Hi Boyd,

Glad you passed!  Good luck if you do decide to work in Poland!

Emma

congratulations boyd:)

Panic over - i passed! Time for a glass of wine i think :)

Hi Emma,

Thanks verily for the good words - im typically quite undecisive, so one part of my mind has been pretty much saying all you are suggesting there. Nothing really lost if that style of teaching doesnt really suit - and certainly experienced gained with teaching classes in general. As a first position, as you say, could be quite ideal.

Also, the other reason for poland is to immerse myself in the language (outside of the classroom, of course!) - im at that intermediate stage where its hard to see any further progress, or at least the rapidity has decreased a bit, and have this dream of talking polish without even thinking too much about it - that would be a spin out :)

(and im not sure emma if you work for i to i - so this is also directed to anyone who does in the hope of sympathetic / explanatory earholes!).......In order to make this friday's deadline, I obviously need to pass the tefl course (!) - Im doing the 120 hours course, and am waiting on the last assignment to be marked (finished the grammar and 4 modules). Getting a tad nervy, as I handed it in on sunday night, and no word yet - with all the other assignments, they've been back to me within a day, day and a half at most. Another thing which makes me slightly even more nervy is that the course expires in 1 day - now does that mean that after midnight tonight im totally locked out? It seems that if that assignment comes back with a pass, then we still have to submit a questionnaire in order to pass the online tefl course?

Im rather brokeski so it would be rather difficult to extend the course at the moment....meaning I may miss out on friday's deadline. Quandary!

Any advice / tips / useful suicide suggestions?!

Boydie :)

Hi,

I know a friend who is an experienced teacher who taught via the callan method in London.  He actually didn't mind it as he said it gave results (and it was easy to teach!). I think he tweeked it so they had some freer practise at the end however.

Obviously there are different learners out there and you have to provide what your students want (from the sounds of it this method would appeal to students who want to work on their pronunciation, intonation, fluency, word order/stress etc).  With any teaching method there are of course positives and negatives.  Also different teachers prefer different methods.  I guess you won't know until you try it whether it's how you want to teach. 

I would say however if you are a new teacher this method may be ideal as I believe everything is prepared for you (little preparation involved - trust me this is a perk!) therefore you won't have to worry too much about what you have to teach....might be a nice first job if you want minimum stress involved I imagine :-).

It could be a bit boring however and as you say if you want to get creative maybe this isn't the job for you!

I take back my comment on Ukraine.. not sure about the rest of the E. European region at this point either, though I've not visited them.. I guess i'm just a Southern European girl..  Balkans are the best!!

Gday Peeps :)

Oh yeah samlennie - ive been teaching myself polish for a couple of years now, and that one still gets me - my girlfriend is from southern poland, in the area, and i can remember asking her mother (who speaks no english) for a coffee - she said 'no' - oh ok then, maybe some milk?

Its good to track down this discussion - Im just about to finish my course (procrastination anyone?), and this internship seems in many ways perfect - ive always wanted to live in poland to develop my polish, and having just about to finish the course, what better time to actually, like...use it?!

My main concern has been trying to find out more about this callan method - which is the 'direct method' quoted on the speed school for english site. Opinions of this are pretty mixed to say the least. I do wonder how much flexibility there is - our weekend teacher did not have a high opinion of the callan method. However, i to i are advertising an internship at such a school. Im confused.com -  perhaps there is more of a mix in methods now - after all, it would be a shame to learn this tefl method (which seems to me to be a great way to learn - and nothing like how i remember school) and then sortof unlearn all that to just be a bit of a robot teacher. Hmmmmm....

Anyway im definately having a good hard think about heading out there to do this, despite the above reservations.

Oh and yeah if you make it to poland, dont miss out on Golabki - i think this is my favourite food of all time - even more than the classic old aussie meat pie - big call!!

do widzenia i uwazaj na siebie,

boydie ;)

Hey Hannah,

We're hoping it's going to run again in a few months time - we'll keep you posted if we end up getting another intake. It just depends on how well this first round goes!

This sounds awesome and I would love to do this- but is it a one off thing or does anybody know if this is going to run again (preferably in the New Year!)??

I read that the English word for NO actually means YES in Poland!!

Maybe that's one we need to remember on our next trip!!