Work / Teaching English in Poland without TESL certificate? [17]

But an experienced and knowledgeable teacher would know when it's better to use L1 or L2, as well as know how to control language output in the class.

I used to follow the philosophy that it's much better for a student or teacher to explain something purely in English as it forces the Ss to think and talk in the target language (which, arguably, seems like the most productive method). However, you eventually come to realise that all of those minutes sitting around and watching the student awkwardly struggle like a fish out of water to find something that they perhaps just don't have, are a waste of time. I had a student some time ago who had only a very basic understanding of English and would often mumble the Polish word they were trying to find. If I knew it, I'd say it, because it's far more productive to spend those minutes teaching or reinforcing rather than destroying their soul and motivation, or creating awkward moments.

Just my opinion :)

Work / Teaching English in Wrocław - TEFL, fair pay? [40]

Going with neither relevant qualifications (you didn't specify what your 2.1 degree is) or experience is a one-way ticket to Misery City. As Delphiandomine said above - "TEFL" qualifications are worthless. If you wish to become qualified so you can put it on your C.V, then only the CELTA / Trinity are recognized and respected. The alternative route sans CELTA/Trinity is to have either (a) substantial [2-3+years] experience with teaching (English preferably) or (b) have a H.E background in education. But as I've said before here and in other threads - having neither of these will end unpleasantly for you. Poland has had an influx of "teechs" since EU inclusion and with surplus comes stricter requirements. Being a native speaker is no longer the deal-breaker.

Do yourself a favour. If you are only planning on teaching because it's the _only_ thing to do to allow you to move here, don't bother. You won't survive the stress, competition, long and tiring days and being ridiculed by students who will most certainly know more about the language than you do.

If you are planning on moving here because you really do like Poland (and not just the tail) and teaching is something that you are passionate about, then get qualified or experienced and bring something to Poland that it doesn't already have a surplus of: uneducated, unqualified, inexperienced and uninterested teachers.

Good luck.

Work / Hi, I am Indian and will be shifting to Poland (diploma in Mechanical engineering) [47]


To be precise...

Javed: If I am honest, your chances are not so great. Your history and qualifications are not really that relevant to the types of jobs on offer by international companies. I suggest persevering and taking a Polish language course to increase your odds.

Travel / Winter clothes for trip to Warsaw? [13]

Thick sweater and a medium jacket over the top, some boots (sludgy conditions) and a pair of gloves will be sufficient. I've never used a hat in the whole time I've been in Poland(with lowest temperatures I've experienced dropping to -31c). I don't experience this "cold feet" or "cold ears" I hear people talking about. I almost never wear scarves either. That said, my fingers will freeze and fall off in less than 5 minutes if I don't keep them in my pocket or wear gloves (which is a problem since I'm always using my phone)

Off-Topic / "Curiosity" Lands On Mars! Huzzah! Poland's Mars Society Must Be Ecstatic. [77]

Indeed it is!

Off-Topic / "Curiosity" Lands On Mars! Huzzah! Poland's Mars Society Must Be Ecstatic. [77]

Alrighty. Well try not to take it too seriously, it's just a light-hearted, layman's documentary with the soothing narration of Morgan Freeman :)

Off-Topic / "Curiosity" Lands On Mars! Huzzah! Poland's Mars Society Must Be Ecstatic. [77]

Ah my bad. They said that it has no explanation, it was the second signal that was determined to be of human origin.

Off-Topic / "Curiosity" Lands On Mars! Huzzah! Poland's Mars Society Must Be Ecstatic. [77]


At around 12:00 to be exact

Off-Topic / "Curiosity" Lands On Mars! Huzzah! Poland's Mars Society Must Be Ecstatic. [77]

The WOW signal I'm certain was confirmed to be of human origin. Take a look at the video I linked above, the scientist who discovered it explains something about the direction of the signal - further explaining that it was in fact originating from a satellite sent out to orbit the sun.

Also, thanks for the Google Mars link! Fascinating

Off-Topic / "Curiosity" Lands On Mars! Huzzah! Poland's Mars Society Must Be Ecstatic. [77]


If anything else, future generations will be able to cook their eggs on a non-stick utensil


Cannot even pretend to know, but there are massive dunes on Mars that are the size of mountains. Who knows what lays buried beneath them :) Curiosity is aptly named.

