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Janek
Joined: 25 Sep 2006
Posts: 79
Location: Krakow, Poland
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 Posted: Sun Dec 22, 2013 5:00 pm Post subject: Re: and here's what you said on another forum.... |
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xxx
Last edited by Janek on Mon Feb 02, 2015 9:54 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Janek
Joined: 25 Sep 2006
Posts: 79
Location: Krakow, Poland
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| Posted: Sun Dec 22, 2013 5:06 pm Post subject: |
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xxx
Last edited by Janek on Mon Feb 02, 2015 9:53 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Richfilth
Joined: 24 Sep 2007
Posts: 225
Location: Warszawa
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| Posted: Sun Dec 22, 2013 8:11 pm Post subject: |
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| sparks wrote: |
| Good luck lining up 8 hours in a row or even semi-in-a-row. If someone is really doing this, he/she is the king/queen of EFL Poland. I'd reopen my dzialnosc if this were possible but I'm pretty sure it isn't. |
Where's my crown?
At my peak I was doing 37 60-min sessions for 95zl per hour, working 8-4 in the same office in the same company. The students queued up at the door. It only ended due to consecutive layoffs at the parent company, but I've since had other companies that gave me 7 hours at 100zl/hour back to back, or 6 hours in a row 10-4 for 120zl/hour. |
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ecocks
Joined: 06 Nov 2007
Posts: 899
Location: Gdansk, Poland
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| Posted: Sun Dec 22, 2013 8:17 pm Post subject: |
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| Richfilth wrote: |
| sparks wrote: |
| Good luck lining up 8 hours in a row or even semi-in-a-row. If someone is really doing this, he/she is the king/queen of EFL Poland. I'd reopen my dzialnosc if this were possible but I'm pretty sure it isn't. |
Where's my crown?
At my peak I was doing 37 60-min sessions for 95zl per hour, working 8-4 in the same office in the same company. The students queued up at the door. It only ended due to consecutive layoffs at the parent company, but I've since had other companies that gave me 7 hours at 100zl/hour back to back, or 6 hours in a row 10-4 for 120zl/hour. |
Well-played.... |
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Janek
Joined: 25 Sep 2006
Posts: 79
Location: Krakow, Poland
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| Posted: Sun Dec 22, 2013 8:27 pm Post subject: |
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xxx
Last edited by Janek on Mon Feb 02, 2015 9:53 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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dragonpiwo
Joined: 04 Mar 2013
Posts: 1650
Location: Berlin
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| Posted: Mon Dec 23, 2013 5:23 am Post subject: erm |
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Well done Janek. Top marks for pure energy levels. Did you peak too soon?  .
1-That's an awful lot of teaching, prep, correcting, report writing etc.
2-Redundancies and insecurity implicit.
3-I think, while possible, like a desert orchid, very rare to have such fortuitous teaching blocks.
4-Fully agree with the 'snake oil salesman' diversification into consultancy. We have them visit out here on 1,200 Euro per day. Eyes glaze over, job done, leave rich.
My pals who've gone down that working their asses off in company route now looked fecked 15 years in. It's an ironic thing to say on a TEFL forum but the key to financial security in country is getting out of TEFL. |
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dragonpiwo
Joined: 04 Mar 2013
Posts: 1650
Location: Berlin
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| Posted: Mon Dec 23, 2013 5:39 am Post subject: Of course |
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Of course, there will always be those who like flat sharing, have dreams of being the next Hemingway, sit in their rooms playing the guitar badly and harassing drinkers by singing in pubs. When they're not doing that, they're Googling the next $10 AirBnB holiday, quaffing beer only an American could say is good and marvelling at such delicacies as the kebab w bulce, pierogi and the Pyra Bar. Bereft of experience and accurate knowledge, they hurl insults.
