3 reasons why you hate Poland.

Brazilian
They have just put a Polish Brazilian on the irish/ polish football match

Guerrero is a good player, he has some of the Brazilian flair that we have come to know.

I mean...for polish people buying foreign things is sign of difference, something like "staus symbol", all rich people do it...they even don't know what they buy, very often terrible things, but the most important is that all people say..oh yes you have dress, furnitures etc. from abroad, it's so stylish. I don't understand such way of thinking...are polish things so bad?

And when Brits buy a Mercedes or BMW from Germany, that isn't a status symbol? When a Brit goes to IKEA, that isn't a status symbol?

I was really dismayed to read the title '3 reasons why you hate Poland'.

As an Englishman all I can say is if Poland is as nice as the Polish people there could be nothing I would hate about it.

Yes


No. It's a mistake

No, usually the cars from Germany are run down cars from auctions.

But in the eyes of many people, a Merc is still a Merc, they just don't state the age or condition

I would not say "hate" But I am scare of drunken people and I do not like tabaco smoke. Polution in Poland has to be taken care of too.

Just remember they are more scared of you than you are of them.

or is that spiders? anyway...... :)

I love spiders and sneks, but drunken people are make me misplace them on evolutionary scale- they stil look like humans.

Not getting packages from abroad

Some students sitting like mutes

Defensiveness

Still, hate is too strong. The man that cannot shrug his shoulders will have problems.

1.They change flavours of classic central Europe decent foods by adding irrelevant material,thus neutralizing them.Even gulash becomes bad
2.Drinking beer with juice
3.Tyskie has verry bitter flavour

On the other hand kielbasa compensates nicely.

like everywhere.... eg. Tex-Mex - delicious Mexican cuisine spoiled by the Texan influence...


i agree here... beer should be just beer...

I relentlessly picked on such a student last week. I'd had enough of his complete inability to revise anything betweeen classes, his complete lack of ability to even answer easy questions without thinking and most of all, the fact that he keeps turning up looking like he's stoned out of his skull.

Making him pronounce everything perfectly was a suitable cure for the saturday morning blues, I tell you ;)

No mercy, LOL. Seriously tho, I do try to be discreet when I teach. As much as some characters try my patience, I hold back and give them space. I've reverted to a method whereby ss talk more and the teacher merely facilitates.

Yes, some characters try my patience too. Like one who insists on answering all questions, despite my directing them, by name, to a specific student. She hogs all the time, refusing to let others answer or think, proudly giving the answer if the named student takes more than a microsecond!

I just had to tell her to allow the other students time to answer because I need to hear them speak!

But generally, I don't have problems with students, like you say, the teacher's job is more to facilitate their conversations and learning. I can't wait to get back to teaching using all the CELTA methods instead of these horrible ready-made plans at my school (from which I have just resigned)

Tony

That's the way it should be, I feel. I'm lucky that my school strongly believes in letting teachers put their own style on things - even with the Callan classes. So, naturally, I prefer to listen to people than to talk - with the right group, I've found that Callan is actually quite good for getting people to talk about obscure things that they wouldn't normally talk about, especially when you do things like question the president of a company on issues like why there isn't any flowers outside the building :) It does seem to work quite nicely, though only with bright people and subject to all the usual disclaimers about Callan.


Jesus, ready-made plans? I would probably kill myself if I had to teach such things. Some of my best ideas have actually came as a result of being thrown into a class at the last minute and having to think on my feet - but the thought of teaching to a ready plan fills me with all sorts of fear.

Ready made plans were initially an attractive concept because I had 2 jobs on the go and time was scarce. However, they often proved to be more of a curse for several reasons.

1. Blocking lexis was rarely introduced, any useful lexis was introduced poorly or there were too many, about 45 in one lesson
2. The plans were full of basic English errors that intermediate students would point out
3. The main aim of the lesson was rarely clear
4. The steps of the lesson rarely followed the same theme or language focus
5. The times for the steps of the lesson were often unacheivable (revise/introduce 50 lexis items in categories in 10 minutes?!)
6. The homework rarely revised the material from the lesson, usually it was completely unrelated.
...the list goes on..

I had one lesson recently about music which introduced musical terms that even a native speaker would not know unless they had studied music theory. Thankfully, I had, so I knew what an 'accidental' was (and other such terminology). I bet other teachers thought this was a mistake a musician makes! A great lesson, I'm sure, for students who want to go to another country to study music, but for my group that day, totally useless.

I'm in a similar position then, tony. Delph, I was a Callan trainer and voted best teacher (which showed the lack of standard at the school, lol) way back in Nov 2006. Still, the method gets stale.

Tony, I actually have 3 schools but effectively 2. I know how you feel. May I ask what schools you work for? PM me if you are not comfortable giving details over the net. I also teach ready-made stuff for my 2nd school. It is littered with errors. Having a working knowledge of Polish, I know that it is likely written by a 'hotshot' from Warsaw, I see typical Polish mistakes there. Upper-intermediate students spot that kind of thing a mile off.

