Work / What is a good monthly salary for an English teacher in Poland? [124]


Funnily enough, there are some who "get their foot in the door" as opposed to Spud in 'Trainspotting' simply by looking the part. I know a young teacher in Katowice who has never ever been asked for his (non-existent) CELTA or any other piece of paper, and he consistently walks into jobs. I on the other hand was the most senior teacher around that circle (who didn't hold the DELTA) and the girls at the desk would always ask to see my Cambridge certificate before they would call a DOS:)

Summary - some people still fall for smooth presentation and flannel :)

Life / What is the best city in Poland to live in? Relocating to Poznan? [41]


Very good - German architechture too :)

I was amazed to see that Gdansk was voted Poland's prettiest town. It needs 100 years - the Soviets made sure of that by blitzing the place.

Work / Language Teachers - do you feel respected in Poland? [86]


Mmm - negotiate all that before you start. I have one rich client who makes feeble excuse at the start of every month - and I have to forcibly remind him of our verbal agreement - which doesn't bother me in the slightest. It's my job, and I want to be paid for doing it.

If in doubt, negotiate discounted rates, but in advance. As for schools and late payment - if you are inexperienced or show desperation, then, yes, you will be exploited - a lot of schools do pay on the 20th of next month - Empik for one.

When you've been teaching for a while you can generally afford to kiss such employers off. But as you say, building your rep does take effort. I don't know where the "luck" thing comes in though. Some people offer trial lessons for example - I would rather watch grass grow myself - but everybody has their own marketing strategies to get bums on seats....

If you care, and try really hard to meet the needs of the learner, and help them to learn faster, then you are "respected" - as they return time after time, as you progress together....

Simples really.

Life / What is the best city in Poland to live in? Relocating to Poznan? [41]


Deffo Katowice from that list :) IMHO of course!

News / Polish final report on Smoleńsk aircrash [870]

There was only one man guilty of causing that crash. And only Poland would have been so stupid as to bury him in it's holiest of crypts.

Off-Topic / What's your connection with Poland? Penpals. [574]

Where exactly? And speak properly - Polish women are cultured and don't do it large.

History / Terrible past for the Jews in Poland? [930]


Yep


Do you live in Poland? Were you here in 1989? I was and you are talking anti-semitic tripe. Where were those billions of dollars you talk about? Any misappropriation would have been carried out by the nomenclature.

Innit?

Law / Penalty points on driving licences in Poland [26]

Que?

I know it's Sunday night and we are all mentally challenged but what are you on about Pigsy? Harry laid it out in black and white. Show the pigs the one documentation, not several licences or whatever....... don't give them ammunition for their brains to tick over.

And your fine, whatever it is, is automatically removed from your bank account in fullness of time by the tax police.

Travel / Storks - the Symbol of Poland [59]

Already here on the bay in Puck :) Not as elegant as the heron maybe, but nice to see them, to see them nice :)

Life / Barking Dogs in Poland [65]

Wait for a while Kamaz - let him grow further - there is a pub in St Albans in England called "The Giant Cock" :)

And I was under the sad mis-apprehension that you lucky people in the village get attached to your animals...... Don't think I was going all anti-village on you :) I too would live in the countryside if I only could.

What's with the internet connection there though? My dog loves looking at labrador prn.

Life / Barking Dogs in Poland [65]


Fair enough Kamaz - but for those of us who live in flats it's an absolute no-go and then some. And I agree with the other posters that the Polish village scene is completely ruined by incessant barking at the slightest provocation - when a fallen leaf rustles in the wind.

People keep dogs outside even when they have nothing worth stealing :) Why their dogs are not taken from them because of cruelty I have no idea........ anyway - on the (extremely) rare occasion that my dog barks I take away his toys.

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Life / Barking Dogs in Poland [65]

No actually - there are noise abatement laws throughout the civilised countries of the EU, where the owner gets busted, and if the dog persists, it, and not the owner unfortunately - can be destroyed.

As you probably well know; but we couldn't possibly have a wonderful country like Poland attempting to improve at all, could we?

Idiot.

Food / Where can I buy lamb in Poland? [89]

No lamb here in Biedronka :) Thanks Scottie for the Gdansk Hala thumbs up. The labrador and myself will head down there on Friday morning.

