Teachers Zone

We are always looking for enthusiastic and passionate teachers to join our dedicated team at Bilingual Primary School "Primary Steps" Bielsko-Biala


  • Work Mon-Fri!
  • Develop your teaching skills with a variety of lessons & activities
  • Competitive salary + extra bonuses
  • Professional EFL development opportunities - IH world certified
  • Personal gratification and job satisfaction
  • Unique location: explore the Beskid mountains in your free time!

Step 1 – Requirements


  • PGCE or BED and CELTA/Trinity Cert.Tesol or equivalent
  • or CELTA + CELTYL /CELT-P/IHCYLT and at least one year  experience of CLIL – based teaching and teaching English as a second language to young learners in an approved environment
  • a degree
  • full mastery of English across all 4 skills to CEFR C2/IELTS band 9
  • excellent organisation, communication and people skills
  • flexibility
  • commitment to professional development
  • a high level of professionalism
  • strong people skills and the ability to work as part of a teaching team
  • a positive, friendly, open personality

Step 2 – The application process


· If you want to apply for a position, send our Internal Application form (there is a link at the top of the page), your current CV and a covering email to: bielsko.recruitment@ih.com.pl
· If your application is interesting to the school, the next stage is an interview. Interviews can be held face-to-face or on skype (with a webcam). Selected candidates will receive a detailed guide about the school to help them get to know the school better.
· If the interview is successful, you will be sent an offer for your consideration along with a deadline for your reply.

Step 3 – Travel, arrival and accommodation (foreign teachers only)


· You are responsible for making your own travel arrangements. Most teachers fly to Katowice or Krakow airports with Wizz Air (see www.wizzair.com), Ryanair (see www.ryanair.com/en/) or EasyJet (see www.easyjet.com/en) from London (all airports), or other cities in the UK.
Please try to book flights which arrive at reasonable times and not very late at night or early in the morning. The school can arrange the school driver to collect you, for a reasonable fee (paid by the teacher), from Katowice or Krakow airport. If you elect not to use this service you will be given advice about how to get to Bielsko-Biala and you will be collected at the main bus or train station and taken to your accommodation. The teacher is responsible for paying their own travel costs between the airport and the main stations in this case. On arrival you will be given a free food pack and a map of Bielsko-Biala.
· The school will help you with finding a flat (single or shared). It can either be done in advance by the school sending you information and photos of possible flats by email or it can be done on arrival with the school making appointments for you to view flats available. The flat contract is signed directly between the teacher and the landlord.

Step 4 – Induction programme (3 - 5 days)


This involves…
· Input sessions giving you more detailed information about working at the school
· Being introduced to the School Director, senior staff and administrative staff
· The opportunity to meet and talk with the school’s returning teachers
· Getting your timetable and sets of materials for the groups you will be teaching
· Taking part in our annual back-to-school party!

Teachers are paid for this induction period at the rate stated in the pay scale.

Why work for Bilingual Primary School "Primary Steps"?

To apply please email us at bielsko.recruitment@ih.com.pl

We are excited to offer new teachers a challenging opportunity to hone and develop their teaching skills in a world of happy-go-lucky and flexible minded bi-lingual early learners. If you are someone who finds it hard to resist warm genuine smiles, enjoys laughter and likes each day to be interesting and unique, then come and join our team.

We offer …

– Daily assistance and support from our experienced and friendly young learner teachers
– Continuous professional development to help teachers improve and grow professionally
– Service quality assurance from International House World
– 10 Free Polish lessons
– 20 working days of paid holiday for a full academic year including a Christmas break, a winter break in Jan/Feb, an Easter break and a long weekend in May
– Administration staff support throughout the whole school year
– 21 years of experience in English teaching!

Our in-house training programme


Our weekly training sessions are led by senior members of staff until winter break. We choose topics from your suggestions made at the start of the year or as a result of global feedback after a series of observations. In the second term, teachers new to the school are encouraged to lead sessions or facilitate swap-shop sessions. Help in preparation and feedback afterwards is available for this. Please remember that running training sessions and participating in them is credited on your PDIs.

Online self-study workshops


Throughout the year our teachers are encouraged to take part in online self-study workshops offered by IH World. These are a maximum of 3 weeks long and completed asynchronously, so you can do them at your own leisure! There is a broad range of topic covered but in case you’re more into longer-term courses you might want to consider other IH Online courses (https://ihworld.com/teach/ih-online-teacher-training/) .

Professional Development Interviews (PDIs)


All teachers have a PDI at IH once per academic year in April or May. A PDI is a summary of your time at the school and lists your teaching strengths and weaknesses, admin tasks you have completed during the academic year, training sessions you may have run, Social Programme events you may have organised and run etc and other aspects such as your reliability, punctuality and co-operativeness.