Accidental, aha, I now know where you teach. I did the same lesson with the best student in the school and she was dumbfounded. I was a little caught out there, my ability to convincingly bluff saw me through tho. With that in mind, points above accepted.

hahaha, sounds like it, yes, the 'hotshots' from warsaw seem to be high school students of English!
What's really sad is that we're not permitted to modify the lesson plans to correct the obvious errors, even when there are obvious mistakes.

I only teach level 7 and above.. and only for 2 more weeks when I return to work in IT and only teach private and voluntary work.

Did you try asking for peer observations at your branch? I tried and oh boy I was nicely verbally assualted via email from the manager. This school obviously do not want their teachers to improve in any way! Sad really, because then on the other had I get shouted at for finishing a lesson a few minutes early and not giving the clients a good enough quality of service (despite finishing all the material, plus extras with the student getting nothing wrong!)

2 weeks to 'freedom' ! I will also be teaching in the IT company and will revert to CELTA methods! :))

T

I just inform them of the corrections. I'm not prepared to teach them incorrect English. The said hotshots pull stuff out of ancient texts that we never use.

Snap, I teach 7 and upwards though I have taught 5+6. Peer observations, waste of time asking. I've been observed twice and got all 5's. I was an observer so I feel that I have some kind of right to observe. They'd snub me for sure.

Timing is a biggie. There is a secretary here who has a bus to catch so I must finish before the hour. 2 classes back to back can be a ballache, with no break that is.

Yeah, it does. Thankfully, my school is very relaxed about many of the Callan 'rules' - and we all have our own methods of actually running a class. For instance, I use flashcards to show them the Polish word, because it's the most effective way to make them understand the word without me having to make a pathetic attempt at pronouncing it - and it's better than having them with their heads stuck in the books.

But we're encouraged to make it fun - if that means completely deviating from the normal questions, so be it. I'm actually encouraged to use my natural language - so sticking to the 'script' isn't really that important.


That's dreadful! I can observe anyone in my school whenever I want - I don't even have to ask my boss, I just ask the teacher in question if I can sit in their class to gain new ideas. Out of curiosity, what's the background of the manager in question? If he/she was a teacher in a state school, I can completely understand her attitude as they make dreadful managers.

If the client was happy to end the lesson a few minutes early and didn't have a problem, then they really should use their common sense. As for shouting, it's just a sign of immaturity - a good director should never have to shout, at least, I've never heard my boss shout at anyone - even when there was a massive row over a certain translation.

Do you ever let lessons overrun intentionally, just to give them a bit more?

I don't teach, but back on topic...

I wouldn't say I hated anything about Poland. However there are things that get frustrating. Wages not being in line with cost of living and communication being the two that have eventually driven me to book my flights home. That is more my fault for sticking with what I know rather than move into teaching...which would have been a better option (or better paid at least).

I give them a bit more if I don't have a second class. It seems to be appreciated. Management having digs shouldn't be taken too seriously. They are just fulfilling their role as they see it.

I was happy to give extra and I usually do, but the student wanted to move on to another lesson so I complied with their request.

What I didn't appreciate was the manager shouting at me from the reception desk along the full length of the school! She has been a total b*t** since I told her I would not be seeking to renew my (barely legal) contract. If she has an issue with any aspect of my performance, the more acceptible way to deal with this would be to speak to me in private. She also did not listen to my explanation, nor that of the student who requested to finish early.

As the student mentioned in the next lesson, the manager's conduct was less than professional and did not protray a favourable image of the school.

On the other hand, maybe she's annoyed at my leaving because now she has to find a new native, over the Xmas period, in an area where there is a shortage (I have several job offers and interview requests in the last 2 weeks) and also that I'm leaving and so many students enjoy my lessons and appear to be quite literally queuing to join them!

One thing I have noticed for native speakers with CELTA in this area, the interviews often simply consist of "when can you start?"

Still, I'm going to enjoy my life in IT and will really enjoy teaching for a charity where I can concentrate on the quality of the teaching without worrying about money or managers :)

T

Yup, there's a golden rule in management - praise in public, criticise in private. It might be acceptable in a company like Microsoft to yell and scream at people underneath you - but I bet even Microsoft doesn't do that kind of thing in front of paying clients.

Not listening to the client is probably a sure fire bet that the client won't be back in a hurry - but jeez, the mind boggles - how could anyone be so stupid as to not listen to the person that's actually paying for the lessons?

Out of interest, do you have a degree on top of the CELTA?

CELTA tends to open doors, I should think so too given the 950 pounds plus expenses tab.

My HOS had a chance to create a scene, not strictly through my wrongdoing, but the interpersonal element plays a large part. There is mutual respect there. I'm glad she is not one of those domineering bosses, I don't stand for any crap from those sorts.

Another thing I don't like about teaching is the lack of observations. It works two ways but I'd actually prefer to be observed more. There is nothing worse than steadily churning out very good classes, only to hit a stumbling block come your observation. It's a nonsense quite frankly.

I just thought of three more reasons:

1) Jan Tomaszewski
2) Jan Tomaszewski and
3) Jan Tomaszewski

Neatly returning to the thread topic. Nice one my son :)