Study / Top Language Schools to Work for in Warsaw? [32]

This is one of the problems - a qualified teacher should be a methodologist anyway.


A huge issue - aside from any matter of potential discrimination on the grounds of nationality, a competent and qualified native speaker teacher is likely to have a much better idea of how to do the job than some foreign 'methodologist'.


Agreed. Such people perhaps need advice on heuristics, however they shouldn't be working at all. In Germany where the profession is unionised, they probably either wouldn't be working or would only be found in method schools.


Inspection!

News / Police and priests save homeless in Poland [29]


You may want your hedge trimming by a cussing tramp, but I prefer a gardener doing it.

News / Police and priests save homeless in Poland [29]

Very much so, but that is in no way the first stage of helping a scabby tramp.

Study / Top Language Schools to Work for in Warsaw? [32]

That sounds a bit like the work I do sometimes - mostly teacher training, school expections, examinations etc. Are the methodologists native speakers?

Study / Top Language Schools to Work for in Warsaw? [32]


This always puzzles me - who are these methodologists that some schools use and isn't every qualified teacher a methodologist?


Agreed.

Study / Top Language Schools to Work for in Warsaw? [32]

Which is more frequent, native or a non-native being a 'lead teacher'?


This is pretty standard. Out of interest, who does the observations?

Study / Top Language Schools to Work for in Warsaw? [32]


Loads of them mostly from the US, living hand to mouth.

I agree with you about the Spain thing, but was wondering a moment ago if Polish EFL might go a bit like Italy. An oversupply in the beauty spots, the good jobs countrywide being done by people with a second income, the university/private school work being done by a mix of the posh and exchange students and the in-company work in industrial centres being the only half stuff money-wise and even that hard to get.

Study / Top Language Schools to Work for in Warsaw? [32]


Dunno. I just know that they offered a friend (who is an very experienced teacher -high quality stuff, really) 37zl and were surprised when he refused.


It's destroyed the market in so many other places - the question is, will the EFL market in Poland become closer to that of Spain or of Sweden.


This is a bit of a scam. It enables schools to cover half the lessons with a poorly-paid Polish teacher and the other half with some random foreigner who doesn't need to have teaching skills. At the same time touting it as some sort of 'dual method' as if there was actually some real methodology rather than business strategy behind it.

News / Police and priests save homeless in Poland [29]


Much better that using dirty needles in some empty flat with neighbours around. They're going to do it anyway, so why not be practical about it and let them do it safely?


Like a form of slavery you mean? If they were going to be any good at that, they probably wouldn't be tramps, would they?

Travel / Why does everyone seem to hate LOT Polish Airlines? [382]


No, 'youknowwho' (and btw, we do know). I suspect you've never waited at the Wizzair gate at Gdansk for a flight to Warsaw or you wouldn't come out with such nonsense.


Thousands of others have. When I fly, one leg of my journey is usually from Poland, the other legs between different places. The difference is obvious.


And coaches too.

Travel / Why does everyone seem to hate LOT Polish Airlines? [382]

Actually, 'youknowwho' the lady was walking slowly with a stick after having sat peacefully for a while. So stop trolling.

The bizarre behaviour of Poles at airport gates is something I have heard people comment on time after time. The fact that it happens isn't in dispute, the question is why it happens.

Travel / Why does everyone seem to hate LOT Polish Airlines? [382]

What fainting due to being crushed in a stampede?

Remember I've flown to and from Poland, including transatlantic flights, probably far more often than you ever will, Angry Person, and have seen this bizarre behaviour every time without exception.

Study / Top Language Schools to Work for in Warsaw? [32]


No worries about that, since the issue is still current.

Friends in EFL tell me the market has dried up a bit in Warsaw, with good schools and in-company training providers losing big contracts and unscrupulous schools like Polanglo offering 37zl per unit. Some blame it on a flood of younger, unqualified 'teachers' turning up to be with girlfriends, wives etc or just to study. These people just need to earn pin money and are easy meat for the worst schools. Others say that the core of the work in Warsaw, in-company lessons, are far fewer as companies tighten their training budgets and also recruit people who already have a high (or adequate) standard of lessons.

Travel / Why does everyone seem to hate LOT Polish Airlines? [382]

I caught a flight to Warsaw recently from an airport (Ataturk) where a lot of the gates are quite close together and lead off a long concourse. Right at the start of the concourse, from several hundred metres away, I could see which was the one for the Warsaw flight.

Before people even needed to go to the gate, most of the passengers were standing in a huge scrum as if they were trying to force their way through. Almost all the passengers were standing, despite there being plenty of seats at the gate. This was over an hour before take-off. This is not unusual. I have caught well over a hundred flights to Poland down the years and see this every time.