Courses and Workshops


Apart from our weekly in-house development sessions, IH Bielsko also runs the IH Certificate in Teaching Young Learners and Teenagers course every September. The course is two weeks long and quite intensive! Please ask the DoS to find our whether you’d be eligible for free participation! Watch one of our teachers, Chris, talking about the course and his experience!

IH Teacher Training Days


Our teachers regularly get to attend other TEFL and IH conferences in Poland and support in this respect is provided.

Observations


These happen regularly and are always followed by a constructive feedback session. Help with lesson planning is available prior to the observation as well as afterwards.

Current academic year


• The International House Language Awareness Course (LAC)
• A short in-house course on teaching Phonics

Bielsko-Biala has a lot to offer especially when it comes to nature and outdoor activities. Below please find a very subjective outline of free time activities :)

Sightseeing: Discover Bielsko and its history! Did you know that the city is famous for its unique Frog House and a statue of Reksio?
Start sightseeing with this 3D virtual tour of the city: http://spacer.bielsko-biala.pl/
and see more photos here: https://www.facebook.com/lukasztaifun/

You can also watch a video about Bielsko: https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=1&v=19Pt9a6KzCs&feature=emb_logo

Hiking: there is no better free time activity than hiking if you find yourself in Bielsko. And it only takes 20 minutes on the local bus! To find out more about hiking in the mountains visit: http://mcit.bbosir.bielsko.pl/hiking-trails/

Breweries: visit local breweries and try our delicious beer! If you’re a fan, apart from the brewery in Bielsko, you should also consider visiting Zywiec and Tychy. Cheers!

Local day trips: visit Goczalkowice-Zdroj or Zywiec to see some of the pretties landscapes in Silesia. The two lakes are especially appealing in spring and summer when you can rent pedal boats or swim. Pszczyna is also worth a trip if you would like to see a European Bisons. You can also visit:

Szczyrk: one of the biggest ski resorts in the country. Only 30 minutes away!
Auschwitz: the infamous Nazi concentration camp is located in Oswiecim, Only 30 minutes away from Bielsko
Wadowice: the birthplace of John Paul II and home of the famous cream cake! Only 1 hour away from Bielsko.

Weekends away: so many places, so little time! Discover Silesia and other regions of Poland, and if there’s time left, why not go abroad? Have a look at our suggestions for your weekends away:
Katowice: the capital city of Silesia – 40-50 minutes from Bielsko by train
Krakow: the most famous Polish city – only two hours away by bus
Warsaw: the capital city of Poland – getting there shouldn’t take more than 4 hours
Wroclaw: this city was home to 10 Nobel Prize winners!

Approximately 5 hours away by train. It’s really worth the trip! – The Polish seaside: the Baltic Sea awaits! Approximately 7-8 hours away from Bielsko.
Vienna, Austria: this beautiful city can be reached within hours either by train or bus in 6-7hours.
The Czech Republic: the border with this beautiful country is only 40 minutes away by bus. Prague can be reached by getting a train from Cesky Tesin (on the border) and it takes 4-5 hours in total.

Food & Going out

Food
– Szpilka and Dogs Bollocks (Rynek 28)
– Srodek (1 Maja 1)
– Beskid Burger (Wzgórze 6)
– Momo Grill (Podcienie 2A)
– Nowy Swiat (fancy!) (11 Listopada 25/23)
– Maximus (Batorego 7)
– Jarmuzno (11 Listopada 57)
– Palunichka Kuchnia (1 Maja 47)
– Magnum (Ratuszowa 3)
– Piwnica Zamkowa (Wzgórze 16)
– Browar Miejski (Piwowarska 2)
– Miasto (Mickiewicza 2)
– Ratuszowa (plac Ratuszowy 1)
– Niam Niam Grill Panini Bar (Partyzantow 44)
– Deka Smak (Galeria Sfera, 3rd Floor)
– Jedwabny Szlak (Wzgorze 8)
– Picollo Pizza (1 Maja 10)

Drinks
– Celna (Celna 10)
– Miasto (plac Adama Mickiewicza 2)
– Grawitacja (Wzgórze 3)
– Rock (Staszica 7)
– Chmielowe Pocienia (Podcienie 2)
– Sephia and Happy Hours (3 Maja 13)
– Piwnica Zamkowa (Wzgórze 16)
– Galeria Wzgorze (Wzgorze 4/4)
– Stolarnia (Broniewskiego 19) (especially in summer!)
– and more…

Cafes / Breakfast
– Oskar (Bielsko’s oldest) (Rynek 16)
– 4 Jaski Cafe&Deli (Plac Wojska Polskiego 5)
– Parasol (11 Listopada 40)
– Cremino (1 Maja 10)
– Farma (Smolki 7)
– Sniadanioteka (Partyzantów 23/6)
– Maluch Café (Cieszynska 3)
– Ciachomania (Gorska 16)
– and lots more in Sfera