Off-Topic / "Curiosity" Lands On Mars! Huzzah! Poland's Mars Society Must Be Ecstatic. [77]


You misunderstand. They are, most certainly, searching for the existence of compounds. However, the rover is not equipped with technology capable of identifying microbial or fossilised microbial life.


Who knows what the solar system looked like 4 billion years ago when Mars had oceans. Isn't it conceivable that the orbit of Mars was also different? Perhaps even inside the so-called 'habitable' zone. Another emerging theory out there, is that Asteroids are repositories for chemical compounds that serve as the building blocks for life. One connected theory is that similar life may have once existed on Mars, and asteroids that impacted the surface of Mars carried microbial life (which is capable of surviving in the cold vacuum of space) to Earth. If not life, then at least other compounds.

... this might be an interesting video for you.

Off-Topic / "Curiosity" Lands On Mars! Huzzah! Poland's Mars Society Must Be Ecstatic. [77]

Quite excited. I followed it from launch and I was very happy to hear this morning that it landed. NASA noted that it's not designed to search for microbial life, which is a pity - I think that proof of the existence of life outside of Earth is of great interest to many. But each extra-terrestrial mission brings us one step closer to that. We already know a lot about Mars and its history. It's believed that 3-4 billion years ago it resembled a smaller version of earth with oceans and continents. Solar winds stripped away the atmosphere, resulting in the barren wasteland we see today. It's quite possible such an occurrence could happen to us too. Thus, any knowledge we can gain about the history of our closest neighbour (just outside of the 'habitable zone') I think could be of great importance to us.

Off-Topic / "Curiosity" Lands On Mars! Huzzah! Poland's Mars Society Must Be Ecstatic. [77]

:) It's ok. I didn't quote because I thought it would be a very quick response, we both posted in the same minute :D

Off-Topic / "Curiosity" Lands On Mars! Huzzah! Poland's Mars Society Must Be Ecstatic. [77]

I was referring to Polonius's comments about "untold billions of taxpayer money"

Off-Topic / "Curiosity" Lands On Mars! Huzzah! Poland's Mars Society Must Be Ecstatic. [77]

Actually, if you knew much about NASA, you'd realise that the majority of their funding comes from the private sector - not tax payer money..

Give this a read: cracked.com/blog/5-reasons-you-should-be-excited-about-mars-today/

Off-Topic / "Curiosity" Lands On Mars! Huzzah! Poland's Mars Society Must Be Ecstatic. [77]

I think you're also missing a very big point:


With only one rover up there, how do you expect it to perform large-scale exploration of various different geological structures? Saying that we need one rover with everything conceivable attached to it is no different than saying "Tanks... Flying tanks... Flying tanks that can land on and submerge under water, armed with nuclear bombs, turret weaponry, SAM/STS missile systems, laser weaponry, an in-built hospital and the ability to blast off into orbit". More rovers = greater coverage. Rovers designed for a specific purpose will be more efficient than a jack of all trades trying to waddle a few thousand miles to the next POI. After all, we do want to make some progress within our lifetime, right?

Off-Topic / "Curiosity" Lands On Mars! Huzzah! Poland's Mars Society Must Be Ecstatic. [77]

Glad to hear it was a success. The first thing I did when I woke up (well, after my coffee) was run to the news and check to see if it succeeded.

Work / Finding work in Warsaw / Poland as an English private tutor [63]


50zł / hour for 'conversational English'? Oh my.

If you could find someone capable of having 10 hours of classes in one day (let alone three-four times a week) then I would call him mi'lord. I'm fairly used to long days and little sleep, but on any day where I have 5 or 6 individual classes, I feel completely drained.

I've only been doing it for two years and I'm fed up with it. Don't get me wrong, I love my students and it's amazingly rewarding to see their progress and I would now consider many of my past-students to be friends. With private students, there is a tendency for cancellations or "rescheduling" which often results in your loss. It seems the most common route for teachers who don't get a solid job at a reputable school providing 20-25hrs / week in-school tend to move on after a few years. They either set up their own school or take up other positions (exams, state-schools, translation and in the unfortunate cases, 'methodology').

