Job Discussion Forums

[Master Shake]

Is it possible for an US citizen to get an extended visa (6+ months) in Poland WITHOUT being sponsored by a language school?

I've got a year of experience teaching in Gdansk and am considering teaching privately this fall somewhere in the tri-cities. Dont really want to get tied-down to a language school - pay is too low and I want to make my own hours.

I remember reading something about having to start your own company in order to get permission to stay longer...

[dynow]

one option would be to come to Poland and work for a school as a freelancer, but simply give them very limited availability. work 6 lessons a week or something, we have plenty of teachers at my school with similar availabilities. plus, as a native speaker, most schools will take what they can get. a few lessons a week is better than none if they're short on natives and have a few advanced classes, for example.

with that connection to a school, you can get a simple work contract or "promise" written up by the DOS and then just apply for a KB. whether you stay in Poland for 6 months, 10 months, whatever, you'll atleast be legal during that time.

without proof of employment from a Polish company, you may have a tough time. i would imagine you would have to have a substantial amount of cash to show for them to budge.

[scottie1113]

Gee, Master Shake, why would you want to return to Poland? And by any chance would your first choice of cities be Gdynia?

But you posed a good question. I'll ask around and see what I can find out. I've got an American friend here-you never met him-who does just that, but he's married to a Polish woman so that helps. He does conversation 1:1's only and charges 50 zl an hour, and some weeks he does 40 hours. Do the math.

[Master Shake]

My first choice?? Krakow all the way.

Go there and you'll see why, Old Timer.

[scottie1113]

So I heard from someone else who lives in Gdynia, but you mentioned the trojmiasto and last time I checked Krakow wasn't a part of it. BTW, May has been absolutely beautiful with almost no rain.

We miss you, kid.

[George Best]

I am not in Poland now, so I wont be competing for private lessons.I just wondered how to get private lessons in Poland.I heard that advertising on the net isn't that effective and that there are a lot of local Polish also competing for private lessons

[redsoxfan]

It was always easy for me to pick up privates with a couple quick ads on the net. Actually, out of curiosity, I checked the ang.pl page for Poznan, and noticed that there are a couple guys offering lessons for 35 zl and 40 zl. Not cool. How is someone to advertise lessons for 50 or 60 zl (which is the going rate) when some guy is pretending to do the same job for so much less? There's absolutely no reason to charge 35 zl because there are privates a-plenty who will pay 50 or more. Besides, 35 zl for 60 min is about 27 zl for 45 minutes. Would these guys really do a 45 min lesson for 27 zl? That's about half the going rate. Clearly they have no qualifications nor do they have a clue, but the problem is that schools can figure that out and therefore not hire them--so they wouldn't really be driving down wages at decent schools because they wouldn't be working there in the first place. But private students don't know the difference.

Personally, I don't have such a huge stake in this because I don't like teaching privates--too unreliable and I don't like people coming over to my flat, nor am I willing to travel to theirs. Also, I like to pretend that I have a real job which is hard to do when you're just chatting for cash. Still, a lot of folks have a few privates to round out their salary, and undercutting the normal rates we get for privates is pretty lame. Actually it just looks desperate. The going rate in cities is at least 50 zl/60 min.

[Kootvela]

[nocturnalme]

Blimey! George Best is still alive! But not in Poland ....

[nocturnalme]

I meant George 'TEFL' Best, obviously ....
Good to see you're still around too, MasterShake!

[dynow]

I have found that unless a private lesson is very convenient for me, on top of paying well, it's just not worth my time.

I'm generally really busy every week with my school, and when I have to go to a private during my precious time off, I get nothing but aggrivation from it. Not to mention, as RSF has pointed out, they're completely unreliable. In my experience, if you are scheduled to meet once a week, in reality, you meet twice a month because something always comes up and they cancel the lesson. Then you see them again after 2-3 weeks break, and you could swear their english has gotten worse..........and you end up teaching the same material over and over again.

I haven't taught a private in about 3 months, and unless I get real strapped for cash or a real sweet deal comes my way from some rich dude desperate for a native and is willing to overpay for it, I probably won't go back to privates.

There are some sweet private teaching deals out there if you live in a major city and find the right people, but in the end, it usually interferes with your school's schedule. I've been offered some ridiculous teaching opportunities from wealthy people, but simply couldn't do it without quitting my job. Not to mention, rich, poor, they're all just as unreliable as the next person.

[Master Shake]

50zl/hr x 22 hours of teaching a week = 4400 zloty a month, all without leaving your home.

It would be hard to fit 22 students into your teaching schedule every week. But with privates the potential to earn is better than in a language school.

In language schools in the tri-cities, 2,000-3,000zl/month is standard for a CELTA qualified teacher. Teaching even 15 hours a week privately earns you 3000zl (at 50zl/hr).

Dynow, do you make your students pay a week in advance for private lessons? Doing so would cut-down on no-shows, dont you think?

[maniak]

[Harry from NWE]

[quote="maniak"]