Language / Secret to the Polish Rolling R [40]

Since your profile says you're an American Marine, I'm going to operate on the assumption you speak some relatively mainstream dialect of American English. On that assumption, the Polish "r" is much more phonetically similar to the double "t" in words like "letter", "better", "butter", and "spitting" than it is to an English "r". It's not the same sound, but it's very similar. When trying to train your tongue to produce the sound, take those words as your starting point instead of trying to adjust your production of the sound you know as "r".

USA, Canada / Buying a laptop for a relative in Poland (should we buy one in Canada or in Poland)? [10]


This is almost always untrue. It wouldn't hurt to make sure you check the specifics of any laptop to be certain, but almost all of them have a transformer on the power cable, and all you've got to do is switch out the lead (which can be done for less than 10pln). The same is true of most desktop computers these days, too; almost all have universal power supplies, so again, all you've got to do is swap out the lead (this one might cost you 15-20pln, though!). Even most video game consoles have universal power supplies now; although the PS3 has an amusing sticker on it that claims it doesn't, if you open up the case and look at the PSU itself, you'll see that the sticker is lying!

Life / Grass is always greener? Poland experience. [69]


The weather was one of the reasons I chose to move to Poland. The weather here is great. Four proper seasons, but not too extreme at either end.

Work / Advice on Teaching English in Poland [709]

I'd argue to the contrary, but really, my opinion doesn't matter anyway. Any prospective employer, however, will definitely not see eye to eye with you on that. You possess business experience but not teaching experience, and you don't have any reputable teaching qualifications (i.e. CELTA). Business experience doesn't mean a thing if you're not a good teacher, and CELTA is the most recognised programme for teaching you how to be a decent teacher. It's much easier for a school to train a good teacher to teach business English than it is for them to train a businessman to be a good teacher. And CELTA is very good at what it's designed to do; I was already a trained and experienced TESL teacher when I did my CELTA, and I still found it a very valuable experience.

Work / Advice on Teaching English in Poland [709]

Just do what it takes to get your CELTA. It only takes a month and it isn't prohibitively expensive. Just because you speak the language doesn't mean you're in any way ready to teach it. Get some proper training so that you can do decent work and feel some pride in what you're doing.

Life / What are the things which cause culture shock in Poland? [164]


The thing that caught me off guard the most was that people actually pay attention to the signals at metered zebra crossings, even at odd hours of the day. Where I come from, the "don't walk" light is just a suggestion; you're free to cross as long as there are no cars.

The thing that bothered me the most was the lack of drinking fountains anywhere at all in public places.

All in all, I'd say neither is exactly earth-shattering, but then again, I did my homework before I decided to move.

Work / Advice on Teaching English in Poland [709]


Again, that depends very heavily upon where you are in Poland. Some cities are very saturated and can take their pick of numerous qualified local applicants, but once you get into many of the smaller cities, your assertion just simply isn't true.

Work / Advice on Teaching English in Poland [709]


That's really just not true, again especially in smaller cities. Of all the teachers I know, only one was physically present in Poland prior to getting a job.


An impressive CV by post on which you follow up by email and/or phone seems sufficient to 'impress most of you'. Visiting the school, meeting the administration, and handing them your CV personally can certainly be a positive thing obviously, but it's in no way necessary. I can say with supreme confidence that the procedure I proscribed for the OP is an effective one given how many people I know who got here using just such a process, myself included. Most people, especially in the not yet saturated markets, are realistic about the fact that, when you're hiring people who by definition must be citizens of another country, you're likely to be hiring them remotely.

Work / Advice on Teaching English in Poland [709]

Not the ones you'd actually want to work for. Not that I'm saying you should avoid a school just because they've advertised or anything--that'd obviously be an overreaction--but even in small cities, most of the top schools seem to be able to recruit successfully without advertising positions online. But the point is that I really just wouldn't pay much attention to online job boards for TEFL positions; you're much better off finding schools you'd want to work for and then pursuing whether they've got a position rather than finding schools that have an advertised position and then pursuing whether you'd want to work for them.

Work / Advice on Teaching English in Poland [709]

I wouldn't recommend relying on job advertisements when looking for work in Poland. Most desirable positions don't get advertised on tefl.com, Dave's, etc. at all, and there's enough turnover within the profession that you really never know when a school might get an opening. Just identify and contact desirable schools; don't worry about whether or not they're "hiring" at the time.

Law / Polish Citizenship for a foreigner whose parents was born in Poland [174]

It's quite a long shot, but you may conceivably be able to prove his birth with records of baptism from a church or of birth from a hospital in his town in Belarus, too.

Law / Polish Citizenship for a foreigner whose parents was born in Poland [174]


I'm no expert on these matters, but I'd definitely try talking to the Canadian consulate people, too. He'll have needed his birth certificate when he registered for Canadian citizenship, so it seems reasonable to me that they would have retained a copy for their own records. A copy from the Canadian consulate with Apostille may well get the job done.

Love / Troubled relationship - is it because I'm Polish or should I blame it on his moustache? [28]

+1
Bieganski wins another thread.


This is excellent advice. No relationship is too 'old' for dates. And they don't have to be big elaborate things, either; just make sure you make time for each other and have fun together. The second half of that post though... paiwan, are you ever going to get the memo that her boyfriend didn't cheat on her?


If you ask most couples who've been married for forty or fifty years to describe their relationship, it wouldn't sound that different, really. Passion ebbs and flows, and ultimately the sexuality fades, but it's deep friendship and trust that keeps people together for decades.


