Teaching English in Poland (Poznan) with my TEFL Cert degree

Hi all i am from ireland

i am moving to poland with my polish girlfriend shortly , I have completed my TEFL Cert and was hoping that ye might give me a few pointers on where in poznan could i get teaching work.

Which one?


When exactly?

If "shortly" means before October, your chances of finding work teaching English in a good school are remote. Work is scarce during the summer vacation, and what few jobs there are have already been taken.


If it isn't a CELTA, it's not going to be worth much on the job market except outside of the the popular cities I list below..


The job market is tight in the larger "civilized" cities like Warsaw, Kraków, Wrocław, Poznań and Gdańsk because there is already an abundant supply of native teachers there, both qualified and unqualified. The best jobs with the best conditions and wages go to the best qualified and most experienced teachers. Other teachers have to fight over the table scraps, and end up working in the worse schools for lower wages and under worse working conditions.

Avoid Callan, Avalon and "Direct Method" schools like the plague. They're basically shady operations that pay very poorly, and sometimes not at all. Avoid any school that will not sign a REAL full time contract with you, or that asks you whether they can fudge your tax information.

Never take a job that pays less than 50 PLN per 60 minutes AFTER TAXES. If they can't guarantee you at least 20 hours a week, keep on looking. When calculating monthly income, realize that you are not going to be paid for the Christmas break, the two week winter holiday, and other holidays during the school year. As I said, work during the summer is going to be scarce. Don't count on it, especially in the popular cities.

If you're coming to Poland for fun, experience and adventure, fine. If you're coming here to make money, though, forget about it. You'll be lucky if you break even from October to June, and will most like lose out overall because of the summer doldrums. Very few English teachers make a real good living here in Poland, and those that do are highly qualified and experienced, are good businessmen and marketers, speak the local language well and operate independently.

Forget about giving private lessons. Until you're experienced, the best, high-paying customers won't even look at you. It takes a lot of time and work to build up a reputation and reliable client base, and a lot of business savvy. Hard to do without having considerable savings to tide you over, or with fluency in Polish. The competition is fierce, and never sleeps.

Lastly, about the girlfriend. She will drop you like a hot potato if you do not earn enough to support at least yourself. Think twice about living together with her family. Polish "in-laws" are fine if you're bringing in enough cash to support yourself and contribute your fair share to household expenses (expect to contribute at least 500 PLN for room, and 1000 PLN for board; if they expect more, they will let you know). After the third day of your stay, they will start counting every penny you cost them. Once you become a financial liability, they will very quickly unite against you and start making life hell for you. The best thing that can happen is that they will kick your sorry ass out on the street. Parasites are dealt with very harshly in Poland. Things will ever improve until your "account" with them is in the black, and promises to stay that way for the forseeable future.

Easier said than done in the current economic climate. Some good schools in Poznan at least might only pay 45zl net, but they will look after you. The best advice is to take what you can get in the first year and then adjust to suit. I started off on 35zl an hour net - absolutely pathetic, but it was a great foot in the door. 2 years later, I was teaching almost exclusively corpo-drones and doing well out of it.


That's not going to happen right now. The only schools that will make such guarantees will pay you a significantly lower base salary. And I can assure you that any school willing to offer 4000zl base a month will certainly not be interested in a random Irish bloke with a "TEFL" qualification


Actually, this isn't true. I haven't actively advertised for private classes in over two years, yet I'm still getting people calling me after seeing old online advertisements. Friends of mine report not much has changed, and even a friend of mine who openly admits to doing nothing other than conversation classes is still getting 40-50PLN/hour easily. The bloke in question turned up a few months ago with no experience and no knowledge of teaching English (and works a corpo job, the private classes are for beer) - and he's still getting calls.

It's worth pointing out that *if* you don't meet their expectations, then they will simply not show up for the next appointment. Private lessons are fine and well, but Poles have no sense of duty when it comes to these things. They certainly shouldn't be relied on for a steady income.