Sounds like Papieza is either beyond mortal or beyond honesty, which you believe is your choice :)

Tommy: With one or the other you'd at least have a chance. But without either you'll find it very difficult to get work with any reputable school. Even if you were able, I'd be cautious of any school that would offer a position to someone completely devoid of both qualifications and experience. It's not uncommon - at least in Poznań - to see such people come here for a girl and charge 20zł/h for "konwersacje" to fuel their nightly beer and kebab runs. However, they often won't make it past a year.

Life / Noisy kids every night. Police in Warsaw don't care.. [22]


Melodramatic much? There's a slight difference between curfew (say, group orders) and, well.. we won't go there.

I do understand your plight OP. I have the teens outside here yelling, drinking, singing and blowing fog horns every night and sick of it too. If it were people from another neighbourhood, I wouldn't mind throwing a water balloon at them either, but they're people who live in my apartment building or the one opposite and I'd rather not have to deal with that.

On a funny note - last Monday, at 1am, a large van pulled up with three or four people who came to collect the clothes in a little donation point outside my building. They were extremely noisy - the engine was on (and sounded like it was fueled by vodka) and loud, obnoxious techno music was blasting out of the windows. Had to get up at 6am for work and it was taking the **** - tried telling them to turn the music off and got no result. Eventually we called the Police, who told us "We'll come, but we'll also have to knock on your door and get your details". The men started packing up after 15 minutes and we thought they'd leave before the police got there, but thankfully they didn't. Police showed up and as they were pulling up we heard one of the guys say "I'm sure it was that ****** who called them.". They got a ticket for something and we let off a vengeful smile. Alas, they came back again last night at 11 but they had a new guy with them. They started telling him "Oh that window there is where they called the Police on us" and they were all looking at the window as I waved to them. They started shouting "oooh we're criminals" before making a bit of noise and ****ing off. Got a photo of their license plate and took two videos of them on each night, I hope they'll lose their jobs and the neighbourhood can sleep peacefully.

Don't give up :)

Language / How to pronounce "y" in Polish? [28]

'i' as in 'bin', 'myriad'. At final position it seems to take a bit more of a route towards 'e' as in 'me' if they are stressing it (like dzień dobryyy)

Life / If a Phone Gets Stolen in Wroclaw [11]

Android also has the ability to track if you're fortunate enough to install the software prior to losing it. There is also a slim possibility of tracking it by remote-installing an application from the market website, that's of course assuming they have internet on the phone.

I lost my phone around 1.5 - 2 months ago... I believe the most likely explanation was that it fell into a bag or something that went out into the trash and didn't notice it for a few days - I had serious burns on my legs so didn't leave the house, phone wasn't charged and didn't bother with it. It was a HTC legend. By the time we noticed it wasn't in the house it was a bit late, we called up Play and they told us the sim was being used in an LG. We had the IMEI and the sim blocked, made a police report and spent the next two weeks looking on allegro (my phone had a very obvious and identifiable scratch on the front), checking in komis, etc. We never found it and I didn't really care for the phone, I wanted my SD card back which had some photos / videos on there that I cannot replace but never uploaded anywhere - more fool me! I since replaced my phone, I have tracking software installed on it, a mobile data plan that I always leave on, and I'm immensely protective of it now :) We learn our lessons.

Work / 4-5,000 gross enough to live off for 1 person in Poznan? [13]

I honestly can't say why, but everybody seems to spend so much money on food here. I spend probably no more than 700-800 for two people per month. Also, while private medical care is a bonus, you will still pay ZUS gaining access to free state health care.

We own a flat (paying the mortgage on it, less than 20k to go) but we still pay a fortune on "administration" costs. We pay 50zł a month because our building has an elevator. We pay 380 a month in 'rent' (which is based on the presumption of how much we will spend on utilities. It got highly inflated due to a leak we had, so expecting a nice payout at the beginning of 2013). For a breakdown of two people, on average we pay:

380 - rent
40-50 - gas (every 2 months)
180-250 - electricity (every 2 months)

Of course you need to keep in mind you'll likely want an internet connection, telephone (contract?PayG?) etc.

