Job Discussion Forums

[phaedrus1979]

Can anyone tell me anything about this school?Its possibel that i could work for them and I have heard things about low rates of pay and what not, does anyone know what they pay in poland, in the big cities for example...can you be sure you will be able to pay your rent??they dont seem to say much about rates of pay at this stage and they dont seem to e offering much in the way of conditions....

[Grrrmachine]

Berlitz gets frowned upon by "purist" Communicative-method teachers and DoSes for their teaching style, and they have also been known to be a bit underhand towards the students by marketing Poles as native speakers of English.

Having said that, my girlfriend works for them in Warsaw, and receives 33PLN before tax for a 40min class (with most of the prep already done, thanks to Berlitz's method techniques) and she's at the very bottom of the payscale. She gets paid on time, and has more hours offered to her than she can handle.

There are other big franchise operations out there with a worse reputation than Berlitz, and having it on your CV wont neccesarily do you favours when you move on; however, they can be more organised than smaller schools.

Which "big cities" in Poland were you thinking of working in?

[not_too_shabby]

I had an interview with somebody from Berlitz Warsaw and apart from the low pay, they don't guarantee a minimum salary (it is paid by the hour), they don't even help with accommodation and in general they don't take responsability for anything. I would rather go for International House. The wages are low but at least they take care of everything else for you.[/code]

[cezarek]

International House in Warsaw has stopped operating. Basically it went bust, and was taken over by another school who were only interested in the in-company clients, not the school part, which they closed. They kept some of the teachers on, and used their own teachers for the rest.

So Berlitz might be a better bet. I must say though that their teachers always look really tired. Don't know why.

[Khrystene]

I wouldn't go to either of them, they're both underhanded in their ways.

Firstly you get 'taught' the Berlitz method, then you have to pass their test to see if you can teach. If you don't pass, you can continue to be trained, for free, no pay til you get it...

I've friends who worked there, and they spent hours preparing lessons, every day. No guaranteed hours, no responsibility. And yes, everyone has to pretend they're a 'native' there. You're NEVER allowed to speak Polish. [But that's not such a big deal]

If I were you, I'd send out resumes to some other schools in W-wa, there are so many others, you can't fail to find something.

Also, I'd highly recommend [particularly for first timers] to try getting work in 2 places, just to cover your arse in case one of them goes bust, or doesn't pay you at the end of the month.