Teaching English in Poland
Where should I teach in Poland?
The most popular towns for teaching positions in Poland are Krakow and Warsaw. Krakow more so than Warsaw because Krakow is beautiful and Warsaw, well, isn't. Other large congregations of native speakers will be in other main cities like Wroclaw, the Tri City area (Gdansk, Gdynia and Sopot), Katowice and Poznan.
However, one of the commonly said things about Krakow is that it’s saturated with native speakers and there’s definitely an element of truth in this, so if you want to work for one of the ‘better’ schools then you better apply at the right time and have the right experience or just be very lucky!
Warsaw has got a very healthy ex-pat and teaching population but there’s always work to go round, especially if you have a special skill like a business/financial related degree or work experience. If you’re a qualified accountant or solicitor, you’ll be snapped up in no time.
The other major population areas will have a number of schools and therefore there’ll always be native speaking teachers, but not to the level of Warsaw or Krakow.
The advantages to major towns are rather obvious, lots of clubs, pubs, cafes, shopping centres, people, atmosphere, cinemas etc. It's easy enough to find out what's happening in the major towns with a quick google search or by clicking here to go the links page. When you're here in Poland, in the cities there are many publications in English which will tell you what's going on.
You may be offered a position with a smaller school in Poland in a smaller town and herein lies potential advantages and disadvantages.
The advantages to small town Poland are:
- Immersion – you get to live the Polish way of life - vodka, pickled cucumber and all.
- Language acquisition – no doubt about it, you’ll learn Polish faster here than in the cities.
- Nature – a lot of the smaller towns are very close to areas of outstanding natural beauty and interest.
- Travelling – depending on where you are, you can get a lot of travelling done in areas of Poland or across borders.
- Money – in small town Poland there are very few native speakers. Set up camp here and you could be raking it in!
Disadvantages:
- Difficulty integrating – It can be very difficult to make friends as people in small town Poland can be insular, so may have to be comfortable with your own company.
- Boredom – Most small towns can be investigated in 2 days, leaving very little to do in the evenings so you’ll visit the same places over and over again.
- Newbie syndrome - this really a mixture of the above. If you're new to teaching the chances are you'll be in your 20's and will want to have fun. Sometimes, in small town Poland especially if you've not got Polish roots, family or background, newbies simply get disillusioned and call it quits.
It’s not impossible to survive in small town Poland but in order to enjoy it fully, you really have push yourself to meet people and make friends. For some people this is easier than others but without any kind of Polish background, language skills or initial friend base it can be very difficult.
