Job Discussion Forums

[stare]

I was wondering who gets most of the jobs in Poland. Is it the Brits, Irish, and Scots or are there some Americans and Canadians. Currently, I am teaching in Taiwan and here it is predominantly "the North American accent," that schools are looking for. I have heard that some people in Poland consider Americans to only speak slang or jargon. Is this stereotype true? What do they think of Canadians? We are part of the commonwealth countries minus the British accent.

What if you speak some Polish will this land you a job more easily? Or are the classroom environments mainly 100% English.

Thanks
Stare

[Michael Gaylord]

"Stare":

Are you Canadian? I don't think it'll be a problem (accent-wise) for you to get a job teaching English here in Poland. As long as you are a native speaker, have some motivation, and are willing to work in less-than-ideal conditions (by Canadian standards) you can get a teaching position here easily. Now's is much better time, though, than in a month or two- so be careful of the timing. (Sept/Oct. of course: even better).
Sure, SOME schools,usually only in large cities, specify that they want a British accent, but, I think, most in the smaller cities are desperate enough for a native speaker that they'll take anyone with proper training/degree.
If not, you could always "fake" a British accent, right (Mike Myers does a pretty good one, and he's a Torontonian...)

Mike

[XXX]

Here is the way it was where I taught. Most Poles have at least one relative in the States. Your NA accent will be welcome. However, most of the materials are British. I had students go to take their FCE tests only to find that the listening test was impossible to understand ( even I had problems). One of my student as a Captain in the Polish Army. While in Bosnia, he said that he had problems understanding some the Brits who were there. He could understand the officers, but he had a heck of a time with the enlisted men. I found his English to be very good.

[Brooks]

some people prefer British teachers and some don`t. The materials are British and lots of Poles go to Britain to work.
The Poles I met were pragmatic in that they thought it was good to learn about American and British English.

It used to be, back in 1999, that it was easier for Americans to get work in Poland, but it got tougher for Poles to get visas to the US, so it got harder for Americans to get visas.
Poland is in the EU so it isn`t surprising that EU citizens are given preference over North Americans.

[gregoryfromcali]

It depends on the school. I work at one school that has about 20 British teachers and only 2 Americans. Then I work at another school across the street whose English teachers are all North Americans.

But unfortunately unlike Asia being from North America isn't going to help you simply because we are not EU citizens so schools have to get us visas which is a nightmare.

But if you have experience you shouldn't have any problems finding work although it may take awhile if you come here outiside of October and September.

Good luck,

Gregory

[junkmail]