Job Discussion Forums

[alusiq]

Hello dear Native speakers!!

I am polish:) Speaking perfectly the language that is giving you a lot of trouble:) And I tell you it is true that learning English is a lot of easier then Polish:) When I moved to Canada I barely spoke English, but by now after 2,5 years I end up in University taking Nursing degree.

But because of a fact that English isn't my first language I had to take that speaking class...

My instructor gave us an assignment to prepare a Persuasive speech about learning English in our country. The only source to do this assignment is this website. While I am reading this forum I have completely no clue how I am going to persuade people coming to Poland to teach English, cuzz all I have are mostly complaint that Polish are rude and cheaters. Well I can assure you those kind of people live everywhere all around the world!!

So What I thought I can pretend that I am persuading poles to be more nice to you-natives otherwise they will not come to Poland and all poles will have left are polish people teaching English. Or on the another hand polish people could be as good as you teaching english, i think about myslef now ;P


can you gimmie some ideas how to persuade
people to teach/study in Poland?
THANKS!!

[Jack Walker]

A troll perhaps?

Honey,after reading your post,I don't think any of us have to worry about you stealing our jobs!

[alusiq]

Nowdays, that is a true. My English is not good enough to be a teacher. But while gaining an education in a specific field I could be a good one.

But this is not the point.

I did not ask you to judge my English skills. The reason I am in this forum is to ask you a specific question which I think you are more than able to answer.

So, anyone knows how to persude a person to study or teach English in Poland??

[Sgt Bilko]

[alusiq]

Yeah it was a joke. LoL you never know tho. Anyways I am more likely to stay in Canada for the rest of my life. I love this country

Thank you for the article, I will read it over.

I have to give a 10 minutes persuading speech with a class full of chinese students. I am going to pretend that they are polish or americans. I don't know what side i am going to take yet.

My profesor wouldn't mind using additional surces if I got them by using this website.

Thanks once again, and if anyone has another ideas please let me know!!

Dziekuje!

and to Jack Walker nie bądź złośliwy to nie ładnie.

[Jack Walker]

[Jack Walker]

Alusiq,how's Toronto by the way?

[hrvatski]

The population is fairly down to earth, not quite so spoiled as people in English speaking countries, for now at least.

It's one of the things I'll miss when I go home.

[Jack Walker]

[alusiq]

oh come on guys!! You're completely off my topic!!!!!!!

Jack, I know that Poland is expensive these days or people aren't as nice as they should. I have noticed that on my last trip. I said a few times my opinion to people who were acting the way I did not like but I will not change the whole nation.

Nobody is forcing you to stay in Poland There are lots of jobs in Canadians universities lookin for Esl teacher.... Come over , live easier.
I guess Toronto is fine, haven't been there for a while because I live in St. Catharines.

Jack any others.. some questiions

1. What are your experience teaching in Poland??

2. Would you like to change anything in the polish style of teaching english?

3. Are polish students a good, hard working individuals?

4. What do you mean when you say "I am a good teacher"?

5. How do you teach?

7. Do you correct students grammar, pronaucation mistakes? Honestly, do you care?

8.. Does your school dictate their system of teaching?

9. Do you agree with them?

10 If no, what would you change? What are your approaches ??

11. What do you think about Callan method?

12. Are there students from other countries in your class?

13. If yes, how do the polish students interact with them?

14. Would you recommend teaching in Poland to others?

yes, why?

no? why not?


Thanks!!

[Richfilth]

1. What are your experience teaching in Poland??
Many and varied. I've taught 8-year-old kids to over-60s, from large groups of industrial workers to foreign diplomats and military personnel. I've enjoyed 95% of the students, and my only stipulation now is that you have to be *this* tall to have a class with me.

2. Would you like to change anything in the polish style of teaching english?
One of the most common things I hear from my students are "you're not like my Polish teacher." I can only take this as a compliment. Apparently Polish teachers assert too much authority and control over their classes, assuming a position at the top of the heirachy and not allowing enough free practice for their students.

3. Are polish students a good, hard working individuals?
Give them a reason to respect you, and they will reward you with hard work, curiosity and an eagerness I have not seen in many other countries. Be unprofessional with them, however, and they will tear you to pieces. 'Good' is entirely subjective, however.


4. What do you mean when you say "I am a good teacher"?
I mean that I start out with a target of what I want my students to achieve, and more often than not I get them to achieve exactly that, if not a little extra on the side as well.

5. How do you teach?
Primarily on a one-to-one basis, as a mentor and advisor rather than a teacher. I get my students to trust me, then I get them to trust themselves. My first class with any student or group introduces them to the world-reknowned FOFO method; *beep* Off and Find Out.

7. Do you correct students grammar, pronaucation mistakes? Honestly, do you care?
Once I've made sure that my students have the basics, such as a practical knowledge of grammatical nomenclature and the ability to count to ten without missing numbers out, I switch to a descriptivist rather than prescriptivist approach of grammar. They're shown a variety of grammatical structures and options, and mistakes are cleared up as we go. I also devote a large amount of time to pronunciation, including specialised classes on articulation and general elocution. It does bother me if someone has a superb range of syntactic structures, an enormous active vocabulary and some genuinely intelligent thoughts whilst still sounding like Borat.

8. Does your school dictate their system of teaching?
I no longer work for a school, but I have experienced the full range from having my lessons planned to the minute for me, to being giving complete freedom for the entire course.

9. Do you agree with them?
Not usually. I have had some spectacular arguments with my bosses over what is and isn't important for each particular student.