The most important indicator of where your priorities are is who you go to in your darkest hour when you really need support. Maybe you haven't been tested to find out recently, but imagine you lost your job or your father died or whatever you can make work in your own mind. Who would you want to talk to about it? Who would be the person with whom you'd try to find some measure of comfort? If you'd go to your boyfriend, then your relationship may be stronger than you realise; if you'd go to the Slovak guy, then you've got a problem.


You need to sit down together and have another talk. You need to figure out what you both want out of the relationship and then see how well they mesh together. It sounds like perhaps, whether consciously or not, marriage is important to you, and the fact that you're not married is colouring the way you look at things, but perhaps the whole institution of marriage isn't something he's interested in. I obviously have only bits of the story to work from, but I get the feeling that, had you gotten married say three or four years ago, you may well consider yourself happily married today. Or maybe I'm wrong, but you need to sit down together and work that kind of thing out.

EDIT: Your username has officially annoyed me.

Work / Advice on Teaching English in Poland [709]

I would start here:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cities_and_towns_in_Poland

Find some cities and towns that look interesting to you in the aforementioned 50 000 to 250 000 (ish) population range.

Then I would start going through sites like these:

eslbase.com/schools/poland
oxfordseminars.com/esl-schools-directory/europe/poland
eslfocus.com/directory2.php?categories_id=1&countries_id=170
essayforum.com (for academic research in English)

International House used to have a pretty extensive international school directory, but it seems to be down for maintenance. But it'd be worth checking back to see if they get it going again (under "resources"; I didn't provide a direct link because it looks out of date).

myteachinghouse.com

Some time spent with Google can probably yield some more similar lists, too.

Start your own list of schools in the cities and towns that most appealed to you. Look for schools that are represented in multiple such directories, have been in operation for at least 5-8 years (some of the best schools go back more than twenty), and have professional looking websites. Then do some research into the schools on your list at Dave's and just with Google. Bear in mind that this is the internet, so expect to see responses skewed more negatively than you would otherwise (people blog about bad experiences, but not when things go according to plan), but if you're finding multiple independent negative experiences (and, "the boss is an ********" doesn't count), cross the school off your list. If you find little feedback one way or the other on a school that's been around a while, that's generally a good sign in and of itself.

Now mail your CV to the schools on your list. Don't use email; use quality stationary and send it by post. Email is fine to follow-up, but not for the initial correspondence. You don't need to travel to all the schools you want to apply for--they're used to hiring from abroad and they really don't expect you to (just the fact that you're physically present in nearby Germany will give you a leg up over many of your competitors)--but if you're someone who makes excellent first impressions and there's a school that you're especially keen on, it's not a bad idea to give them your CV in person.

Repeat the above process until you've lined up at least three or four interviews.

When you speak to them, make sure you find out what teaching method they use: communicative, Callan, or Avalon. You can politely decline the instant any school tells you they use the Avalon Direct method; communicative is the best, but Callan is serviceable. Find out how many teachers they employ and how long they've been working there; their ability to retain their staff is a big indicator of how they'll be to work for. Also find out what the management structure is; do they have a director of studies? If so, how long has he/she been with the school? You'll also need to discuss what kind of outside contracting they do--many language schools also have contracts with the big local employers--and get the details on what sort of travel and offsite teaching you'll be responsible for. When you talk compensation, make sure you find out all of the details--gross vs. net pay, guaranteed minimum hours, how much working time you'll lose to holidays (you're not likely to find paid holidays), additional benefits and additional expenses (e.g. are you going to have to pay for your permits or do they?), etc.

Work / Advice on Teaching English in Poland [709]

If you want to work in a major city, be prepared to set yourself up as a freelancer and to cobble your schedule together with part time work from several sources. Only very well qualified teachers, which you're not, can expect to find full time work at good schools in the major cities. Indeed, I'd even go so far as to say that you should be weary of any big city school that offers you a full time position. (The most competitive cities in Poland for a native speaker EFL teacher looking for work are Kraków, Warszawa, Poznań, and Wrocław.) That said, most of the best schools in Poland seem to be in the smaller cities anyway, and you can certainly find full time work in some of those schools. Look at cities with a population in the range of 50 000 to 250 000; that's where you're likely to find the best opportunities. If you're motivated and organised, you can do well as a freelancer in a major city right out of the gate, but it's both more demanding and higher risk.

You know yourself and what risks you're willing to incur better than I do, obviously, but I would suggest you focus on finding full-time work with a reputable school in a small city for now, and if you decide you want to live in a major city, formulate a long-term plan (say 2-5 years) to take you there after you've had time to build your CV, cement your legal status, get comfortable with the system, etc.

Study / Looking for Language School Suggestion in Krakow [9]

Perhaps surprisingly, most of the best schools in Poland actually seem to be in the smaller cities. The big city schools seem to struggle a lot more with a saturated market and an extremely high teacher turnover rate. From what I know, the school in Kraków with the best reputation is probably Lincoln, so that can give you a stepping off point at least. That said, I doubt you're going to find any schools offering something meaningful over such a short time frame. Kraków is full of freelancers, so I'm sure you can find someone offering to teach you over that span of time, but the duration is just too short to really accomplish very much, even if you meet 5-6 days per week. Our summer intensive courses run for about five weeks, and I can't imagine doing anything shorter than that.

Law / A bank that suits my priorities? [6]


It seems that most banks have very little information about their terms on their websites. So are there no options for a no-fee credit card, then? Or do business just pass the transaction fees that the credit card companies charge them onto the customers? Given the other sources of revenue available to credit card companies (interest and transaction fees on businesses), it just seems hard to imagine that there wouldn't be some option on that front. I really dislike using debit cards, but it just isn't practical to always pay cash for everything.


So do you just pay all of your bills with electronic funds transfers or whatever, then?