But seriously, most of my teacher pals here are in their mid/late 30s and early 40s and after a lifetime of TEFL there fall into 2 groups. The lot you see-all of whom have no kids and the lot you don't see-all of whom have kids and therefore work like blue arsed flies, which kind of contradicts Ecocks' Boho version of TEFL Poland supported by his many years of experience. Many of them also have something other than just TEFL with which to support themselves. At least half of them are prone to asking for a sub in the pub from other expats.
The new kids on the block in Poznan don't seem to be faring any better. They look as poorly dressed as EFL teachers the world over. |
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ecocks
Joined: 06 Nov 2007
Posts: 899
Location: Gdansk, Poland
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| Posted: Mon Dec 23, 2013 10:31 am Post subject: Re: Of course |
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| dragonpiwo wrote: |
Of course, there will always be those who like flat sharing, have dreams of being the next Hemingway, sit in their rooms playing the guitar badly and harassing drinkers by singing in pubs. When they're not doing that, they're Googling the next $10 AirBnB holiday, quaffing beer only an American could say is good and marvelling at such delicacies as the kebab w bulce, pierogi and the Pyra Bar. Bereft of experience and accurate knowledge, they hurl insults.
But seriously, most of my teacher pals here are in their mid/late 30s and early 40s and after a lifetime of TEFL there fall into 2 groups. The lot you see-all of whom have no kids and the lot you don't see-all of whom have kids and therefore work like blue arsed flies, which kind of contradicts Ecocks' Boho version of TEFL Poland supported by his many years of experience. Many of them also have something other than just TEFL with which to support themselves. At least half of them are prone to asking for a sub in the pub from other expats.
The new kids on the block in Poznan don't seem to be faring any better. They look as poorly dressed as EFL teachers the world over. |
Clueless.
You really cannot see the forest for all those pesky trees in the way can you?
Funny and sad at the same time. |
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dragonpiwo
Joined: 04 Mar 2013
Posts: 1650
Location: Berlin
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| Posted: Mon Dec 23, 2013 10:50 am Post subject: Merry Christmas to you to. |
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Happy Christmas. Enjoy the carp.
So how many have got an 8 hour block tomorrow then? |
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sparks
Joined: 20 Feb 2008
Posts: 632
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| Posted: Mon Dec 23, 2013 12:05 pm Post subject: |
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Where's my crown?
At my peak I was doing 37 60-min sessions for 95zl per hour, working 8-4 in the same office in the same company. The students queued up at the door. It only ended due to consecutive layoffs at the parent company, but I've since had other companies that gave me 7 hours at 100zl/hour back to back, or 6 hours in a row 10-4 for 120zl/hour. |
I proclaim thee king of tefl Poland. Well done! Your crown will be in my mind as I am too poor to afford a real one
Out of curiosity (not to try to prove anyone right or wrong) why did you stop doing the 37 hours a week ? Did you meet some financial goal? Did the nice schedule just sort of drop off of its own accord. Do you still have a decent schedule, just not all at the same place?
I believe that most of us get those great days from time to time where we have lots of well-paid hours in a row. Keeping that kind of schedule day after day, year after year (thus financial stability) is quite difficult. You always have to hustle. |
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delphian-domine
Joined: 11 Mar 2011
Posts: 674
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| Posted: Mon Dec 23, 2013 1:44 pm Post subject: Re: Of course |
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| dragonpiwo wrote: |
| Of course, there will always be those who like flat sharing, have dreams of being the next Hemingway, sit in their rooms playing the guitar badly and harassing drinkers by singing in pubs. When they're not doing that, they're Googling the next $10 AirBnB holiday, quaffing beer only an American could say is good and marvelling at such delicacies as the kebab w bulce, pierogi and the Pyra Bar. Bereft of experience and accurate knowledge, they hurl insults. |
I think we all know how you actually eat in Sphinx, fly WizzAir, rent cheap cars and eat in lower-mid range restaurants at best. No matter how hard you try, we all know that you're not exactly living the champagne lifestyle yourself. By the way, given that you don't actually live in Poznan but a cheap commuter town, how can you criticise others?
