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dragonpiwo
Joined: 04 Mar 2013
Posts: 1650
Location: Berlin
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 Posted: Fri May 23, 2014 1:48 pm Post subject: hi |
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Hi Rusty, I hope you are well.
Wait for the broadside from Delph telling you you're an ass for working so much and earning so little. |
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sparks
Joined: 20 Feb 2008
Posts: 632
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| Posted: Fri May 23, 2014 8:45 pm Post subject: |
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| Rusty, "an hour one way"? You've got to start limiting that, you're wasting time. I set a perimeter (the center where I live) and don't go outside of it. Just stick to it, you're wasting a lot of time. I only leave my perimeter for big blocks of classes. |
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Master Shake
Joined: 03 Nov 2006
Posts: 1202
Location: Colorado, USA
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| Posted: Sat May 24, 2014 2:06 am Post subject: Re: hi |
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| dragonpiwo wrote: |
Hi Rusty, I hope you are well.
Wait for the broadside from Delph telling you you're an ass for working so much and earning so little. |
Well, there are definitely opportunities to earn much more, but as Rusty admits the options are limited without a CELTA.
If you're going to teach in Poland long-term, it's definitely worth doing a CELTA. And eventually, The Dreaded DELTA. CELTYL doesn't hurt either since it opens doors with the kiddies (that doesn't sound quite right, does it?). |
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delphian-domine
Joined: 11 Mar 2011
Posts: 674
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| Posted: Sat May 24, 2014 8:48 am Post subject: Re: hi |
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| Shake, was the YL extension useful? I was thinking about doing it, but I fear that it will be way too focused on theory and not on the reality. |
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Sgt Bilko
Joined: 28 Jul 2006
Posts: 136
Location: POLAND
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| Posted: Sat May 24, 2014 10:15 am Post subject: |
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We had a YL teacher who had done the YL extension course. She then gave new teachers weekly input based on what she had learned. It was essential for newly qualified CELTA teachers who had never been near a kids classroom before. There seemed to be a lot of good, practical ideas and everyone was grateful for the input.
However, I would say that it enabled teachers to teach a normally well behaved class effectively and to keep order during a lesson/over a course - showing how to use a variety of activities to maintain focus and discipline etc
It didn't help when the teacher was faced with a difficult class - with a large number of disinterested/disruptive students. Even the YL experts were quaking in their boots before some classes. |
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Rusty77
Joined: 27 Jun 2005
Posts: 53
Location: Toronto
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| Posted: Tue May 27, 2014 9:00 pm Post subject: YL and commuting |
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Hey Dragon, Sparks,
Yeah, I KNOW I'm 'working' too much for too little  , so broadsides are welcomed, ha! I don't consider that 1 hour commute to be 'work' (as long as a I have a seat with a book to read or I can prepare for the lesson then). It's simply part of reality in Warsaw given the congestion here--1 hour to go 5 or 6km. I'm thinking of investing in a bike!
Limiting your privates to an area within your neighbourhood--in Warsaw--is a pipe dream.
Did I mention I charge 70 an hour (take home) for those individual lessons? No CELTA-YL seems to be needed for the scores of children waiting to be taught by N.S.'s in Warsaw and area. |
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delphian-domine
Joined: 11 Mar 2011
Posts: 674
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| Posted: Tue May 27, 2014 9:52 pm Post subject: Re: YL and commuting |
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| Rusty77 wrote: |
| No CELTA-YL seems to be needed for the scores of children waiting to be taught by N.S.'s in Warsaw and area. |
It's not just Warsaw, but most of Poland. Native speakers are hugely in demand by parents, but the catch seems to be that the parents must trust the teacher in question.
Those with red faces and a clear history of hard boozing need not apply. |
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ecocks
Joined: 06 Nov 2007
Posts: 899
Location: Gdansk, Poland
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| Posted: Tue May 27, 2014 10:40 pm Post subject: |
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Agreed. I don't care to do YL, even in one-on-ones, but there's no shortage of students up here. I know teachers with full and over-loaded schedules.
Personally, I advertise high and don't discount until I assess the student level, their goals and motivation, materials used in the class, number of lessons desired per week (I've had two do 5 and one do 6). People who start with the notion that competition is mostly pricing are fools whichever side of the table they are on. |
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NilSatis82
Joined: 03 May 2009
Posts: 110
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| Posted: Wed May 28, 2014 8:45 am Post subject: Re: YL and commuting |
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| delphian-domine wrote: |
| It's not just Warsaw, but most of Poland. Native speakers are hugely in demand by parents, but the catch seems to be that the parents must trust the teacher in question. |
I have to admit to chuckling a bit when I first read that. You make it sound as if it's asking a lot for a parents to trust their child's teacher!
