News / Berlin terrorist attack -- Poland's ethnic homogeneity a true blessing [436]

Skt. Pauli though is another matter entirely. At least the last time I was there, but that was a decade or so agoLOL

News / Berlin terrorist attack -- Poland's ethnic homogeneity a true blessing [436]

That though that the North is staunchly Protestant and the South staunchly Catholic DID in fact play a decisive role in the entire mess, as historically, the Protestants typically sided the with crown, whereas the Catholics didn't. The major IRA leaders and "agitators" were Catholics such as Gerry Adams, Bernadette Devlin of "England, get out of Ireland!!" fame etc. (with the blatant exception of Father Ian Paisely from Belfast).

Back to Berlin. In the end, I suggest ya'll read "Confessions of an Economic Hitman". Perkins makes it abundantly clear through economic rather than purely social or political history, that the roots of ISIS, 9/11 etc. lie in the deep-seated class disparities between the OPEC nations and the US imposing her economic weight on these desparately poor countries, in which only the top 1% have more than billions, while everyone else is struggling for a home with a toilet, basic food, and a living wage.

It's not Muslims vs. Christians or even Jews, instead it's rich vs. poor!

@Atch, please weigh into our discussion:-)

News / Berlin terrorist attack -- Poland's ethnic homogeneity a true blessing [436]

@Ironside, IRA is ALL about religion:-)

Work / What qualifications are required to teach English in Poland? Completed 2 week TEFL course [53]

Clue ya'll in on something! NO TEXTBOOK is going to either satisfy everybody or ever replace a truly effective teacher, ain't gonna happen, folks:-)))

I've taught from the US "Schrampfer-Azar Grammar" (blue cover), zzzzzzzZZZ...BORRRING!!! Then there's the wonderful "Cambridge Success With Certificate - A1 Level Self-Study Prep Course", don't make me laugh, and the bloody list goes on and on and on.....

The fact is that a textbook for an ESL-teacher to my mind is nothing more than a road map for a driver; either you know your way or you don't and the "best" book in the world won't help or serve as a crutch for poor teaching!

When I was interviewing during the late '80's for an ESL -position in Germany, the British-born head teacher of one school showed me the once famous "Spotlight English" series for my perusal. As I taught/teach American English, I nonetheless had to politely defer to both his age and his experience teaching English abroad longer than I'd been alive. As a result, I turned down the position, but nonetheless realized at that point that the margin between British and US-English is so vast, that there will never be agreement on which "English" is the standard.

Work / What qualifications are required to teach English in Poland? Completed 2 week TEFL course [53]

Spot on there, jon!

If truth be told, I have only graduate school training in foreign language pedagogy and NO Celta, Tesol etc... I was however a successful ESL-instructor for nearly two decades because my "method" was always to place myself immediately in the position of my students and what I would want to learn if I were sitting for four hours a day inside a classroom:-)

For sure I'd use games, puzzles, my own bag of tricks aka flashcards for acting out during the lesson etc. and I'd also demonstrate grammar, though in context and never as isolated rules in a chart or diagram.

Work / What qualifications are required to teach English in Poland? Completed 2 week TEFL course [53]

@jon and Chem,

Certainly a justifiable case can easily be made for a fantastic ESL-instructor who's a bit of a maverick, part ham actor, stand-up comic, and improv "genius" in the classroom:-) That's all fine and well and I'm hardly knocking it. All I'm saying is that second-language learning's finally about much more than simply creating a "fun" atmosphere in the class. Whilst rote rot's to be sure deadly stuff that anesthetizes the entire learning experience like nobody's business, a great deal of learning a language unfortunately IS repetition, and yes, a certain degree of disciplined, daily drill:-)

Tenses and correct vocab. usage aren't going to just magically pop out at one a la Mary Poppins or Adrian Kronauer, delightful as these characters doubtless are!

I've always wondered whether those staunchly anti-grammarian, rogue, fun-loving ESL-instructors whom I worked with for so long would have learned their own beloved English language the madcap way in which they taught it to others.

Work / What qualifications are required to teach English in Poland? Completed 2 week TEFL course [53]

As an ESLer, I'd hope and indeed expect that my teacher were an educated, native-born and trained English as a First Language speaker, no matter how many other languages he knows:-)

If the learner knows more than the teacher (a tragi-comic scenario I'm sad to say I've witnessed at supposedly respected institutionsLOL), I'd demand my money back pronto!

Work / What qualifications are required to teach English in Poland? Completed 2 week TEFL course [53]

Haven't a clue. I've never taught the Silent Way, at least not on purposeLOL, only Rassias. I did however observe a Silent Way demo class way the heck back when, but opted out of the program and chose Rassias instead.

A far better choice for my money.

Work / What qualifications are required to teach English in Poland? Completed 2 week TEFL course [53]

I've dubbed him the Julia Child of foreign language teachers:-) Rather proud of the moniker, if I do say so myself.

