ESL Conversational lesson = Find Out If....(I'm lying!!!)

Hi everyone,

Here's how to take a really simple lesson plan for conversation and basic tense (present perfect & past simple) and question practice and make it more involving and challenging.

I took the original lesson idea from http://www.eslpartyland.com/teachers/conversation/findout.htm and it is perfectly good in its basic form. Essentially you give each student a list of things (see below) and they divide into pairs to ask questions about each other, find out which ones the other student has done then ask follow up questions about them. At the end the class reports on interesting findings and the teacher can board some corrections.

This is a simple and effective lesson when you have a large group of students. How about a small group or when you have a one to one lesson? What about more advanced students? Fancy spicing up the challenge?

Find out if your partner:
• has had a problem with the police
• has almost died
• has fired someone (or contributed to someone being fired).
• has met a famous person
• has had a frightening experience on an aeroplane
• has tried an unusual sport or hobby
• has shouted at their boss
• has fallen in love with a person they could not have
• has been on a terrible or embarrassing date
• has gotten a tattoo
• has performed a daredevil act
• has backpacked in a foreign country
• has been to a gay bar
• has eaten something disgusting
• has won something (for example, the lottery. a contest)
• has had a romantic relationship with someone in their office/workplace

All you need to do is pass out the list statements above. I added a few business themed ones but otherwise it's pretty stock. Each student gets a copy of the list. Quickly run through to check understanding of vocabulary (daredevil usually comes up and I often have to remind them that GOING on a date is romantic) and then stop. Tell them that, on average, people have done 50% of these things and that they shouldn't tell anyone what they have already done.

We run through the Have You Ever...question format and then follow up to make sure they are ready to switch to past tense for follow up questions. We usually brainstorm and board some basic question words to help us out later on.

Then I sell them into the lesson by telling them we

Step 1 - Ask a have you ever question.
Step 2 - The person says Yes, I have.
Step 3 - Ask past questions to try and figure out if they are lying or not.

The fun part then becomes people getting creative with telling their real life stories or with their lies to try to make everyone else believe what they are saying. Once you've gone around and asked a good number of questions (say 6-8) then you can guess if it's true, false or partly true. The person then reveals their answer and we find out how good they are at storytelling or lying.

I prefer this way of doing the lesson to the original because I teach small groups (max 5-6) at the moment and it gives a good chance to correct forms as you hear the mistakes and people can work as a group to prompt and think of new questions. If the group gets towards the maximum size or you are dealing with larger groups it may be better to split into pairs or threes so that people have more time to speak. I'd still go with the lying option and maybe mix up the groups once or twice depending how long your lesson is. You can then get back together for a group review plus a list of the best/worst liars in the classroom.

Also, for fun, I have everyone count up how many are actually true for them and then that person can be labelled the most interesting/craziest depending on the group.

I often put this kind of fun or funny twist into my lessons so that people come out feeling like they had a good time while learning English. The more people genuinely enjoy what you do while learning, the more repeat business and recommendations you will receive. If you get stuck, look at how much fun the dogs above are having. Try to replicate that in your classroom and make your students love coming to English with you :-)

All the best

Pete

PS: I've done all but two of the Have You Ever items on the list above. Any guesses which ones are false? ;-)

How to win and retain private students / clients.

What we hope private students will do for us

Private students - frustratingly, wonderfully, annoyingly nice. They give you a chance to customise lessons, help you earn some extra cash, fill in the gaps in your schedule, cancel without much warning, fail to do homework, do all of their homework and more, challenge you in new ways, annoy you by not learning what they should, bring their bad moods into the lessons, bring their great moods into the lessons, argue with you over price and times, pay you well and let you be flexible when you need to cancel etc.

NB: For this post I'll define a private student as one who you teach individually or in a small group as a direct client (no school or agency involvement) and who often pays for the lessons in cash. 


I think that every ESL teacher who has private students will share some of the sentiments above. Private students are an interesting mix as they can be a great boon for your income and a real nightmare for your time management and income stability. 

Here are my tips for making a good impression, getting new clients, making them happy and keeping them with you.

