Job Discussion Forums

[simon_porter00]

Hello,
After living in Poland for 4 years and being married for almost 1 year, I suddenly am beginning to feel the shame of not being able to communicate other than to say the basics. I guess I'm around B1 on the CEF scale and I've been there for donkey's years. I've got ALL the resources promising myself that THIS next book/set of flash cards/whatever will be the thing that motivates me, but its appeal turns out to be limited.

So, before I throw myself on the mercy of gumtree, does anyone know, or can anyone recommend a Polish teacher who can invoice in the Warsaw area?

Ta kindly.

[justflyingin]

There's a language school here in Jozefow that would be glad to get you a Polish teacher. They will also give you an invoice. www.platon.edu.pl

Unfortunately my Polish teacher now lives in the town of Wisla. If she still lived here, I'd recommend her.

[Scawie]

I'd recommend going on a course, see what your local uni has to offer. I went on one at Uniwersitet Śląski in Katowice and enjoyed learning in a group (the size varied from 2 to 8 students depending on who showed up, class transfers etc.). As long as the groups are small enough for you to get some individual attention, I think it's a much more interesting way of learning. Oh, and it's probably much cheaper too.

[dynow]

i disagree.

i'd never pay to go to a polish course of 6-8 students, especially at a beginner to advanced beginner level. the teacher is going to spend 90% of the time correcting students' case endings and before you know it, the class is over.

i've been looking into taking a polish course this summer as well and if possible i'm going to get a 1 to 1. i'm pre-intermediate i'd say, have good control of most cases, i am communicative, but my vocabulary is limited. if i was sitting in on a large class that struggled with case endings (which nearly everybody will) i would get nothing out of the class besides a constant reminder that polish grammar was designed somewhere adjacent to hell.

if you got the dough mr. porter, i'd do private lessons. it's going to be difficult to find others that are at your level because 99% of all polish learners are bare bones beginners, and 99% of all bare bones beginners stop coming to class when they find out how difficult the language is. i've seen it first hand time and time again at my school over the past 2+ years.

good luck.

[hrvatski]

I never could bring myself to pay for lessons when I'm surrounded by potential teachers. When I was learning I got through the grammar books, read my favourite authors in Polish, watched TV and talked to Poles / noted down questions to ask Poles who could give me reliable answers (teachers at school usually). No i proszę, polski za friko.

[maniak]

I know it doesnt work as well as with English, but hows your immersion? Do you read, watch tv, hang out with Poles and try to only use polish?

[Scawie]

[dynow]

i looked into a course recently, it was ranked "pre-intermediate"........B1? it was a reputable Polish school in Wroclaw. when i asked about what course book they use, it ended up being the same book my school uses to teach their polish students.......a book I finished a year and a half ago. i finished this book and have almost finished the second edition, and I can honestly say that when I think of past English FCE students of mine, they were WAY ahead of what I'm capable of producing, and understanding, in Polish.

Mr. Porter ranks himself as B1, and also says that he is not able to communicate beyond saying the basics. Is that a step below FCE level? I don't know, maybe it's me that doesn't understand rankings and proficiency levels well.

in a perfect world, the school would tell you that the class will be comprised of pre-FCE level students, but of all the students I've seen go through my school trying to learn polish, those that stuck with it never achieved anything more than basic nouns, basic verbs, and when sitting in on a polish conversation, they're completely lost. and that's not FCE, or anywhere near it.

for your sake Mr. Porter, I hope you find yourself a good course, or a good private teacher. Out of curiosity, you've been with a Polish girl for a long time......have you ever tried studying with her?

[Glenlivet]

[simon_porter00]

Did type a lengthy response, but the pc binned it, so I shall summarise:

For reasons I don't want to go into, learning at home with the wife and wife's family doesn't work.

I believe that in order to learn there must be professional distance between student and teacher.

A teacher who can be like a sergeant major would be great as I need motivating and generally my arse kicking. That's not to say I'm not motivated generally, I did the Nike fun run achieving my goals by only training very hard for one month and I'm going full steam ahead on a business line that I hope will be very profitable. But, for some reason, although I have a library of resources I can't follow through on any motivation I develop to learn the language, therefore I need some expert outside assistance.

Yes, I know people may judge but quite frankly I can admit I can't do it by myself and as has been mentioned before on this forum just by being in Poland for a length of time doesn't automatically mean you'll take up the language.

I did a year course in Krakow a few years ago, but that turned into a one year drinking holiday, so I need this to be individual tuition - that way I can't hide.

[spiral78]

I have to agree that the significant other can't necessarily be very useful. Mine has such great English that I was NEVER going to learn Czech...

(yeah, not Polish, but close enough - in fact, technically harder Believe it or not - statistically true).

I found studying with a small group quite useful (who wants to be the dunce of the class?) and, best of all, spending many months on my own in a small town where no one speaks English. When you've got to do daily stuff...you learn. I'm about B2+/- these days...minus on the writing, + on the spoken communication. Yeah, I need a good grammar course and some vocab expansion, but now I'm lazy because I can do everything from buying a flat to getting insurance and citizenship in Czech...who cares if all the words and their endings are exact??

Well, actually I do care...but haven't had the time to do much about it to date.

[dynow]

[dynow]

[Blasphemer]

yea... I must agree, significant others.... bad choice. Dynow, yer not alone... any attempt at trying to teach my wife Polish, usually turns into an argument... I don't even know why to be quite honest.

[dynow]