Studying English in Krakow, private tutors, schools or universities

Still lookin', but what I see, I don't like, that's the difference. One can accept without acknowledging.

@Lyzko
Thanks a lot.But maybe you can recommend some schools or teachers?
I've found some private international schools(embassy schools) in Krakow. Are they worth considering or they're just usual schools?

As I no longer live in Poland, I couldn't say for sure.
Whatever their regional "accent" though, just make sure they're NATIVE speakers of the language they're teaching and not some cheap facsimile thereof:-)

Yes, and above all teachers, not just somebody who can chat in their own language.


Their website looks good and they seem to be respectable (and part of the relevant international bodies), They're a school though, as in school to send your kids to full time, rather than adult learners studying part time.

This is probably by far the best bet in Krakow: britishcouncil.pl/en/english/schools/krakow

They have very high standards about the teachers they recruit (and are part of the British government). Very often their staff are also textbook writers and teacher trainers. Usually the British Council is the best option (though a long way from being the cheapest).

Not so! Some time ago I spent some time teaching Polish to not quite new arrivals (semi-formally, I was doing it as a teacher but I wasn't paid).

In some ways my classes were more like 'descriptive Polish grammar for dummies' since the learner needs more formal understanding of the structure more toward the beginning than with some other languages. Listen and repeat and don't worry about grammar don't work untill the student has some grammar to forget.

Inevitably students said I made them understand how the system works better than any other teacher they had (that is they began perceiving it as a system rather than a jumbled and tangled web of exceptions) and were happy that I could often answer questions that Polish teachers, even those trained as PFL teachers, couldn't answer. Having learned myself I had more conscious knowledge of the structure (and what non-natives will find especially weird and difficult) than a native speaker.

There are lots of things I wouldn't be able to do and mine shouldn't be their only classes but a non-native who understands the difficulties first hand can be a great asset.

I agree, maf!

Thanks a lot. What about the prices for private tuition? And in your opinion what's better private tuition or group courses?

You want educated native Yanks, you'll have to pay through the nose for it:-)

@Sappy

The only thing you need private tuition for are pronunciation and direction. If you want to learn the language well, read your a$$ off. Read twenty or more hours a week, and look up any words you don't know and compile a list of questions for your teacher. By reading, I mean real literature, not technical or academic literature, or journalism or anything on the internet. Science fiction and fantasy literature are best for learners because of the huge range of vocabulary.

If you are not spending twenty hours or more a week on reading, then there is little that a private teacher can do for you.

I would tend to disagree because a lot of the vocabulary in those is essentially made up. They can be good for very advanced students, but that's not the way to learn.

The best genres to learn are highly fomulaic and/or ones with lots of repititon. Murder mysteries (with endless repititons of the events of the night in question and the behavior of people before and after) and romance (where the plot has big flashing lighted arrows moving the reader along).

Only when the reader is really bored with those easier levels should they move on to fancier stuff.

Actually, it isn't. What is hard to read is children's literature. The hardest book I ever read (for my level at the time) was Marek Piegus. Lots of school, criminal, alcoholic and artist slang.

As for mysteries, the first book that I read in Polish that I had never before read in English was an Agatha Christie mystery. Not very demanding at all. It was a perfect choice. After reading Tolkien's four books, it was a breeze. Barely had to use the dictionary at all. Sapkowski was a much tougher nut to crack because of his enormous vocabulary, but the amount of new words I learned from him was astounding.I would not have been able to tackle Sapkowski without having read simpler books like Agatha Christie, Ender's Game, Frida, and some books by Sienkiewicz.

Well over 90% of the work of learning any language is vocabulary acquisition. Without an adequate vocabulary that you could use both receptively and productively, the scope of situations in which you are able to benefit from the language is greatly reduced to a few boring and mundane topics, and even then, only the most boring and mundane aspects of those topics.

Yes. In literature, realism is the best - very clear contexts that learners can relate to. The first Polish book I read was a kid's book (albeit non-fiction) - the diary of a Jewish child living in wartime south Poland. A sad book, and it stops dead mid-sentence when they took the family away.

There are exceptions - The Alchemist is a classic book for low level learners of any language, due to the deliberately simple structures and vocabulary.


This is also good.

One rule of thumb, is that a book should have up to 7 or 8 new words on a page to challenge a learner. More than that, they should select an easy one. Much fewer than that, it isn't challenging enough.

There are on the market fiction books geared specifically for the level of English for students of English. First, however, you need to ascertain the level a learner is at, so as to recommend a book.

The Cambridge easy reader series - they're quite good for learners


Yes. They also tend to use the 8 words a page rule.

Not a big fan, maybe doing one or two is okay but learners shouldn't make a habit out of them


that's the poblem, the levels that are part of official english teaching are mostly crap. the books are designed to graduate students to the next level book, not the real world at some point there has to be a wrenching away from teaching materials to real world materials and the longer that's put off the more painful it is

Still not certain though whether Polish A-Level(s) for English correspond precisely or even closely with Cambridge British Academy standards for A-Level English.
Perhaps someone here might enlighten me:-)

The OP in Krakow, should be able to buy some graded readers there, as well as online from Amazon etc.


The 'Easy Reader' series, and its rivals, aren't usually used as teaching materials; they are mostly intended for self-study (although some courses for young learners occasionally incorporate the ones aimed at kids - most don't). Authentic materials can (and should) be used at every stage of a course, even from day one.


Poland has a Matura (rether like Le Bac) rather than A levels.

The British Academy is the UK's national body for the humanities and social sciences - the study of peoples, cultures and societies, past, present and future. It is based in London, not Cambridge and has no role in the various A levels in English; that is a matter for the respective exam boards that offer them.

The OP is obviously far beyond the graded reader stage and is certainly able to tackle reading real literature. I suspect his main concern at this point is accent reduction.

The graded readers go much further than you might be used to at your level of the profession. Additionally, there are ungraded books with notes (and questions) for learners. There are also lengthy (and ungraded) news articles with similar treatment - The Guardian Weekly does them well (and The Weekly Telegraph has or used to have this).

From my reading of his written utterances here, his priority should be (and probably is) stylistics.