Job Discussion Forums

[tmache1]

I'm looking to go to Krakow to teach English for a year or so.... is it worthwhile to get the TEFL training while still in the states, or should I wait to take the month long training in Poland? And do you all think that Poland is a good place to live with reasonable prices of living, reasonable nightlife, etc?

[scottie1113]

I did my CELTA at Bell Warsaw. It was cheaper than in the US and I wanted to live and work in Poland. IH also offers courses. You'll find that having a CELTA opens up more doors for you, but you can certainly find work without one, although I wouldn't recommend it.

Also, being in Poland while you're doing a course will expose you to both Polish culture and the difficult Polish language. I also found a job with my school while doing the CELTA. Being in Poland helped.

I live and work in Gdansk and I love this city. Poland's a long way from being perfect-what place is?-but it's rich in history and tradition, and it gets better every day. The cost of living is reasonable, and there are tons of threads about this subject on this site.

Nightlife? Oh yes.

I don't know where you're from in the states-I call San Diego my home town although I've lived all over-so I won't comment on the weather except to say that winters are longer than you're used to. I sort of enjoy them in a perverse way.

Keep in mind that as an American you're limited to the amount of time you stay in a Schengen zone country so you'll need to find work fast after doing your training, and it helps if the school will assist you in getting a residency card. You'll need to renew that annually. Again, lots of posts about that here.

May I ask, why Poland?

[hrvatski]

The women, duh.

[scottie1113]

It was a serious question. Last time I checked there were women all over the world.

[hrvatski]

Ok I'll go right ahead and expand on my answer for him:
- The women
- Has Polish roots
- Wants to have an 'experience'
- To tackle the devilishly difficult Polish language
- Germany is full
- The internets say the pay is high and everything else is cheap
- The women

[dynow]

[scottie1113]

All good points. But for a US citizen it's very difficult to find legal work in the older EU countries, so Poland is a good choice. Very true about the languages, especially French, Italian and Spanish.

[lundjstuart]

Go to Switzerland or any other western country!

Unless you have a girlfriend already in Poland it
will be impossible for you to find an apartment and
ask for basic things on the street and so forth.

You WILL get ripped of in terms of an apartment
contract if you don't have someone there to help
explain it to you.

Schools will see that you have no idea what is the
wage in Poland and will have you start at 35zl/45 or 60 mins.

The Polish business owners love to rip off foreigners
because they know that they can't fight with words and
get a fair price for anything!

If you still want to come here, good luck and don't
tell us that we didnt tell you so!

[hrvatski]

Ehhh a bit of hardship for a year won't kill ya

I'm grateful to Poland for having made me more assertive, ruthless and less naive.

[lundjstuart]

Poland has made me think that drunks on the street are normal! It kinda desensitizes you and the people will always complain about everything and charge you for everything even if its in their job description to do it for free! If you don't care about this, come over and see for yourself! Good luck with everything!

[maniak]

[hrvatski]

It's a fine balance of retaining your homeland happy-go-luckiness while being able to switch to *beep* mode as needed. I realised two years ago it requires a concerted effort but is possible!

[Richfilth]

I don't see why there's any need to be brusque or rude with the Poles at all. If you want something done, breezy cheeriness works much better than surliness; those old meat mountains they have working the desks in your local Ratusz have had years to work up a defence against rudeness - they're usually defenceless against a wink and a smile.

And I don't mean that idiomatically. *shudders at the thought*

[hrvatski]

To a degree I agree with you, but there are times when typical English speaking culture politeness and deference won't get you as far as an iron fist.

[Master Shake]