Job Discussion Forums

[kipper034]

Hi everyone,

First, thank you so much for answering my old post (title: Moving to Warsaw, unique situation). In the end, thanks to connections, I taught private students attending international high schools, and helped them with essays, assignments, and SATs with decent pay, while obtaining my MBA. Then, I ended up coming back to Wroclaw for a corporate job offer and personal reasons.

Now however, I am done with corporations and would like to venture into something completely new. Currently, I am preparing for a nationalized exam to be taken in the U.S. In the meantime, I would like to work part-time teaching. Granted, I am teaching non-Polish students in private right now, yet I prefer to teach part time in high schools, universities and/or language schools. I think working for an organization is more "acceptable" from C.V perspective.

Therefore, I have a couple of questions.

1) CELTA. I know, I asked this question before. But in contrast to 2 years ago, I now have 3 year teaching experience (more "sophisticated areas") and 2 year corporate work experience in Poland. Recently, I did go to IH in Wroclaw and took the pre-test and passed it but now I'm giving second thoughts. Given my education (MBA in Poland), teaching and corporate experience, would CELTA really make a big difference in finding employment?

2) I prefer to work for a high school or a university. Is this a possibility?

3) If #2 fails, what are some private schools you recommend in Wroclaw.

Overall, I really enjoy teaching. And I do not want to work long hours as I still have my private lessons and I have only one year to really study for the exam. As I stated before, I would like to work for an organization so in the future, these experience would be more "acceptable".

I really appreciate your replies.

Thank you.

[Master Shake]

I'll take a stab at this, since no one else seems to want to.

First off, I don't think CELTA is the preferred qualification for teaching in high schools or universities in Poland. So would be going down the wrong path if this is your aim.

Secondly, language schools tend to look at 'pre-CELTA experience' with a good deal of skepticism. You may not get much interest in your CV until you do a CELTA. So if you decide to go down the language school route, it's definitely worth doing a CELTA.

As for good language schools in Wroclaw, let me know if you find any! I'd like to relocate there myself. I've emailed a few in the last year but not had much interest. It's definitely a tougher market to crack into than Warsaw.

[delphian-domine]

[Sgt Bilko]

I worked for a year at a Kolegium Nauczycielski in Opole. Basically, people who want to teach English (or were alread teaching English) had to do a three year course which involved literature, history and grammar. They needed a native speaker to teach conversation. In Opole, I had three classes on a Saturday morning which paid well and were fun. I would imagine in Wroclaw, there would be many more, during the week as well as at weekends. They didn't want to know about my CELTA / DELTA, just about my BA. A Masters would be a real positive.

The people teaching there were also working at the university and offered me the chance of working there with opportunities to get an MA and even more but I didn't have the time.

It's worth looking into.

[kipper034]

Thank you all for the responses.

Overall, I do have some friends who are teachers and yes, I have been getting conflicting responses. Delphian, I certainly do see your points. Well, if it makes any better, during my private lessons, I raised all my students' grades by a letter and raised their SATs by several hundreds. And given my professional experience I was more interested in teaching business English.

As I said, I don't really care for work hours so I will look into Callan/Direct. fF nothing else, I will go for CELTA.

Sgt Biko, regarding Opole, how did you find that job? Could you please tell me whether you lived in Opole at that time?

Again, I really appreciate your responses.

[Sgt Bilko]

I was at IH Opole at the time and we had a student who knew someone involved. Basically, they didn't have anyone else lined up and offered me the job based on the student's recommendation.

There weren't any set procedures for recruiting people as far as I could tell. I guess there would be more native speakers in Wroclaw at langiage schools and the university but it would be worth giving them a phone call just in case.

[wojbrian]

http://www.ang.pl/edukacja/szkoly_jezykowe



You can do what I did a few years ago, contact every school and send a cv.

[kipper034]

Thank you everyone for suggestions I will see what I can do with.

[dragonpiwo]

And don't write the unis off....I worked for UAM in Poznan for 3 years....you don't need an MA to teach the ELT programme. A CELTA type qual and a degree was enough. They'll probably give you a few hours and then take it from there if they need someone.

[kittymiaz]

I would say forget about Wroclaw and focus on Warsaw.
I am actually leaving Wroclaw for Russia because there are no jobs available (I am CELTA qualified with 2 years experience) except 3 or 4 hours here and there and some private students (who cancel 50% of the time anyway). A lot of teachers here are struggling and everyday more and more young Brits are arriving fresh off Ryanair and willing to work for 30zl an hour. Schools are cutting costs and choosing them over more qualified teachers, or simply expecting DELTA qualified teachers and those who have worked here for years to take insulting salaries. Even a lot of high school and University teachers are struggling.
I heard the market is a lot better in Warsaw because there are so many schools and not so many young Brits there.