Travel / How come no one ever seems to pay for the bus in Poland? [63]

Close to where I live (about a 10 minute walk) is a ticket machine. I use a KomKart (MPK) and I insert it into the machine to update my ticket. I was on my way to work early in the morning and knew I had to renew my ticket (couldn't remember if it expired that day or the day after). Anyway, I walked to the station only to find out that the machine was broken, so I ask for a ticket in the Kiosk to be told they don't have any! Uh oh, back to my home where there's another shop with the possibility of purchasing a ticket... nope, none there either. I had to get to work and I knew there was another ticket machine only 2 stops away. I say "2 stops" but it's still a 20 minute walk at a brisk pace so it wasn't plausible - especially considering it was their fault there's no ticket machines.

I get on the tram, and it pulls off a moment later. Then, a butch man and woman spring up off the benches screaming "tickets"...gulp. As it turns out my ticket expired the previous night, and all of my complaining and arguing in the world about the non-functioning ticket machines (offering to prove it to them) and the store/kiosk with no tickets, did not matter to them. 103zł spot fine or the police are called. Knew I wasn't getting out of it without causing too many problems, so I paid up and was told to go to the ticket machine across the street. Get there, and with my last few zloty in coins after they cleared me out, what do I see? "This machine is currently only accepting notes, we apologise for the inconvenience" or something to that avail. I was required to cancel my 90 minute class and not only did I lose 103zł but also my salary for that day! (And to boot, I had to walk back home in the rain, dishevelled.

I never forget about my ticket now...

Travel / Ryanair travel by air - subtle scams to be wary of [98]

Flying from Poznań to Luton via WizzAir, we had a situation where a clinically obese man found himself stuck and was incapable of getting out of his seat[s]. Two of the cabin crew had to assist, one pulling him up while the other pushed the seat in front of him with all her weight trying to create a little extra space. We were told to move on so as not to cause a scene or block the aisle.

Food / Your favourite Polish foods! [180]

To elaborate on pgtx's response:

Szarlotka is basically an apple pie, but sometimes it's filled with other things such as cream.

Sernik is cheese cake, but not like the traditional cheese cake you can find in Britain. Often it comes in 3 layers, the top being a thin chocolatey (or honey) layer, the second the white cheese and the third a spongey base. My local Cukiernia used to make a delicious one, but then they cheated on the recipe by using a cheap white-cheese substitute to fill up the weight because it was denser than the cheese they had before.

Food / Your favourite Polish foods! [180]

Firstly, my sample likely isn't the scientifically recognised definition of "representative". However, in my own experience, i see an overarching state of self-loathing among the Poles. There is a predominant "must get away from this country" attitude, and - while this may be in part because of the type of people I meet in my profession - this attitude is also prevalent amongst the majority I meet outside of my work. The Polish may bash many elements of their own country and culture, but by the heavens if you mention food then they'll lose their shizzle. The Poles are highly proud of their cuisine and will argue unto the end of the earth about its supremacy over the British.

WielkiPolak, it's amusing that you come up with comments like "British food sucks" and "stores are full of crap" then moan about how we attack you. Actually, contrary to your assumption, I don't see many British people declaring how brilliant our food is on these forums but I see a lot of Polish people doing just that. Unfortunate though that they often tend to do so using faux-experiences: "Yeah, English bread is awful compared to Polish bread. Here our bread is fresh, and not this dry stale crap you buy in England", while having only bought standard bread at a local corner shop instead of going to a bakery or the bakery section of a supermarket. Unbelievable! Freshly baked bread tastes better than Hovis best of both!? Obviously English bread sucks. Much the same, the Polish might attack British sausages, citing the quality difference between kielbasa from a local mieso i wedliny and frozen walls' sausages. Evidently we have been outclassed at every turn...