Well, as you said, the Silent Way would work great for children, rank beginner adults too. For more advanced learners? I can't say, though I wouldn't imagine it'd be all that effective.

Work / What qualifications are required to teach English in Poland? Completed 2 week TEFL course [53]

Oh, yeah! We all watched training videos of the so-called "Method" before any foreign-language class we taught! As I said, although I'd never met the chap, I was trained by Rassias teachers who considered his M O superior to the Silent Way, with it's colored rods, pointing and constant reliance solely on student output:-) In the Rassias Method, the instructor speaks in order to unflaggingly demonstrate the proper pronunciation. He only hired native or bilingual native instructors; if you told him that you leaned it in college, he's politely but insistently, show you the door!! In the Silent Way, the teacher never speaks, but only points, at which time the student does the speaking vs.the instructor.

There might well be some saving grace in both methods in the end.

Work / What qualifications are required to teach English in Poland? Completed 2 week TEFL course [53]

Ah yes, the one-time "chair-thrower" extraordinaire, former professor of French at one of the major New England colleges, who'd customarily hurl various objects around the room in order to demonstrate key working vocab of a particular lesson. For example, so as to be true unto threat of death to his principle NEVER EVER to use any language but the language being taught (a sworn enemy of grammar-translation!!), take the French word for "chair", at the top of his voice, Rassias is said to have uttered L - A C- H - A - I - S - E, repeated with near perfect pronunciation several times and then flung mightily across the length of the classroom.....never injuring a soul, I might add LOL

I'm a Rassias-trained German instructor myself, although I've never met the man, but there's never a dull moment, that's for sure:-)

Work / What qualifications are required to teach English in Poland? Completed 2 week TEFL course [53]

Naturally I'm not suggesting, once again, that the poor instructor be expected to know each of the learners' language, however, a basic knowledge of the general structure of the majority languages in the classroom might just help connect the student with the teacher, that's all I'm trying to say:-)

Usually, at least several of the students in the group will have some inkling as to the workings of a second language, Europeans especially, having an Olympian track record in foreign language acquisition compared with the States or even England.

Total immersion, though ideal, does have its limitations, I don't care if the teacher's another Silent Way mega star or even the great Prof. John Rassias himself!!!

Work / What qualifications are required to teach English in Poland? Completed 2 week TEFL course [53]

Seems practically a no brainer, doesn't it? I mean, if someone is teaching another person THEIR native tongue, it'd more than stand to reason that the teacher would be more than even a bit curious about how the foreign learner of the teacher's native language processes the new language in their head!!

Work / What qualifications are required to teach English in Poland? Completed 2 week TEFL course [53]

I can smell a winger a mile off, pal! When burlesque comedy such as with Robin Williams in "Good Morning Vietnam!" overtakes rock solid method, thorough prep and spontaneous activity, you know that class is headed for disasterLOL

Work / What qualifications are required to teach English in Poland? Completed 2 week TEFL course [53]

Thanks, jon! You make a solid point there:-) Thanks for your input as well as for the information. "Short skills courses" sounds just about right.

Nonetheless, every professional deserves an upgrade, wouldn't you agree?

Work / What qualifications are required to teach English in Poland? Completed 2 week TEFL course [53]

AMEN, DOM!!!!

As Terri posted, should the instructor have more than merely broken, phrase-book knowledge of the local language, the results wouldn't be so dismal.
Partially, it has to do both with standards as well as expectations For example in Japan, discussions I've had with former students of mine is that the so-called "Eikaiwa" aka "English Conversations Schools", literally, "English conversation", throughout many of the medium-sized and larger cities in Japan, employ fly-by-night globetrotting young Peace Corps volunteer types, eager to "see the world" (and hopefully have a triste with some young, adorable Japanese student in the processLOL), usually meagerly qualified, and, of course, ready, willing, and able to work for peanuts:-) Most according to my students can barely say the word "sushi" and wouldn't know the difference between "Sayonara!" vs. "Jah ne!" if they tripped and fell over them in broad daylight!!

Combine gullibilty and naive idealism with often mediocre training, this situation multiplied who knows how many times across the globe, only goes to turn the entire profession into a living joke, right up there with psychiatry (much more lucrative, by the way, for doing next to no actual "work").

Teachers of ESL, be they in Poland, Japan, the US, or the UK, should be as thoroughly trained as any other profession bar none!

Work / What qualifications are required to teach English in Poland? Completed 2 week TEFL course [53]

I'd think too that any ESL instructor could only benefit from knowing at least something of the native language of the country in which he/she is teaching if only to be able to communicate with their students during a lull or break in the lesson when some type of source-language explanation is needed.