Granted, trust seems to be a rather rare commodity in Poland  |
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delphian-domine
Joined: 11 Mar 2011
Posts: 674
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| Posted: Wed May 28, 2014 12:11 pm Post subject: Re: YL and commuting |
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| NilSatis82 wrote: |
I have to admit to chuckling a bit when I first read that. You make it sound as if it's asking a lot for a parents to trust their child's teacher!
Granted, trust seems to be a rather rare commodity in Poland |
Haha, I know what you mean
The parents with money to splash on private lessons with native speakers tend to be a paranoid, overprotective lot. They're simply not going to entertain some 40-something alcoholic who clearly enjoyed one too many the night before! |
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Master Shake
Joined: 03 Nov 2006
Posts: 1202
Location: Colorado, USA
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| Posted: Wed May 28, 2014 1:53 pm Post subject: Re: YL and commuting |
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| delphian-domine wrote: |
| [quote="The parents with money to splash on private lessons with native speakers tend to be a paranoid, overprotective lot. They're simply not going to entertain some 40-something alcoholic who clearly enjoyed one too many the night before! |
Maybe, but once they've made up their minds that you're on the up-and-up, they are can be extremely trusting.
I've done my fair share of kid in-house lessons and once I got that initial 'demo lesson' out of the way, the parents often left me alone in the apartment with their precious little ones.
A bit overly-trusting, if you ask me. I don't think I'd leave my 15 year old daughter alone in the flat with some 20-something French guy after meeting the dude ONE time. Any clown can put up a profile on nativespeaker.pl and act professional for one lesson.
As for the CELT-YL, it's definitely worth doing for newer YL teachers, but if you've been teaching YL for a while, you'll probably find it like shooting fish in a barrel.
Better to go with the DELTA-YL, or give yourself a series of enemas - your choice - it's basically the same thing. |
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NilSatis82
Joined: 03 May 2009
Posts: 110
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| Posted: Thu May 29, 2014 8:33 am Post subject: Re: YL and commuting |
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| Master Shake wrote: |
| A bit overly-trusting, if you ask me. I don't think I'd leave my 15 year old daughter alone in the flat with some 20-something French guy after meeting the dude ONE time. Any clown can put up a profile on nativespeaker.pl and act professional for one lesson. |
I know what you mean, actually. I once taught a 15 year-old girl in my own flat and the only reassurance her mother needed was to say a quick hello before the first lesson and that was enough for her. To me, that's crazy. I can't speak about anywhere else but that would never happen in the UK.
It's kind of ironic though when you consider the lack of trust in teachers generally in Polish society. (I mean trust in them being competent here.) Despite the fact that Poles value education really highly, there doesn't seem to be a great deal of respect for teaching as a profession, which is a curious paradox. Perhaps it's still a hangover from the days of communism when schools were just another propaganda tool. |
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delphian-domine
Joined: 11 Mar 2011
Posts: 674
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| Posted: Thu May 29, 2014 8:52 am Post subject: Re: YL and commuting |
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| NilSatis82 wrote: |
| It's kind of ironic though when you consider the lack of trust in teachers generally in Polish society. (I mean trust in them being competent here.) Despite the fact that Poles value education really highly, there doesn't seem to be a great deal of respect for teaching as a profession, which is a curious paradox. Perhaps it's still a hangover from the days of communism when schools were just another propaganda tool. |
I think it can be directly blamed on the Karta Nauczyciela these days. Public school teachers in general don't really want to work more than the 18+2 that they work, and the profession is riddled with low wages as a result. The problem is even worse when you realise that teachers tend to reach the top level by the time they're 35-40 - so they have other interests such as family outside work. Combine that with a job that gives them more or less security regardless of performance (thank you, Karta Nauczyciela) and you've got a recipe for disaster.
The real root of the problem lies in the idiotic system of electing school directors. I know one teacher that point blank refuses to do anything other than the bare minimum because - in her words - it's not worth starting long term projects if the management changes halfway through. As a result, schools are deprived of real management, and usually local politics play a strong role too. Most directors owe their position not to their skill, but rather to their connection to local politicians.
Until they reform school management to become apolitical and genuinely professional, I don't think much will change. It's the same issue in the universities. |
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NilSatis82
Joined: 03 May 2009
Posts: 110
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| Posted: Fri May 30, 2014 4:37 am Post subject: Re: YL and commuting |
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| delphian-domine wrote: |
| Most directors owe their position not to their skill, but rather to their connection to local politicians. |
Ah yes, nepotism. Another scourge of the Polish public sector that will take donkeys' years to eradicate. |
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delphian-domine
Joined: 11 Mar 2011
Posts: 674
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| Posted: Fri May 30, 2014 5:56 am Post subject: Re: YL and commuting |
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| NilSatis82 wrote: |
| delphian-domine wrote: |
| Most directors owe their position not to their skill, but rather to their connection to local politicians. |
Ah yes, nepotism. Another scourge of the Polish public sector that will take donkeys' years to eradicate. |
In this case, it's just particularly ridiculous. What kind of education system elects school management for a fixed term? |
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