Teaching English lessons with a native speaker in Poland

Hi everyone,
I am an experienced, qualified English native speaker looking for new students in Poznan or online. PM for details.

What are your qualifications?


Which English?

Exactly what I'd want to know! According to your profile, you barely speak Polish. Is it really advisable to teach rank beginners the target language without at least rudimentary fluency in the source language of the target learner(s)?? Unless, you're tutoring the wealthy and/or teaching at a major university, e.g. the University of Poznań where the students already are at least intermediate to advanced in English, frankly, you'll be wasting both your own as well as the student's time:-)

Hate to be blunt, but there are SOOOOO many scams out there in the ESL field, it's quickly turning into just another racket (...and we're the ones stuck with the used balls)LOL

However Doug, when attempting to break through in English to zero-beginner Poles with questionable interest as well as background in language to start with, there must be basic foundation in Polish, trust me!! I once taught a mono-lingual Pole enough English to get to his A-levels. If I knew little more than "Jak masz na imię?" and "Co to jest..?", I'd have been merrily up s**** creak without a paddle!!

I agree if the learner has no interest or motivation, but it's not impossible. I taught Turkish absolute beginners over twenty years ago without knowing their language, and it was tough, but we should never underestimate the power of the human mind. If a good personal rapport is achieved, it is possible.

She speaks conversational Polish according to her posts on other threads.


She has a CELTA and experience, and has worked for at least one language school in Poland according to her other posts.
She was also advised on another thread to try searching for work in smaller cities, so presumably that is why she has started this thread.


Probably you are right, I'm not a teacher in Poland, but I guess she is finding it difficult to find work and is prepared to try anything as most people in her situation would do. For all we know she may be a good teacher, if you read through her other threads, she had applied at the wrong time to find work. Sometimes luck is a factor in finding a job too.

Yes, and it's highly recommended. In Polytechnic University of Wroclaw to be specific, a group(Polish for Beginners) usually comprises of people from different nationalities, but at the end of the day the teachers manage to pull all of them through to the A2 or B1 level without understand a word in their respective languages. Moreover, the textbooks provided in the school are all in Polish. In short, everything boils down to the competence of the teacher and not the source language.


I couldn't agree more....

CELTA is certainly not all you need, but it's a useful course, both because it gives prospective teachers a grounding in methodology, and because it uncovers their shortcomings and lack of knowledge of their own language, which can then be addressed.

There are no doubt plenty of Micky Mouse places offering CELTA-like courses, but a good, intensive month-long CELTA at an approved institution is no joke. I did mine nearly twenty-five years ago and it was full-on and very professionally run (it also cost a thousand pounds).

well it is only a 'gateway' qualification, a bit like passing a driving test and then really learning how to drive afterwards.


well that is not even true. What is a 'chav' anyway? In my (extensive) experience the majority of people doing CELTA have a degree.
If your language awareness is rubbish, or you cannot deal with people, you will fail the course.
I can honestly say that my 4 or 5 week CTEFLA course was the hardest month of my life and cost the best part of a grand.

I don't know why you are so chippy about English teachers. Is it because nobody really wants to learn French any more?

Yes, what is a 'chav' please InPolska??

Absolutely, Roger! It is a mere minimum and a lot of ESL teachers have much more. If you passed yours 25 years ago (first of all, better quality then) and also with the significant experience you have had over all these years, a CELTA or whatever else certificate is not necessary ;).

I am not in ESL teaching (but in foreign language education) but it seems to be while reading PF that any chav arriving to Poland because he met Kasia, Ewa or Anna weighing potatoes at Tesco is advised to take a course for a couple of hundreds of Pounds over a couple of weeks and that's it ... they'll become teachers. Such "teachers" can only expect to be hired by second class schools mostly in Poska B and work once in a while and be paid peanuts. Some foreign language teachers (not only in English but also French, German, Russian...) can be fortunate to work all the time, at the best jobs and for the best money but it is important to know that most teachers are not that successful. In order to be very busy and make very good money at this type of work, one has to be extremely good and be recognized as such and as result no need to look for employment because said teachers are litteraly bombed with offers.

There are highly qualified teachers and there are those who are unemployed/unemployable at home (principally UK) and who expect to make it in Poland and very soon become very frustrated...

1000 squid is not a little money - and you are earning nothing in that time period of 4 weeks either. I think a CELTA is certainly earned, unlike some of the certificates courses doing the rounds in other industries.....


The OP also worked at International House in Katowice apparently. They used to be good employers, and were choosy as well. I never worked for them myself as I didn't need them and they almost certainly didn't need a non team player like me:)