Native English looking for a teaching job in Poland

Yeah..... that happens a lot......

I certainly do.

Actually I am technically employed in Poland via my import export company. And no I would never teach esp not in pl anyway unless at the college level. Working 50 hour weeks to scratch at most 1 2 grand a month doesn't sound too appealing

2nd I am going off Doug's 70z an hour advert along with those online.

The amount of teachers/translators/etc making 8k zs let alone 15k is a minority and nowhere near the mean, that is fact

Again, I clearly stated that yes state schools have such requirements, certain private schools do not.

@DominicB, well, bud, 'guess you're having an episode, since you just posted the other day that, in short, there are "a gazillion better ways to make a living...", implying that the level of ESL-"greenies" matches the paultry salaries often earned in that field, am I right so far?? Fine. And I merely added that on the wages complaint level, it's clearly not about the money that people usually enter the ESL-field to begin with, much as with cops, firefighters or country doctors deciding to forego more lucrative occupations!!

Basic English I still can understand. What's your excuse then?
:-)

No. Which is why the rest of what you wrote has no connection to what I actually said, just to what you imagine I said. The "implication" you are referring to happened in your own head.

It's possible to earn quite a lot - providing you have above average qualifications, specific skills in teaching ESP/material writing/assessment etc and work for the right organisation.


One of the best Teachers I've ever known has no degree. He'd worked in education for years though and had a DELTA as well as a CELTA. These were his only post-18 qualifications.


Indeed.

Anyway both Dirk and Dominik are doing their superior air routine on this thread. Obsessed over money methinks, whilst maybe to others it's not the be all and end all? And If the OP wants to come here and teach, and is aware of the lifestyle the work entails, then why the flippin' Norah not? He could be a natural.

Perhaps you should read the OP's post and my answer to it before commenting on either. Then you would know "why the flippin' Norah not.

So why do you think I'd have misunderstood or misinterpreted something so obvious, DominicB? For what reason, pray? Or are you just giving yours truly the good ol' Gaslight treatment and allowing me to think I'm losing my mind?

ESL earnings do vary from country to country, after all, don't they? Or was it my inagination that I earned much more teaching at a veritable "hole-in-the-wall" school in Freudenstadt compared with a so-called "respectable" language institute in New York?

Why, I don't know. But you went far beyond anything that I ever wrote and supplemented it with your own thoughts, which did not follow from anything I wrote.

As for the rest, it has no bearing on anything that I actually wrote.

Perhaps a brief, private recap would help me sort out what you wrote, as apparently we both seemed to have missed something somewhere, either unintentionally on my part or by design on yours!

Perhaps you, too, need to reread the OP's post and my answer to it for the context of anything I wrote. My guess is that you came up with a context of your own that has nothing to do with that exchange.

Oddly enough though, I happen to agree with what you wrote, as regards salary anyhow:-)

I thought you would, which is why I was surprised that you seemed to be disagreeing with me.

:-) You're right.

No problem.

Thank you guys, to everyone of you. Your feedback is much appreciated.

Unfortunately I do not have any other qualifications. The dream was always to become a teacher. Hopefully the "positive" feedback received has not dented any aspirations of becoming a teacher or to try and teach in Poland altogether.

So long as one is qualified by dint of their thorough training, ideally bilingual as well, and willing to act as standard bearer of the language they are teaching, all I can add here is, "More power to you!"

Hi Atch, you seem to have good knowledge of this sector in Poland, I am a Canadian born Native English Speaker who has also a Polish Passport and am more or less bilingual. I have 5 years teaching experience in Asia, a BA in Linguistics and a CELTA with a B+ pass. also i am 35 years old (female) In your opinion would i be looked at more as a professional or a backpacker esl teacher vibe? I feel pretty confident to hold out and believe i could ask for and get teh higher end of the payscale....also, i assume best to worst jobs would be private tutoring - state schools - private language centres ? thanks in advance for your time! cheers.


How does one make that happen? i will move to poland in the fall and my experience living abroad has taught me its better to be in country to market yourself and find jobs that fit the standard that you want as well....but obviously i cannot just show up and hope people can sense a good teacher....how do i look for these unadvertised jobs.... ( i am a bilingual Polish Canadian (english native speaker) ) thanks!

