Getting in the swing of life at International House Bydgoszcz

 Getting in the swing of life at International House Bydgoszcz

 

I have now been in Poland for 3 weeks, I still have to pinch myself sometimes that I am here but my week is settling into a pattern.

I have 4 lessons on Monday, the first is an early start(!!) at 10.30 tutoring a lovely Spanish lady for a CAE English exam – something like a GCSE. I also have a level meeting with colleagues to plan one of my teenage groups. There is some time to prepare the next day’s lessons, then  a quick check  everything is ready for the evening before starting with one of my two teen groups from 4 - 7.30pm. after that a zoom business language lesson with a student studying at the local university. It’s a late night and I don’t get home until 9.30pm but the next morning is a later start at 2.30pm with my company lesson at the PESA headquarters in town. Going by car has become a novelty, so its a great treat to be driven to and from PESA, the train and tram manufactures in Bydgoszcz where we give a number of lessons. The factory is next to the train station but to reach it we have to walk under the train station via an ancient underground passage which is as straight and circular as a concrete pipe quite a strange and disorientating experience. They have a clever trick in Poland that beside any set of outdoor /underground steps there is a wide flat gutter, and this is to enable you to push your bike up or down.

Tuesday evening continues with my delightful adult class until 7.30 pm and I have another late start at 4 pm the next day with my teen classes again but usually spend the day planning for Thursday and go out for lunch with colleagues.

Thursdays are quite busy with two level meetings and a 1:1 with a Gynaecologist. He is a real Anglophile and a conductor as well as a surgeon. He spends quite a lot of time in Birmingham and is a fan of Elgar so we have lots to talk about.  I have my lovely adult group in the evening and get home about 8.30. There are 5 of us who walking home together in the evening if we have all finished. Two peel off and head into the old part of town near the square while three of us continue up the enormous hill to the blocks of flats we live. The old cold war flats are a very distinct part of the Bydgoszcz skyline all over the city.

Friday is really busy with a staff meeting a teaching workshop, followed by a level meeting and a 1:1 with a teenager for 90 mins,  our weekly Polish lesson and planning for Monday. However, they are about to get even busier as next week I will be picked up at 8am to be driven to a private primary school for 4 conversation lessons in the morning, its only once a month and I’m looking forward to seeing the contrast with the insitu lessons.