As both a professional and accredited ESL-instructor for adults over many years, I too taught solely in the target language. Occasionally, I did need to try to explain a subtle point of grammar by using any number of the different languages in our group, admittedly, I always switched back immediately to English, and this only at the very beginning level. Anywhere from advanced beginner on, I only used English:-)

Work / What qualifications are required to teach English in Poland? Completed 2 week TEFL course [53]

@Terri,

Exactly! And in my opinion, had ESL-instructors at least the basics of the local lingo under their belt, they'd doubtless be more valuable in the classroom:-)

Surely nobody expects a teacher to KNOW Lithuanian, Arabic, German, Polish, Albanian, Russian, Chinese etc.... all with equal fluency at the same time, that's patently ridiculous, not to mention sheer unrealistic!!!

However, a smattering of target language knowledge in the respective country where English is being taught, can only help the situation.

Polonia / Learning Polish in Amsterdam [19]

My suspicions have just been confirmed, garlic! Polish in Amsterdam, Dutch in Warsaw, French in Ljubiana, and German in Rome.......LOL
Lotsa luck to you. I presume that the Polish courses are being taught in Polish, as you say you don't speak Dutch. If they're being taught in English, I'd be curious as to who would be teaching them:-) Should you need any pointers in Dutch, I can help you.

I really oughtn't be surprised whatsoever, as Europe IS the most global continent on earth!!

Hvis du har lyst til at blive i kontakt og at faa nogle tips over hollandsk: tarsape@gmail

Work / Job prospects in Poland for Polish-American [14]

There's long been a glut of engineers in Europe, not only those from the States:-) Traditional shortage areas, although not always comparable in pay, have usually been easy to fill such as English teachers, IT specialists and the like.

Best of luck and of course, the more specialized an engineer you are, the more feathers in your cap.

Work / What qualifications are required to teach English in Poland? Completed 2 week TEFL course [53]

Thanks for the info., terri.

History / Polish-Hungarian border exchange? [60]

No, the reason is that the Poles clearly resent a bullying neighbor who slaughtered many of her citizens and arrogantly proceeded to typecast the Slavs as "subhumans", backward peasants who could only benefit from the superiority of Teutonic organization and "efficiency"LOL

Furthermore, German is conversely, indeed ironically, the universal language of culture aka scientific research, classical music, art, and a considerable amount of the the greatest literature of the Occident:-)

As to the language and the women, German is exceedingly beautiful and her women considered to be among the most bewitchingly striking in all of Europe!!!

History / Polish-Hungarian border exchange? [60]

Above all, present-day Slask:-) A majority of Poles I've encountered, try to downplay the "Germanness" in their history, not to even mention, their language borrowings!

History / Polish-Hungarian border exchange? [60]

Poles typically prefer a foreigner struggling with the native pronunciation of their cities such as Szczecin, Wroclaw etc. to try saying it correctly, even if it's hard, rather than call them by more familiar, perhaps easier to pronounce, German counterparts:-) When I once said that I was in Stettin, a older Polish gentleman refuse to acknowledge the city I had mentioned until I said "Szczecin"LOL

Work / What qualifications are required to teach English in Poland? Completed 2 week TEFL course [53]

In certain countries such as France, Italy, even Germany, target language knowledge is a must as well. Not sure about Poland nowadays, and so you'd best make certain prior to signing on:-) Merely a suggestion!

Good luck.

Food / Making American cheeses (Polish and EU ones are terrible!) [100]

Food in colder countries naturally will be blander and heavier than in more southerly countries, where strong spice is often needed for salt, as in Mexico, India etc. and the much warmer weather is less conducive to big, stick-to-your-ribs portions.

Polish food, much like German cooking, will typically be hearty (not necessarily healthyLOL), simple and basic, with little piquancy or sauce needed to either enhance or disguise the overall flavor! Polish cuisine can stand on her own; give me my zurek, bigos and kielbasy any day of the week:-)

Language / Caring/loving words in Polish? [90]

Focus first on those basic sentences used in everyday Polish. The mountain of grammar will come in due time, so for the meanwhile, small, yet not baby, steps up a small mound:-) Powodzenia!

Love / English proposing to a Polish lady [31]

Fifty-odd years ago, twenty five was youthful, though not as "young" as today, since in times past, people weren't expected to live as long as they do now:-)

Sixty may well be the new thirty LOL

Food / Making American cheeses (Polish and EU ones are terrible!) [100]

The point is, Johnny, that the Polish deli is/was head and shoulders above some cheap-ass bodega offering more than half what the Poles were chargin'!!

Not being bigoted, simply truthful, that's all:-)

The Europeans often do do it better. As far as Wisconsin, the Scandinavian influence is almost as strong as the ethnic Polish of Chicago, therefore, one can be assured of the quality....NOT VELVEETA!!!

Food / Making American cheeses (Polish and EU ones are terrible!) [100]

When we lived near Maspeth, my wife and I were always going to our local Polish deli for almost everything.