Hi Matlinka. Yes, I saw your other posts re translation etc and didn't feel qualified to comment on the career direction you should take. But.........if you're just talking about TEFL, then I'm a bit better informed about that but not anywhere as up to date on the nitty gritty as Jon would be. However I can offer a bit of insight from my own previous experience and my current knowledge of the Warsaw market, couldn't really comment on the region of Poland you'll be going to - and that's significant. It differs from region to region and city to city.


Yes. You have very good qualifications that demonstrate your knowledge and interest in the English language plus you have teaching experience. However, having said that, Polish employers don't have the best reputation for valuing their workers and their main concern will be how cheap they can get you, rather than how good you are. If they can hire somebody else with a basic CELTA for less, then they'll take them. So your CV will get you an interview but it doesn't guarantee you a job offer over less qualified and experienced candidates.

The most I was ever offered was 110 zl per hour working for a private language school, visiting the offices of executives to give one-to-one tuition at advanced level. That was about eleven years ago, so yes, you can get the higher rate of pay. In that case I was approached by the school, I didn't actually apply for a job. The fact that I had years of mainstream teaching experience, not just TEFL, definitely made a difference and also, I was 'well presented'. That's very important for the old executive scene. You don't have to wear a business suit or anything but you need to look as if you wouldn't be removed by security when you visit the office for the first time :D I think that as a woman (which I was last time I looked in the mirror!) it's particularly true that the old lipstick, earrings and a dress makes a big difference.

I'm actually a Montessori primary school teacher by profession and just drifted into TEFL because people kept asking me for lessons. I said yes to a few neighbours and acquaintances just to be polite and it mushroomed. I wasn't really looking for full time employment so I deliberately kept a limit on it and I didn't take that job with the language school, but if I'd wanted to expand I could have. I used to charge 60zl per hour for a private lesson btw and I either taught at home or locally so I never even had to travel one tram stop to a lesson. You have to watch that, because if you're getting paid for the hour you teach, you have to factor in the time it takes to get to and from the lesson. If you're not careful you can end up on 30zl an hour!!


Actually state schools, as in primary and secondary pay very badly and they rarely hire English language teachers as far as I know. Other than that, yes if you can build up a portfolio of private clients, then it's ideal as you can charge 60 per hour and manage your appointments to suit yourself up to a point. With a language school you'll have to work when they tell you to.


You can't! They come to you. Just as the language school came to me. It takes time. You have to get known in the area where you live and word spreads. It's actually a good idea to set up a simple website as language schools sometimes scour the internet looking for native speakers and a nicely put together website shows that you're a professional worth their while contacting.

The final piece of advice I would give you is to consider getting the Cambridge Young Learners qualification. You could possibly do that before you get to Poland and it wouldn't take long but it would be a great extra on your CV. There is definitely a shortage of people suitably qualified to teach children under the age of 12 and pre-schoolers in particular and there would be a pool of possible work for you both with private kindergartens and home tutition. However, you should really only go for it if you actually like the company of children! Might sound obvious but young children en masse in a classroom can be the undoing of many a sane adult :)) I knew one very competent secondary school teacher in her thirties who took a temporary position in a primary school and ended up on blood pressure medication - mind you, that was in Ireland where children tend to be lively, not naughty exactly, but very high spirited and chatty. Polish kids in my experience are much more sedate in class and the tinies are so sweet, you could eat them up with a spoon :))

Certainly a professional however right now in Poland the market is flooded by people who aren't and that does affect the kind of work available.


The best work is in-company or in Higher Education usually. The worst is punting out stuff at a 'method' language school. Most falls somewhere in-between and in PL it really is a lottery to find something decent.


He's no longer here, however I can say that it's basically word-of-mouth. Do some in-company work and there's a chance people will tell friends/family/contacts that they have a great teacher. You do need to make materials and give over and above the norm. Or just be in the right place at the right time. As I say, it's often a lottery.

