Hi, New to this forum. I just wondered if the English language teachers on here might offer some advice which teaching qualification is better recognized in Poland......CELTA or TESOL?
I am moving to Lublin early next year and would like to do a teaching course in England before I come to broaden my earning options.
CELTA. End of story. The only other one to even consider is the Trinity Cert TESOL, the rest are either not worth the paper they are printed on or a source of future troubles as you have to convince prospective employers that your qualification is the equivalent of the CELTA (assuming they didn't just bin your CV as soon as they saw you don't have a CELTA, I know a lot of schools which do exactly that).
scottie, do you know if your school always immediately bins all CVs they get from people who don't have the CELTA? I've heard mixed reports but nothing for the last year.
I don't agree. I have a TESOL certificate and out of the six interviews I attended about two months ago, FIVE schools wanted to hire me. I don't have English teaching experience, however I do have 5 years experience teaching computer skills back home in Australia. CELTA and TESOL are more or less the same thing.
Care to quote from the relevant PASE and MEN regulations about recognition of qualifications? And perhaps you can explain how a generic term which can be, and is, applied to anything from a three-day course to a three month course (although far more often to the former than the later) is the same as an internationally recognised gold standard (which I personally do not have).
I share my opinion as a living, breathing example of someone who is employable (and employed) based on the acquisition of a TESOL certificate which, incidentally was NOT a three-day course. TEFL / TESOL / CELTA are widely accepted for teaching positions anywhere if accompanied by other relevant skills and/or qualifications.
I don't need to: I know exactly what PASE and MEN have to say about who is and is not a qualified teacher.
I share my opinion as a living, breathing example of someone who is employable (and employed) based on the acquisition of a TESOL certificate which, incidentally was NOT a three-day course.
And I can also share my experiences as somebody who as worked alongside 'teachers' who had no qualifications at all other than those which had been photocopied and/or were running from the police in their home nation (although clearly neither of those apply to your good self). 'Can get a job' is by far from being the same as 'will get a job worth having'.
TEFL / TESOL / CELTA are widely accepted for teaching positions anywhere if accompanied by other relevant skills and/or qualifications.
But the CELTA is good enough by itself.
BTW, I live two tram stops from you. Fancy a beer? Pardon To Tu has recently got draft Ciechan....
There's a poster here called ukpolska who lives just down the river from Lublin. Maybe send him a PM. And I think a poster named Four4 or Fourfor4 was also from Lublin, check him.
Personally I can tell you that Lublin is a cracking city.
Which inferior cert do you have then, and why don't you recommend it?
In terms of EFL qualifications, I've got the Trinity Cert TESOL. I don't recommend it because since I got it the market has moved on and the CELTA now has pretty much of a strangle-hold.
Harry: CELTA. End of story Harry: the rest are either not worth the paper they are printed on
Harry: an internationally recognised gold standard (which I personally do not have).
Which inferior cert do you have then, and why don't you recommend it?
To moderator who dunked this post: This is a valid question for folks looking to get certified to teach English. In case you are new to this forum, let me explain slowly. Harry has been teaching English in Poland for ten years or so. His mickey mouse cert has been good enough to survive here and pay taxes for us to live a little better. So, if CELTA, which he doeas not have, is the only one worth having and the rest are toilet paper, how did he do it? Believe me, he can handle himself without you helping him out.
Harry has been teaching English in Poland for ten years or so.
Harry was invited here by the government of Poland to train Polish teachers of English. That was nearly two decades ago now. Harry has been doing things other than teaching English for the best part of a decade now.
Hi, I posted on this forum a few months ago regarding English language teaching opportunities in Lublin. Since then I have taken the one month intensive CELTA course here in London. I am planning my move to Lublin in early March and would welcome any advice or help you might be able to offer to enable me to find work...
Work hard and aim for a graded pass. Rule of thumb for the CELTA; IF you think "That'll do", it probably won't.
Prepare to have no life. Not even weekends
Are you talking about the CELTA training course? If so, you're right.....it's been 4 weeks of 16 hour days plus 9 hours a day, Saturday and Sunday... or Are you talking about having no life once I'm working??? Now, that would be frightening !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I was talking about the CELTA itself. I didn't realise you had already started it.