On topic: I truly think Polish dairy products (milk / butter / cheese) are dreadful. But I'll give them one thing, they know how to turn nothing into something great (cauliflower and bread crumbs - genius). What was the name of that egg-brand that did the advertisement, where they'd open the fridge and there'd be an egg and a few other random things and the narrator would say "courgette patata", was it Lion or something similar? That's the Polish ethic on an everyday basis.

Law / EU Citizen without Karta Pobytu [2]

Hi Erika,

You don't need a Karta Pobytu as a British citizen unless you plan on staying longer than five years (I believe).
However, you must have legalised your stay here by obtaining "Registration of residence of an EU citizen in Poland". It takes a couple of hours out of your time at the max. I read somewhere today actually a link to the exact information you need but I cannot seem to find it. Anyway, you fill out a form (must be in Polish) a long with a little description of why you're staying here and/or how you plan to support yourself while here (e.g. a job contract, or if not that, then a scan of your bank balance).

When I did it, I just needed a scan of my European Health Insurance Card (EHIC), my passport and my bank balance to show that I could support myself here, a long with a declaration of my reasons for staying here (e.g. "I intend to find work doing X"). You get your surprise visit from the Police at 8am as they interrogate you like a dirty criminal, and then a few days later you get your registration. After doing that, you can apply for your PESEL and after PESEL you can apply for NIP at your local tax office.

As you've been living in Poland for 2 years, I assume you have already done these things, if not... tut tut

When I had my surprise interview by the Police, they asked how long I'd been here. (I believe it was 3 1/2 months?) to which they raised their eyebrow and said "Polish law states that you have to leave after 3 months"... Gulp... "But nevermind".

Life / You've been in Poland a while if .... [49]


No, it's a rather common occurrence. Most days, my local Żabka or Delikatesy 24h is staffed by employees whom I've likely never made eye contact with, except when I've offended them by butchering their language. (You know, those moments you go to say something you've said a thousand times before and have perfected the pronunciation, only to end up saying something like "ploshy" instead of "proszę").


You'd have a pleasant surprise in Poznań then. There a few stations notorious for being "difficult to leave the tram" at. For the Poznanians here, they would be: Małe Garbary, Most Teatralny, Kórnicka and Półwiejska. You have to be very strategic about your positioning on trams to avoid being in situations where you have to ram people out the way like an American football player, or where you could be the one being rammed, crushed or pushed by babcie frantically trying to get off or on in case the tram left without them.

A few other things:

* You think it's normal that if there are multiple cash-places but only one queue of 10+ people, it's fair to bypass them.

* Entering an occupied elevator without saying "dzień dobry" imparts that you are either (a) mute or (b) the spawn of the devil himself.

* When a tourist asks you a question in English, you instinctively respond "Niestety, nie wiem". I was sitting at a table in a mall last year when a man comes up to me and in English clearly says "excuse me, is this seat free?" - I responded with "to nie wolne" and he walked off while I pondered the reason I responded in Polish.

* You start calling your toes 'fingers' and assigning genders to inanimate objects. "Oh that's a nice phone" - "Yes, he's really good"

* You appreciate that it's probably better to treat your serious medical condition or injury at home, rather than take your chances with the Polish emergency services

* You grow a fondness for flavoured bottle waters - a la Żywiec

* You spend 300zł on window netting to prevent an invasion of mosquitos during the summer.

Language / Polish case question (Mężczyzna jest zimno? or Dziewczyna jest zimno?) [70]

pgtx

Yes sorry, I didn't mean to add the reflexive 'się' to "Muszę uczyć języka angislskiego" for I must teach ENglish
But it's not correct to say "Muszę nauczyć się języka angielskiego" for "I must learn English" ? It needs to also be "Muszę uczyć się angielskiego"? In this case 'nauczyć' is always 'learn' and never 'teach'?

Language / Polish case question (Mężczyzna jest zimno? or Dziewczyna jest zimno?) [70]


Uczę się [języka] polskiego. - I'm learning Polish
Uczę [języka] angielskiego - I'm teaching English
Jestem nauczycielem języka angielskiego - I am a teacher of English

Muszę nauczyć się języka angielskiego - I must learn English
Muszę uczyć się języka angielskiego - I must teach English

Not sure if it helps, but I think these are correct.