Food / Polish bacon doesn't fry up? [70]


What is this frozen bacon at M and S Harry? No evidence of it here in Sopot.

And Magda - borczek wedzony cut very thin (just less than 1 on the slicer) comes up a treat as passable fried bacon on my frying pan - eating some bacon sarnies with a morning beer right now - but it also piles on the weight, so don't do it. :)

And whoever eats Polish "bacon" raw - ie. half the population - is cutting their lifespan. It's a given.

News / Parliament in Poland clears way for nuclear plant [78]


And I grew up in one of Europe's largest coalfields, the English midlands. Permanent result - weakened lungs.

The choice is a non-brainer and you know it, and so do the Katowice coal barons. When president Dougpol is elected they will all be working in Tescos where they can't do any more harm.

News / Food producers from Poland should stop suffering from obliged sanctions against Russia [75]

What a ridiculous thread. We have farmers on here whining about their lot. We don't hear from them in good times though do we? In the meantime, all over Europe we subsidise them to the max.

I wish I could get a handout for my student's books or my hours spent assessing their work.

There's no barbed wire round the job. If no one wants their tasteless peppers or their frankly uneatable apples, then why don't they grow something else? Rape seed should fit the bill - every other damned farmer grows it:)

Life / Which nations do Poles like the most / the least? [150]


Very good JR.

When I lived there , employers were not so keen on my "graft". They constantly reminded me that their Polish employees were more hard-working and loyal and they expected me to stay out of the pub too.

Now, that, in Dusseldorf, when I was young, was a tall order!

Deutschland uber alles and if I were a young Pole with technical ability I know what foreign language I would bust a gut to learn. It's a non-brainer.

Life / When will SMOKING BE BANNED? (from public areas in Poland) [44]

Just what I was thinking reading this thread. Ask anybody in Poland why the hell they still allow domestic burning of coal and they look at you as if it's an insane question.

Carry on smoking, you smokers. I will carry on walking my dog on the beach which the snob local government ties to ban him from, and in the meanwhile the moneyed "professional" will carry on racing through our city streets in his new wheeled toy.

Each to his own.

Law / Penalty points on driving licences in Poland [26]


How does one get 24 points here? That really would take some doing. I have 6 points outstanding - and that was for a collision with a blind woman on a pedestrian crossing :)

I just had to sign a form apologising, and promising never to do it again :)

Language / Polish pet names [40]

Well - the very best of everything to you both mate - I really mean that. I hope all goes well for you. This internet malarkey has a lot to answer for, but it doesn't pay to be too suspicious. Just work it out together, and have fun making up. I always thought a dimunitive was just being friendly. Poles generally are so bloody formal til you get to know them, and yet students are taught at school about the British stiff upper....

I would have thought that lower register names - like "Danka" for Danuta, or "Janek" for Jan, are just that - a form of comraderie for a work mate or a friend, nothing more.

Best of luck.

UK, Ireland / English/British rudeness - what do Polish people think about it? [168]


Interested in this thread. It is stupid in a way - because of the different levels and types/contexts of politeness. But....

I was amazed when working at university in Silesia that staff would enter my lecture, look around the room, then exit without a word. ( That irritated the **** out of me at the time). Later I realised that it was a different form of politeness - if they had said "Oh! I'm awfully sorry! I was looking for so-and-so - you don't happen to know where he is do you...?", that would have been rude in their view (better to get out with minimum distraction for all involved)

All you learners of English know from your natural English lessons that the French are to blame for this convoluted diplomacy followed by the optional Basil Fawlty genefluction and reverse exit.....

Horses for courses. There's plenty that irritates the bollox out of me - but it doesn't matter where I am - with my own kind or on some desert island - eg: the flies in the greatest place on earth - Western Scotland if you're interested - do my nut. Us English are no different to anybody else. I seem rude to other passengers because we Brits don't accept a Gdynia trolley bus driver being heavy on the brakes, whilst the Polish 99.999999999 majority suffer in silence :) I can only be tolerant after the event and suppose it's because they haven't been trained to drive the damn thing properly (the only people who do drive those things properly happen to be women.... love 'em)

Language / Polish pet names [40]

Tom

As a Brit - so my view is not much use here - except that you clearly are too - but I would have thought that friends (or socially aware work colleagues) would likely call her Paulinka. What's with the suspicion?