There's plenty of good beer that's sold at a very good price in Poland. You haven't got a clue about it because no-one is impressed with you flashing the cash in the bars that sell it, so you won't go there.
Let's just be serious -
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| But seriously, most of my teacher pals here are in their mid/late 30s and early 40s and after a lifetime of TEFL there fall into 2 groups. The lot you see-all of whom have no kids and the lot you don't see-all of whom have kids and therefore work like blue arsed flies, which kind of contradicts Ecocks' Boho version of TEFL Poland supported by his many years of experience. Many of them also have something other than just TEFL with which to support themselves. At least half of them are prone to asking for a sub in the pub from other expats. |
The magic point is that the ones you know are the ones who go to the pub. It's a limited social circle at best, so your 'facts' are pretty much meaningless. The fact remains that barely any of them have treated it like a career - without naming names, we both know several guys who could have done so much more for themselves if they had applied themselves.
| Quote: |
| The new kids on the block in Poznan don't seem to be faring any better. They look as poorly dressed as EFL teachers the world over. |
If you're foolish enough to judge a man by his clothes, then no wonder your world appears to be all doom and gloom. I go to work wearing shorts and random t-shirts, I wear sandals half the year and I constantly appear scruffy. Doesn't change a thing about my financial situation, nor my career. No-one cares about appearance where I work, so there's no reason to go there dressed up.
By the way, when have you ever actually met anyone foreign in Poznan apart from in the pub? |
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Richfilth
Joined: 24 Sep 2007
Posts: 225
Location: Warszawa
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| Posted: Mon Dec 23, 2013 4:34 pm Post subject: |
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| sparks wrote: |
| Out of curiosity (not to try to prove anyone right or wrong) why did you stop doing the 37 hours a week ? Did you meet some financial goal? Did the nice schedule just sort of drop off of its own accord. Do you still have a decent schedule, just not all at the same place? |
The company went through "restructuring", meaning there wasn't enough people to fill my needs five days a week. I started dropping them by a day a week, instead filling that day with an equally profitable block from another company - usually the same people from the original company, but at their new employers'. Every time one of my students changes job, I get asked to move with them, which I do when it's financially prudent to do so.
| sparks wrote: |
| Keeping that kind of schedule day after day, year after year (thus financial stability) is quite difficult. You always have to hustle. |
It is a strain. I did the transition from classroom to business back in 2004, and was working 8-11am, then 3-9pm for 18 months, which was exhausting, but eventually I built up enough business clients to drop the evening schools altogether. Now I'm in my 30s I'm cutting back on the teaching since I can earn a similar amount doing other things, mostly working from home. I only keep the EFL clients that I actually enjoy working with. |
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Janek
Joined: 25 Sep 2006
Posts: 79
Location: Krakow, Poland
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| Posted: Mon Dec 23, 2013 6:45 pm Post subject: |
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xxx
Last edited by Janek on Mon Feb 02, 2015 9:20 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Janek
Joined: 25 Sep 2006
Posts: 79
Location: Krakow, Poland
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| Posted: Mon Dec 23, 2013 6:48 pm Post subject: Re: Merry Christmas to you to. |
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xxx
Last edited by Janek on Mon Feb 02, 2015 9:19 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Richfilth
Joined: 24 Sep 2007
Posts: 225
Location: Warszawa
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| Posted: Mon Dec 23, 2013 6:59 pm Post subject: |
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Janek, the number of people wanting to learn Polish is a drop in the ocean compared to the EFL market. Simple supply and demand would dictate a Polish language teacher's prices.
Plus, my old Phd-qualified Polish teacher only charged 50PLN for 60 minutes, in Warsaw, at my flat. So it's the same sort of spread as EFL teachers.
If someone can make learning Polish an informative and practical process, then I'd be more than willing to pay the sort of price you mention. |
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