10. If no, what would you change? What are your approaches ??
For a lot of schools, I think they should actually look at the feedback they receive from the students' needs analyses, rather than maintaining a package approach - 'this is our upper intermediate class, where we teach X, Y and Z. Do you want to join or not?'

11. What do you think about Callan method?
From a psychological point of view, it seems to produce results, and I have met some fairly high level students who have followed a Callan method at some point. However, I have never met a single person who has followed Callan from start to finish, and looking at the material it tries to teach, I can understand why. It doesn't furnish students with the adaptability required to keep pace with the constantly changing nature of English.

12. Are there students from other countries in your class?
I teach multinational groups in multinational corporations as well as international agencies both civilian and military.

13. If yes, how do the polish students interact with them?
Proudly. Poles are fiercely patriotic, for some reason, and will not tolerate criticism of their homeland. This attitude can be detrimental when it comes to ingratiating yourself with foreign cultures.

14. Would you recommend teaching in Poland to others?
I would not recommend it to new teachers; the starry-eyed travellers who want sun, sand and sleaze. Poland is an experience, definitely, but it is certainly not to everyone's taste. The work itself is fantastic, but the surrounding lifestyle takes a while to figure out; once you realise that Poles complaining are not actually complaining, the place becomes a pleasure.
[/b]

[dynow]

1.) Rather good. Most bad experiences I have had I would blame more on the nature of the industry itself rather than the country or a specific institution.

2.) Not really. After a while, you teach the class how you want anyway, with the occasional in-class inspection which is usually prefabricated anyhow.

3.) Regardless of nationality, most english students I have experienced are less than motivated, or if they are motivated in the classroom they don't do anything outside of class. I have certainly had truly motivated students in the past, but the majority don't fall into this category.

4.) To be able to effectively teach your target subject matter in a fun and stimulating way while at the same time, challenging your student as much as possible without them getting frustrated or exhausted

5.) I teach more 1 to 1 than anything else. Generally speaking, I would say my greatest strength is persuading the student to feel comfortable enough to speak freely, for this is when the student's most fundamental weaknesses in their English are exposed, allowing me to correct/fix them quite easily. Much like RichFilth said, Polish teachers can be a bit bossy in class, so I like to think of myself as a breath of fresh air. When students aren't comfortable, they clam up and use "safe" english, which in turn stunts their progress. I'm also cautious about over-repetition. Sometimes it's just necessary to have your students repeat things but i do it sparingly. when students feel like parrots, they tire reeeeeeally fast.

6.) Of course I correct my students' grammar/pronunciation.

7.) My school does in fact dictate their system of teaching, heavily at times, but they're not in the room with me so what they don't know won't hurt them

10.) I agree 100% with RichFilth on this one. Couldn't have said it any better.

12.) Most of my students are Polish. I get French/Spanish/German/Japanese/Korean here and there.

13.) For the most part, if i teach someone other than a Polish person, they are 1 to 1 classes. If I'm being honest, I think they're better off, especially at the lower levels. When you have a room full of 6 Poles and 1 foreigner, during break time the foreigner sits there in silence while the rest talk to each other in Polish. Not cool.

14.) For the most part, I wouldn't recommend working in Poland. To put it plainly, there are just better places to work and live, but to each their own.

[Sgt Bilko]

1 7-adult. Usually teens. Almost no business or 1-1 (personal choice). Most of the students are great. The teens may seem a bit difficult at times but compared to summer school Portuguese, Italian, Spanish etc they are angels.

2 The only problem is that it takes new students a while to get used to English instructions, changing places and being allowed to use their imaginations. Something happens in Liceums - lobotomy of some sort or maybe it's just age. A fun, wild, chatty group of 15 year olds become serious and monosyllabic a year or two later. Probably hormonal.

3 See point 1. The adults have been mainly great although one or two annoyingly sexist/racist (deliberately because they know it winds up the liberal native speaker) individuals.

4 I know what the aim of the syllabus/lesson is, there is a logical approach to achieve that and I am flexible enough to rip the plan up if it isn't working. A balance of enjoyment and hard work - good pace.

5 Well, I had many years at IH with groups of up to 12 students, general English. Now I do one day a week at a different school doing 'conversation' classes. Also worked in a kolegium doing conversation classes with people who were already teachers or training to be teachers. They were worse than most teenagers. Appalling manners many of them.

7 I correct when I'm doing the presentation/controlled practise. Much less than they would like when they're doing freer practise. (although I always correct them when they say He's playing with himself rather than He's playing on his own....)

8 No but the students/syllabus determined some meaty grammar and some fun communication in almost all lessons.

9 Yes. Teachers should teach in a way that they feel comfortable with (assuming they're trained and know what they're doing).

10 -

11 Never taught it or seen it in action.

12 No - a real shame as it would stop the Polish speaking a bit

13 -

14 Yes, for a new teacher. Get a job with a good school with lots of training. A new teacher isn't going to get a job in Western Europe so Poland (Czech/Hungary etc) is the most normal/westernised place you can go. I started in Egypt which was fine for me as I had lived in the Middle East before but, despite the students being absolutely wonderful, there were a lot of shell shocked people who couldn't take the life there. Poland's just England with a bit more snow and, unless you want to settle down, the language problem doesn't arise as you'll spend most of your time with other native speakers or students who want to chat in English.
For teachers with experience, no, unless Poland is your dream/you have family connections here. What's the point - you got your experience to earn some decent money and you won't do that here.

[Harry from NWE]

[Jack Walker]