ESL teaching is an extraordinarily rewarding profession. The difficulties often lie, certainly not with the students, rather, with the administration of any number of language institutions (including universities), in which profits far too often outweigh the need for truly qualified, NATIVE ENGLISH SPEAKING instructional staff, almost exclusively so as management can save moneyLOL

The entire trade has become penny-wise and pound foolish, to which I add: Cheap is (always) dear.
:-)

@Maltinka Came across an opportunity you may or may not be interested in. The pay will certainly be considerable, and there are universities nearby.

aecom.jobs/chantilly-va/polish-linguist/7EDF3229993F4607AA4F0F93EF42477A/job/

Thanks so much, that is so kind of you to think of me, really thank you a lot! i just checked it out, looks good but i am Canadian, and its a job for US citizens only

(...also, i dont want to live in the USA.....not now, not ever (no offence to anyone, its just.....well...yea.) )

@Atch
Hey thanks for your long response, I really appreciate it. I thought about the CELTYL not too long ago but at this point I am not sure how much longer I want to stay in ESL teaching but it has sat there in my mind as something to add....but what you say is very interesting because truth be told i am a primary school teacher of ESL i work with young children and have done mostly that my whole time ins ASIA and i prefer it vastly to teaching adults. I working in a private kindy in SKorea, and then in a centre here in hano with children under 12 and now i teach grades 1-4 ......I am wondering and also i would love to hear what you say about this also @jon357 what is the job market like for people wanting to teach young learners? i am keen to stay in this area if possible but was thinking i would likely have to change....but maybe thats something desirable since everyone is teaching adults and business english? in your experience are polish parents keen to hire private tutors for their kids? :) thank you all for helping me to understand more what i will walk into over there! i am all for adventure and the unknown but it is nice to have some ideas of what to expect when i arrive :)

Then that's enough. You can demonstrate through your track record that you know how to teach children. You don't need a piece of paper that says you can.


I know you asked this question of Jon, but I'll just that in my experience, it's a big fat YES. They are, very much so. In Warsaw anyway. And they're not all rich people by any means. Even ten years ago I was tutoring kids whose parents or grandparents had stalls in the local Targi. I have to say that it's ideal if you can teach them in small groups though, rather than one-to-one. One approach I used to take if I had for example a six year old one-to-one, was to do an art activity and that went down very well. Lots of vocabulary as we talked about what we were doing and the child had something to take home at the end of the lesson :)

Incidentally Matlinka are you a qualified primary school teacher?? Because if so you could look for a job as a class teacher in an international school. By primary by the way I mean ages 6-12 which is what Americans call elementary. I'm actually qualified to teach ages 3-12 myself.

Was discussing a number of issues yesterday evening with an ESL-colleague who shared with me her first interview for an ESL-teaching position.
The interviewer blithely assumed "And, Erica, you're obviously an American native speaker..", at which point my colleague became rather annoyed an bluntly asked why it was important, whereas any number of equally qualified foreign-born instructors with the same training might do the job just as competently.

The moral here, is that in the end, while the ideal teacher of any foreign language should be a native of the language, in the long run, credentials and the requisite skills are more important in the classroom!

@Atch
thanks thats great! i figured with the CELTA and all the years experience it owuld be enough without the CELTYL....but everywhere i look i see only posts and discussions about teaching adults. is that because that's the whole job market, or is there work for young learners....I am keen to use my polish to make connections in and around my house to find kids to teach but maybe there are kindergartens and schools that higher esl teachers also...hmmmm thank you, that gives me more confidence. ...

the only teaching qualification i have is the CELTA, and the experience, but no i am not officially qualified unfortunately or this would be a whole other ball game. i have lots of friends here who teach in international schools as EFL teachers and they only hold CELTA certificates as well. i will attempt that direction also but am not holding too much hope on that one.

TESOL- certification as well can come in handy.

@Lyzko Hi :) did you mean that for me? I have the CELTA so i think getting a TESOL would be of no use at this point. i think i am already very qualified and have plenty of experience, I just want to feel out what the job market will look like for someone like me :) Cheers!

you can find a job with the CELTA. Take no notice of Lyzko he has comprehension problems.
You clearly stated already that you had the CELTA ..This is a really good standardised qualification that employers recognise.