGA" would ever be allowed to be registered in Poland when there's a Polish variant.


The parents have been totally and utterly manipulated by politicians if you ask me.

Work / Can I become a teacher in Poland? Can I go to college there? [7]


You have to do a course which includes teacher training. Every subject studied in schools has such a course. Depending on the course, you either do the teacher training as additional classes, or it's integrated into the course programme - it depends.


Sure, you can be a full time teacher - all you need to do is complete the programme.


Could be more difficult - as far as I'm aware, the only thing which offers teacher training in English will be an English degree.