News / Giant Jesus Rising in Świebodzin ( Tallest in world ) [323]

So, they've definitely confirmed that the mound of earth they perched it on is 'part' of the statue?

Work / Doing my course in Krakow, working in EFL in Poland (newbie questions) [43]

Warsaw is terrible at the moment for native speakers... unless you can teach technical English, you'll struggle. A lot of 'schools' advertise they need teachers and have guaranteed work - but it's only the odd hour here and there (definitely not enough to live on and usually in the evenings or weekends). However, a lot of large companies (TP, Cyfra, etc) are desperate for English speaking staff for their helplines - but this only pays 12zł ph and you are normally expected to work the full 48 hrs/wk.

Smaller towns are slightly better for jobs - and most provide accomodation as part of the deal, but you must be careful. A lot of private language schools don't register their native speakers, leaving you with little comeback when there's a problem - in my case, the owner decided that he couldn't be bothered to pay the wages he owed from a summer and then played the victim when we all walked out (he tried to deny I'd worked there - even though I taught the town mayor and 3 workers from the local tax office; then he claimed I was in breach of contract - despite having admitted he'd never given me one so he could avoid paying ZUS!) and the next was just as bad.

On the plus side - IF you can get your foot in the door and are good at what you do then you will get steady work... eventually.

The other important thing to remember is you are likely to have no income for 3 months over the summer - you're likely to be employed as a contractor so they can avoid paying holiday pay during the long summer break.

Of course, if you have a full degree on top of any EFL qualifiacation you can apply for work in a state school - but they normally want people to start in September and are usually only looking for temporary staff after that to cover maternity leave at other times.

UK, Ireland / Poles living in the UK returning home or not? [63]

I knew a lot of Poles in the UK - most of whom have now left because they got fed up with being ripped off by employers,but, some whom will never return because they have a much better standard of life and freedom (and enjoy a lot more respect) in the UK than they would here. That said, of those who've left only 3 have come back, the rest have gone to Holland or Sweden,etc because their 'stint' in the UK has allowed them enough professional acknowledgment to get the jobs they're qualified to do - instead of working as cleaners, as a lot ended up doing in the UK... the sad thing is I still get mates from Warsaw asking me if I can get them decent jobs in the UK, even though they have no qualifications and no work history (in their late-20's).

I moved here because of my husband... he had far more opportunities here, than the UK, but he wanted to see if the Polish press reports were true or not.

Language / Difference between Polska & Polsce? [26]

Polish is far more difficult to learn than Finnish - and if I remember correctly (it's been 10 years since I learnt) - Finnish has 11 cases! The biggest difficultly I've had is the insistence on teaching the grammar without teaching any vocabulary first that seems to prevail in Poland (yes, I know it's important, but so is being able to do the weekly shop without using sign-language). With Finnish they concentrated on getting us confident with what we were saying and only then explained why.

Law / Advice please - Getting monies from a Poland employer who refuses to pay [41]

Why, thank you sweetie - was the nickname we gave to one of our kittens, she was better than an alarm clock!

Law / Advice please - Getting monies from a Poland employer who refuses to pay [41]

OMG - this is the situation I'm still in, the only difference is that the lousy school never registered me as working there (although I have plenty of proof) and, despite claiming otherwise, never paid tax on me. We're lucky here, we have a local 'citizens advice' office that gives free legal advice and they put us in touch with our PIP. It was all going swimmingly, they were only too happy to take up the case and even fined the company - who refused pay. PiP was supposed to've started proceedings a year ago and 2 weeks ago, when I contacted them, they told us we should take the company to court directly (which is what we were going to do anyhow, but they told us not to as they would do it on my behalf). Am now considering going to court myself, but also including the local PiP in the action for failing to act on information about a breach of employment law ;)

Life / Small change in shops in Poland!? [95]

I still have to sign for card payments here at random places - even at Carrefour, using my Polish chip and pin card. One of the managers moaned that he was fed up with the system because it didn't seem to be consistent one day working, one day not. Sometimes they even stop accepting certain forms, I spent a month having to go to the other end of town as half the shops lost the Mastercard facilities with no warning.

The change situation can be infuriating at times. We started a change box for all the golds, thinking we'd save up for some decent xmas drinks... but now we get requests from the girls at the local shop after one ended up in tears when some oik in suit started verbally abusing her for not having enough change to give him the 1gr he was owed (hubby handed to him with a few choice words)... turned out the boss refuses to buy change from the bank as they've hiked the price up - she'd rather let the locals have the occasional free beer. And it's refreshing being able to hand over as many small coins as you want, instead of having to worry about whether someone will quote the 'Moneys Act' limitations on change permissible to pay for goods (as we used to have to when people would try to pay a 30 quid fare in 1p coins - the limit a person legally has to accept in 20p's worth of 1's and 2's in England).

Work / Girl looking for job speaking English apart from teaching English. Ideas? [30]

I teach English, it's not something I ever wanted to do, but, as several people have mentioned, it's a way to earn a living if you can't speak Polish. Up until this year I didn't really enjoy it either, however, after parting company from a rather dodgy language school and going out on my own, I've really started to relish the job, getting clients who have chosen me for my 'specialist' language knowledge and am keeping my fingers crossed that one of them may be able to get me an opportunity that allows me to use my previous experience more effectively.

That said, even if I were to get a different job, I'd still want to teach occasionally. It was so rewarding to see a student who had been told they are 'too old to learn English, just be satisfied to understand the basics' by a previous 'Native' speaker she had been seeing for 2 years, come out from her performance review having been rewarded for the 'unprecedented improvement' in her abilities in just 3 months :D

I would add, that while there is good money to be earnt for a 'Native Speaker', having a Tefl has proved invaluable when it comes to being taken seriously in certain areas - well worth investing in if you can afford it.