I've often wondered why people do this - perhaps they think there won't be enough seats and the plane will go without them or someone will have to stand. You used to get the same (and even sometimes far worse) at Victoria Coach Station until they had to move departures to Poland to part of the station where that behaviour was less of a safety risk. This only concerned journeys to Poland.

By the time we got on the plane, tempers were already flaring and by the time people got on the plane a couple were almost fighting over stowed luggage. During the flight too, some of them were giving the flight attendants hassle over meals, drinks etc. And yes, some of them clapped when the plane landed.

This was a strong example (especially the onboard stuff) but the thing about airport gates is entirely normal in my experience of flights to and from Poland. By far the worst are cheap flights on low-cost airlines. This always happens and is not only deeply uncomfortable but is also dangerous. My elderly mother was caught up in such a scrum at the gates at Gdansk airport not long ago and fainted. The staff were very helpful and forced people back to give first aid etc, but the passengers would just have trampled over her in their insane panic if the staff hadn't intervened.

The question is, why does this happen? What is the psychology behind this strange and annoying behaviour that makes a straightforward journey far worse?

Food / Pierogi recipe and filling from my grandmother [179]

Presumably they can be made by machine. Frozen pierogi plus the tens of thousands of fresh ones in Tesco, Carrefour etc round Christmas time certainly can't all be made by hand. Not at that price and quantity.

Travel / Why does everyone seem to hate LOT Polish Airlines? [382]

Not everyone is bothered for watching TV on a flight and the flight attendants on international flights speak good English.

A bigger issue with flights to and from Poland (not just LOT) is the bizarre behaviour of passengers at the gate. That I suppose is an issue for the airports.

Language / IS "MURZYN" word RACIST? [686]

Exactly. I've only heard it used pejoratively. Murzyn like it's English equivalent 'moor' just sounds old-fashioned.

History / Poland and Britain started WW2 [356]


One pretty obvious offer. 2 September 1939 - undertake by 11 o'clock to cease hostilities.

You might also want to check out the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact.


Obviously. One wonders if some people have nothing better going on in their lives.


Unfortunately that is precisely what he is getting. Though naturally very negatively. A kind of masochism really.

History / Poland and Britain started WW2 [356]

Evidently a nut. Just posting such rubbish is trolling.

History / Poland and Britain started WW2 [356]


These are not 'facts', just trolling. None are true.

History / Anyone know the name, if true... .... Polish Royal heir [40]


And nobody can confirm it, since titles no longer exist in Poland and there is no authority to rule on their validity or otherwise. Unlike the UK, Holland, Sweden etc where such things are officially regulated.

History / Anyone know the name, if true... .... Polish Royal heir [40]


True. Nor are there any recognised titles.

News / Topless sunbathers acquitted in Szczecin, Poland [128]


Really? Why not read some of your posts. Which are suggesting topless bathing is illegal here and that Poland is somehow backward. One might even wonder what your interest is in Poland. Except trolling of course.

Now run along and play on the railway track. There's a train coming in a few minutes.

News / Topless sunbathers acquitted in Szczecin, Poland [128]


Erm, you do realise we're talking about Poland, don't you?


Makes a change from accusations of 'polonophobia'!

Now stop trolling and run along.

News / Topless sunbathers acquitted in Szczecin, Poland [128]


One might be excused for disbelieving that.

News / Topless sunbathers acquitted in Szczecin, Poland [128]


Go to any one of the naturist beaches in Poland and you can stare at plenty.

History / Anyone know the name, if true... .... Polish Royal heir [40]


The last king was deposed around 200 years ago. Poland did have all sorts of princes (whose titles derive from various states) plus other minor aristocracy. Several did make 'unsuitable' marriages over the years and many emigrated. A surname would really help here.

News / Topless sunbathers acquitted in Szczecin, Poland [128]


Shows how much more liberal Poland is, doesn't it? Since there are beaches where one can legally wander around completely nude.


Not that new and a shame so many of the rest of the politicians have sworn to block his every move.

News / Topless sunbathers acquitted in Szczecin, Poland [128]


There are several nude beaches in Poland, where full frontal nudity has always been legal. There is one at Gdansk, one on the Wisla close to Warsaw and as far as I know there are several others. They are clearly marked on maps and have been there for years.

History / Anyone know the name, if true... .... Polish Royal heir [40]

I wonder if the OP has confused the story about the Russian and the Thai. That would be about 5 generations ago. There's probably plenty on the internet about it. I believe there's a Polish connection.