Getting a job will be much easier with a graded pass, as in my experience most schools will forgive lack of experience over it.
Finding a job in March will be difficult but not impossible. I found one in February last year, but it was only a couple of lessons per week plus cover- not much to scrape by on but I was lucky because I had no accommodation costs.
I worked my bum off, and said yes to everything, and now I've got a pretty sweet deal. I work 9-5 ish with only one late finish at 7.45, 28 (actual) hours per week and I don't work weekends.
If you're lucky you might be able to wing a place in a school that pay your tax and ZUS directly. I did, and so I get a little less cash in my hand, but overall if you work it out on pre-tax I think it works out a winner, because I don't need to worry about getting sick.
Don't be afraid to say no to schools if their contract is shocking. You don't want to work for a school where the staff are taken the **** out of. One joker offered me 55pln per 90 minutes without paying tax or ZUS - all lessons were pre prepared (that was his excuse), another said that if I was sick during the contracted times of work that I would personally have to find my own cover. The money was better 40-50pln per 50mins but she didn't pay ZUS either.
This is in Krakow.
If you're not tied in to where you can work, like I am, I'd advise going to a smaller, less saturated place where demand for natives is higher. You'll command a better salary, and be in demand. Others can advise you on these places. I'm pretty much in the worst place for ESL, but I couldn't choose where to work.
I would like to know if there are any schools in any of the major cities in Poland that offers the CELTA course/certification? I would like to find a school that offers the certification and then placement. Any help will be greatly appreciated.
I would like to bump this thread, I am also wondering which is better. CELTA is a recognized source, however, a good TESOL earned at a college seems like far more information. The college near me offers a TESOL certificate that requires 3 full time course per semester for each of two semesters.
To add to my previous post, the six courses for the TESOL certificate are 1) T E SOL practicum 2) Socio linguistics 3) Intro to Linguistics 4) T E SOL teaching methodology 5) Language acquisition 6) English grammar
You can get away teaching without a certificate at some private run language schools. Poland is still pretty lawless or flexible in that regard I think. I used to do it from time to time and even found privates or people to teach privately. I gave it all up tho and I dont remember why and started drinking and just focusing my energy on sex.
@Strzelec35 When a school offers shared accommodation for a new hire will they increase salary if the new hire wants to live alone at a flat he has rented for himself.
Not sure I only applied to a few schools that advertised on facebook or on praca.pl or similar sites. I got back into freelance writing and translation so I quit teaching as so many of those schools required b2b contracts or me to set up some business identity.
There isn't a certificate called 'TESOL'; that acronym is not the name of a qualification.
There's either the Royal Society of Arts/Cambridge CELTA or the Trinity certificate, both have a near identical curriculum. There are unrecognised ones, however they are largely a waste of time and money (unless you're going to China where nobody cares as long as you have a pulse), and those countries with strict visa/work permit requirements either want CELTA or Trinity. Some accept others if they have the same number of hours of TP, however it's a lottery as to whether or not they easily accept obscure certificates that are not validated by either of the two accepted UK bodies.
@jon357 Do you know anything about the shared accommodation issue I posted above? Also have you taught English in Poland? If so is there anything you can tell me that you wish you would have known starting out in that profession?
I agree with Jon. Go for CELTA or Trinity. Btw, things like language acquisition and socio-linguistics may sound impressive but they are of no practical use when you're teaching. I've studied linguistics myself at third level and while the subject is interesting, it's of very limited value to a TEFL teacher. The three modules you mention are simply pointless padding designed to stretch the course out and thus charge you more for it. The CELTA will give you an intensive training in the practical knowledge and skills you need to do the job.
will they increase salary if the new hire wants to live alone
Highly unlikely. They might give you some extra hours if they're available.
From what I remember (I might be a bit out of date) but in the US I don't think people really do TEFL qualifications on their own. Usually it's an add on for English or linguistics students at universities (so the linguistic requirements were for English students that might be weak in that area so that students know better than to try to teach traditional grammar as that's completely useless).
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