As for what Dominic says about the in-laws - absolutely right. In fact, much of what he says is absolutely right.

"relocate", can you tell us more about yourself? I might be looking for a part time teacher next year...

Everything DominicB has written is correct.

Yes, it is. You missed the word "reliable" in my post. 40 to 50 PLN an hour means 20 to 25 PLN if you're stuck with a flaky student who cancels every other lesson at the last minute (no shortage of those in Poland). Also, I don't advertise anymore, either. All of my students come to me by word of mouth. Fortunately, I work at the university here in Wrocław, and I am well known for helping kids get into foreign universities. Last time I looked, Wrocław Gumtree was loaded with ads from native speakers giving conversation lessons for 30 PLN. (And I bet most of them are Brits and Irishemen who came here to be with their Polish girlfriends). Private lessons are fine as supplemental income, but as a full-time job, it requires a great deal of work.


Absolutely. I said the best jobs go to the best qualified and the most experienced.


The best advice is to forget about it unless you know for sure that you will be making enough to fully support yourself all year round. Or consider working outside of the popular cities with large universities and plenty of competition from established native speakers. Try places in eastern Poland like Augustów, Mielec, Chełm or £omża.

Ah, yes - this is why I think that anyone considering this line of work has to make it clear that there's a cancellation policy and stick to it. I completely agree that there's no shortage of them in Poland - which is why you have to be strict and to not tolerate any cancellations on the day. Anyone not willing to agree probably isn't worth the hassle.


Without a shadow of a doubt. I observed a while ago that it was getting cheaper to get a native than a Pole to do the same job - which was an interesting state of affairs.


In my experience, if you want to go down this route, the most sensible way is to combine private lessons with corporate classes. The corporate classes will rarely cancel, and if they do, they'll often just sign to say that they were there anyway.


Or those who were in the know ;)


I suspect it's the same old story - girlfriend wants to move back home to be near the family, girlfriend convinces boyfriend that you can "earn a lot as a native speaker" and - well - girlfrend dumps boyfriend down the line for the man who already has a real career.

Indeed. Wrocław is literally awash with native speakers desperate for any kind of work.


Seen it dozens of times myself. Anyone dumb enough for the "you can earn a lot as a native speaker" line would probably benefit from an intensive course in the school of hard knocks, though. TANSTAAFL.

Wish it was the same in Poznan :( There's many native speakers (allegedly) from interesting countries, but still not enough from the UK/America to drive wages down that far. Still, I'm about to place an advertisement for a 4 hour block of work twice a week - we'll see what kind of response I get...

What's interesting is how idiotic many "native speakers" are. I once had one refuse to come to an interview because he'd had an argument with his girlfriend - which is just ridiculous!

Anybody have an idea what the going rates is in these places?

TIA

RL

Not much lower than in the popular cities, if at all. Significantly higher if you are minimally qualified. Advantages are much lower cost of living, especially housing, scant competition, and schools desperate to find native speakers that retention is a serious priority. Country living does have its advantages.

I'm really happy that I spent my first four years in Poland teaching in a provincial city. The friendships I made were far deeper and longer lasting than those I've made in the city.

Could even be higher. I had a look on Gumtree Warszawa earlier and got a hell of a shock - someone with a PhD in Linguistics offering themselves for 100zl/90 minutes. Incredible.

I wouldn't be surprised in the least. Even with a slightly lower pay, though, the savings in terms of cost of living will be substantial, and equivalent to a hefty pay increase.

Thanks to everyone who contributed so far for this already very informative thread. I'm looking forward to moving to Gdynia with my wife next spring and would also like to try teaching English for the love of it mostly as I enjoy languages but have little experience in teaching. Most of my work experience has been in the hotel industry. I'm going to get information about CELTA and brush up on my Polish as much as I can. Thanks again guys!

Good luck with the Relocation! Poznan sounds like a great place to be, the home of Lech! (My favourite beer)

:)

Allan (31)