Job Discussion Forums

[Gram]

I'm an EFL teacher with 6 years experience currently looking into schools to apply to in Krakow for September. Does anyone have any info (pay rates, hours etc..) on the likes of International House, Profi-Lingua, Bell or any other one worth looking at?

Thanks a lot

[JPM]

I've never worked for the ones you mention, but, as a teacher (not an owner ) I'd recommend Interlang. I've been there a year and the conditions, facilities, environment and admin are all good.

PM me if interested.

[Gram]

thanks, unfortunately I can't send you a pm as you need to have posted a minimum of 25 messages before you're able to contact another user privately.

Would be grateful if you could give me some info though, generally I'd prefer in-school classes rather than travelling around the city, not too many early starts and a decent wage (obviously).

thanks.

[Mojoski]

No specific info, but Bell is the most respected. They are big and established, and I'm sure they pay well. IH always advertises "a good local wage," which means they don't pay squat. Profi-Lingua, I've no idea, but I always thought their poster (facial closeup of very stupid looking nerd) was very off-putting. I wonder if they are still using that. Lincoln has been advertising here and other places. I sent them a letter, basically because I was curious what they pay, but they never answered me. I suppose I'm too old for them. If they do give me any feedback, I'll let you know.

I worked for Speak Up in Warsaw, and last I heard, they were paying 55PLN per hour there, but they traditionally paid 10PLN less every place that was not Warsaw. They do have at least one branch in Krakow, but I've never seen it. They have early and late shifts, and usually mix them up. They don't go in-company. How pleasant they are to work for depends on the local Director and Head of Studies. I had good and bad. They take care of business and always pay on time. I liked my job there okay, but then they fired me for no reason after 3.5 years, and I heard that it went downhill after I left. Moved the teacher's room into a closet, and we are talking about 10-12 teachers per day. They always tried to squeeze too much into ridiculously small spaces for some reason. Other than that, it was relatively easy work for decent pay.

[Jack Walker]

I can only talk about Profi-Lingua as I've worked there for many years.Not a bad place.They always pay on time and you'll get 60zl per 60 minutes before tax.

Their teacher development is lacking but if you do your job reasonably well and the students like you,you'll do fine there.The lessons are all 80 minutes in length and you'll have lots of chances to run conversdation classes or business classes for extra dosh.

About that nerdy looking guy on the Profi adverts,thankfully that campaign ended about 2-3 years ago.It was horrible and offensive and many ppl were against it so they dropped it.Who wants to look down the throat of some ugly nerd?It's a bloody English school.

Sometimes companies like to go for the shock effect in advertising,but it often turns on them.

[hrvatski]

Does Profi-Lingua pay 60zł gross an hour from the word go or do you have to work there for a while to get that?

[Jack Walker]

[hrvatski]

Impressive. But then there's the obligatory ZUS to pay right?

Let's do a little maths actually:

Umowa o dzieło for British citizen with karta o zarejestrowaniu pobytu: 5000zł gross - 19% tax = 4050zł net (actually a little more cause some percentage of the income is non-taxable but I don't know the details of that)

So how much would you get net from 5000zł from Profi-Lingua after they take away tax for your one-man-business?

[Jack Walker]

[Mojoski]

Maybe I should have gone to Profi when I left Speak Up. 80Z for an 80 minute lesson is not bad. SU used to pay 50Z for a 60 minute lesson when I was there. If you don't work split shifts, it sounds like a good deal, Jack. If your hours are down, you have time to do more privates.

One thing you could ask your school to do, so you could make more money is to put you on umowa o dziela autorska. Cuts the income tax in half to 9.5%. If part of your job is creating lesson plans for the company, you qualify. When I got this contract at SU, I was suddenly making plenty of money. I never skimped on going to pubs or any other entertainment, and I was putting 500-1000Z in the bank every month. I only did 2 or 3 privates a week because I liked my free time and had plenty of money.

[Jack Walker]

[hrvatski]

[Jack Walker]

[maniak]

[citizen X]

There is something which makes me wonder. If the working conditions in profi lingua are so good why are they looking for teachers each year (for example in Wroclaw)