Top Language Schools to Work for in Warsaw?

Hello,

I am new to the forum and I'd really appreciate your comments/tips regarding the best language schools to work for in Warsaw.

I have just moved from the UK, where I studied an MA and worked as ESL/Spanish teacher the last four years. Any information on salaries, premises, working conditions, teaching methodologies, etc, etc. would be of great help.

Thanks in advance.

A cynic might suggest that there are no such things as best schools, only least-worst schools.

The best? Well that depends what your criteria are and who you want to be teaching.

I see. Which are the least-worst schools then? Any suggestions?


Well, I know I'm not going to get the same money as in England. I am aware of that. Let's say that I'd like to work for the language school that offers the best pay per hour. I have no problems teaching in companies, universities or language academies. I just don't want to teach in primary or secondary schools as most kids that age are not serious about learning languages.

Thanks.

Try ACT (Advanced Corporate Training), Lang LTC and Mike Mills. You could also try the British Council, they tend to pay the best but the environment there is certainly not for everybody. You could also try Cambridge school, they pay a little less than the other schools I mentioned but I can personally vouch for the management there.

If you don't want to teach secondary school aged kids, you're much less useful to schools.


Actually you can: I had no problem charging 150zl (£30) for 90 minute lessons arranged privately or direct with a company. Cut out the middle man and your rates almost double.

Thank you very much for all the info Harry. It will surely help me a great deal!!!

[Moved from]: Angloschool (in Warsaw) - is it reputable?

Has anybody out there heard of this place-is it reputable,i cant face another dark dingy back-handed school again after my last two

I worked there for a year in 1997-98. If you want more info send me a message- mind you this was also 12 years ago. I can give you info about the owners and some of the other staff if they are still there.

I would propose this one Klub Dialogu
I had some good experiense in learning there.
And this is definately good. If you are interested, please contavt me and I will say everything I know and all experiense I had :)
Will be happy to help. Also I know some free conversation club

They might try to offer a local contract, which is a little trick they sometimes use to save money. The BC tried this one on me in Prague years ago. If you go for it, insist on the same rate as a London-recruited teacher.


This is the way to go once you've become established.


True enough, but teenagers who attend private courses tend to be more motivated.

Woops! Just noticed the dates.

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.

Some schools offer work purely as a native teacher and some as lead teachers.

Any connection to the bookshop of the same name?


That's what I'm seeing here in Poznan - a flood of unqualified people turning up and working for peanuts.


It's definitely the case here that being "known" is an asset, even if they don't know you personally.

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.

I'd argue that Krakow (and to a lesser extent, Wroclaw) has already turned into Spain.

Same thing happened in Prague apparently - endless 'native speakers' looking for work, but barely any of them being able to actually put a lesson together.

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.

This is what I do. I teach the class 6 lessons every course. I am Celta qualified as are all the natives. The Polish teachers all have degree qualifications in philology. We can also teach as lead teachers and i do so on some business courses. We are regularly observed and given feed back. Rarely a teacher is asked to leave/leaves at the end of their contract if they are observed not to be teaching well. Students also grade their teachers.

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


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

JonnyM
More frequent is a Polish lead teacher. In company it is more frequent native. Methodologists do the observations. I know it's standard but lots of schools don't do this. when I interviewed I was interviewed before having to teach a trial lesson. This isn't standard although it should be.

What does a 20 square meter office rent for in Warsaw? I know of no teachers that have set up their own businesses who have anything but regret that they hadn't done it earlier.

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


Agreed.

Methodologists are normally experienced teachers who are don't teach anymore. I suppose like a senior teacher.

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

What is a school expection? Methodologists are not native but I am surprised with most of the teachers' lvel of English. I mistook 3 teachers as natives and was asking them where in the UK/states they were from.

In my experience, a methodologist is someone who has sucked up enough to the owners in a small school, and someone who sucked up enough to the director in a chain school.

I had an amusing run-in with one who was adamant that "realize" was the only acceptable spelling of the word.


No, and this is one of the big issues.

Yes and sadly that's not the largest problem. It's reached that point whereby students (and in fact, schools) are shocked that tutors would dare ask for more than 40zł for an hour of their time. After all, why should they pay more when they can hire a fresh-faced "yeah, I can teech innit" sixth-form graduate for 20zł an hour to fund his nightly beer runs with his new Polish bird? Country life is looking more appetising :)

Like this clown - Living and working in Poznan. Looking for more students to tutor.

I wouldn't even call him "sixth-form" graduate!

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!

mine too, and overwhelmingly so:/

Related: Peritus and Direct-School - good to work in?


Is Direct School a Callan place? With a name like that you would imagine so.

Merged: Advice on a language school to work in Warsaw area?

Hello all again, I have finally completed my move to Poland and spent a couple of days sending out my C.V to several language schools in and around the Warsaw area. After checking my emails today I was pleasantly suprised to see I have been invited to attend an interview with TFLS. I have looked around online further and have seen that a lot of student reviews are full of praise for both the school and the teachers, however I was wondering whether any of you had any experience teaching there or heard any good/bad things about it? I would love to hear you comments or views as the interview is in the next two days! Thanks in advance for any help you are able to give me!