Of course, if you're in love with a beautiful woman..............well - you know the song.

I think you would have real problems if you did not care either way - so my two-pennyworth is to ignore things you "stumble across". Spoken from experience.

Work / Teaching English in Poland? I am American and I have the CELTA certification. [42]

Excellent advice - get those qualifications while you're young, and get in the work-place and advertise yourself. It always amazes me how some Poles are 27 or 28, or even older, have 2 Masters degrees etc.... and yet haven't even started on a career path..........

Work / Teaching English in Poland? I am American and I have the CELTA certification. [42]


All very commendable Dominic - apart from the fact that not all of us are cut out for a life in engineering. Anyway - the idea that you must have a degree in Poland is to do anything is of course largely true, but maybe the poster is "different" like my pal down sarf. He ( the American) has the gumption to want to come here for some reason..... a gap year wouldn't necessarily kill him would it?

Work / Teaching English in Poland? I am American and I have the CELTA certification. [42]

Wysoki

You can either teach, or you can't - it's that simple really (but read up on the language and meths with tomes by Jeremy Harmer/Jim Scrivener and Michael Swan........)

I have a chap working with me. He doesn't have a degree. doesn't have the CELTA - but boy can he teach! I don't know whether it's his charisma or his patient but jolly demeanour, but companies love him. He turns down work - or more often than not doesn't bother responding to an enquiry. It's in a mining city in the south of Poland that rhymes with cat......

A one-off I suppose, as they always ask to see my certificates :(


Yes InWroc - I was working for a head office. When I started, they were at one level. When the contract finished they were at a higher level in terms of colloquial usage. (B2 learners). Job finished.

Sick of waiting for the Polish scum government to reform this unfair tax.

Anyway the umowa o dzielo said " Usługa Konsultacja" - so it's hard to prove anything either way shirley? I will leave my happy home in ole Polska if necessary rather than permit ZUS to ever steal from me again.

Poll tax all over again, innit?

Life / Brazilian moving to Gdansk and need some help with finding a flat to rent and also a good school for daughters [33]


Simple one that. I installed a new lock and didn't pay rent for the last month with a dodgy character a while back.
Also only rent from folks that are kosher. Other than that - if violence is the only language they understand then offer it up.

Life / Brazilian moving to Gdansk and need some help with finding a flat to rent and also a good school for daughters [33]

I will PM you his number

Life / Brazilian moving to Gdansk and need some help with finding a flat to rent and also a good school for daughters [33]


I must admit your daughters would find it boring here. As the others said, Gdansk old town would be the go for a young family. There are places to avoid though, that I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy, and which make my previous abode of Katowice a picnic by comparison.

Gdynia is snobville but safe. Large parts of Gdansk are still ruined by the war and I myself am not a fan.

As for teaching - just up yourself on the net and off you go. As you would know, it's all word of mouth, and 60 per cent charisma - and a variable amount of edutainment anyway. I know a Brazilian who teaches English here very successfully and he is the flavour of the month year by year :)

Work / Language Teachers - do you feel respected in Poland? [86]


Tut-tut - you mean, as opposed to a sucker who works for Profi- lingua and the like, has to deal with the DOS, and/or the "boss", and the bureaucracy, and the "training sessions", and the "syllabus", and the "regulations", and the travel, and the threat of the tin-tack on lateness, and the crap pay, and the tax, and the ZUS, and the observed classes by the "methodologist" - and the late pay, often three weeks after the end of the month, and the crap working conditions at the above stated "company" and the sullen admin, and..........

And yes, most of us do have a CELTA, including mysen - doesn't make us good teachers. It was the Soars who started that scam I believe; I prefer self training and listening to what Jim Scrivener et al have to say; should have done the DELTA but I am an old boy and now can't be bothered - if that's alright with you?

Life / Brazilian moving to Gdansk and need some help with finding a flat to rent and also a good school for daughters [33]

Hello Ana

Well, I don't know - flat plus bills will cost upwards of 2000 zl in the winter months...........

But Gdansk is worth it if you survive the winters: I am hating it with a passion myself. Bring plenty of windproof and warm layers if you're planning on venturing out. Come to Gdynia instead - it's warmer :)

Nicer, and cheaper.

Sorry for the McDonalds talk - present continuous tense taking over duh :(