1. Advertise. How can people ask for you as a teacher if they don't know that you are available for lessons? You can advertise any way you like but generally word of mouth, online adverts and social networks are very good. I have several clients from word of mouth or friends of friends on facebook but most of mine come from free websites where I have an advert uploaded. It works!
2. Go and meet them. It sounds annoying but you have to sell yourself in person. At first you are a teacher who they don't know any more than another teacher. Get to know them, make them realise how fun and interesting the lessons will be for you and if they want a free lesson ,write it off as a good demo. I have to do it, schools and companies do it. It's just part of teaching.
3. References. Who have you worked for? Which companies or well known clients can you use as references for when people ask about your experience? This is quite a key factor in ensuring you can ask for a good price. I have a list of major clients I've worked with (including Lenovo, SAP, Dell and Slovnaft, a huge petrochemical company) that I can use if people ask.
4. Compromise. I frequently accept the first lesson or two at a less preferable time or location just to get the ball rolling. I will work hard to meet the client as close as possible to their home or work so that the English lesson doesn't feel like a big chore for them. Once we have a good relationship students afford me a lot more flexibility and we work together to make it easy and convenient for both of us
5. The first lesson. Make it a good one. You have a chance to really impress them, make them happy with your methods and ideas, build a long term relationship and, if you charge at the higher end (as I do) you must justify this cost to them. To do this:

• Bring a fun, interactive and engaging lesson. Generally I'd go for more conversational as people often ask for this type of lesson.
• Create a lesson that works really well for interaction. A lot of teachers my students have described will come to the lesson with a textbook and just go through it with the students. If you have something more (cards, games, activities, conversation fun) they will appreciate it and it's easier to make it feel customised.
• Make sure you check their language level. Mark down what they need to work on so you have material and can mentally create a 'syllabus'. Show them a few selected mistakes and help them with corrections to establish yourself as a teacher.
• Highlight what they are good at, probably before the point above. Most students have fairly low language esteem, or they portray it this way. Perhaps it's true or perhaps it's polite modesty but get them to realise just how good they already are. Now, with your help (see above), they can get better.
• BE IN A GOOD MOOD. You know how students being down can make your lesson that much harder and more challenging? You can do that to your students. Bring them a happy, enthusiastic and interesting teacher who makes them feel good during and after their lesson. It's hard sometimes faking your mood if you're having a tough week but do it and the rewards will be tangible and appreciated. 
• Let the lesson run over a bit. Unless you are really time constrained, make sure you give them a little extra time. Enjoy a few more games or activities so that they feel good. Then you can add the hint of acting where you "realise" you've run over and didn't notice because you were having such a good time. 

Once you've gotten the ball rolling with people and had a good few first lessons, I find it then tends to run much more smoothly and easily. If it helps you, I suggest you pin down two or three good, general lessons that you like and know you can teach clearly and comfortably. I have a standard two starting lessons and then I take the next lessons in the direction each particular student needs.

If you read this far without getting bored and giving up, here's a cute puppy picture to reward you.

Any questions, please just drop a line in the comments section :-)

Pete

Marriage vs blogging ;-)

Hi everyone,

I have been unforgivably lax in updating this blog and giving more feedback on life as an ESL teacher to everyone. I apologise unreservedly for that and offer my good intentions to increase activity and make this blog a worthy place to visit.

Above is one of the reasons that I've not been active on the blogging scene so much. Last month I got to experience one of the best days of my life when I married the inspiring, kind, wonderful love of my life. Despite being a small wedding it was a lot of work to organise, manage the paperwork, set everything up to our liking and manage this while keeping busy with work.

Anyway, all that is now done, we have wonderful memories, photos and enjoyed our time with all the special people who made it a wonderful day.

The next post is on the way ;-)

Pete

Becoming confident and assertive Part 2.

So how does one follow on from a post all about full contact cage fighting and tie it into the day to day realities of English teaching?

It's fairly simple really. As a more experienced teacher who has just gone freelance I've come to realise that my abilities are good, my confidence measured but high, my experience valuable in the market and my assertiveness is growing.

I've come to realise and stand up for what I'm worth in the EFL market here in Bratislava.

Going freelance and working with a business license frees you from a lot of the contractual obligations most people work under, but also frees you from the contract protection those people have. In return, it's generally accepted that you will earn higher fees per hour than teachers who work with contracts.

Now it's up to you to figure out exactly what your school / agency / client will pay you and it varies depending on your experience and background (here natives can easily add 5 per hour over a non-native for many clients). I've gone from an average of about 14 per hour to an average pay of somewhere around 20 per hour. There is some variation of course as different agencies / schools take different cuts based on their costs and my direct clients pay slightly different rates depending on how big they are, how many lessons they have etc. but overall I'm very happy.

I've had to be assertive for a lot of what I have and it was hard at first. There's a constant fear that the people you are pushing for higher prices, be they students, companies or employers, will simply say no and let you walk away if you don't work to their limits.

Now I have the confidence and assertiveness to call that bluff. I know I'm a good teacher, I know I'm in demand and I know that I can earn just fine without any particular employer monopolising my time. I have the freedom to take the clients I want, work my schedule in a way that suits me so I don't have to work early mornings or late at night unless I choose to and end up in a better financial situation

So how does the bluffing/negotiating procedure go for me now?

Just had to include this photo ;-)

It's been going well. Perhaps buoyed by confidence from my cage fighting days coupled with the knowledge that I'm good at what I do and am in demand as a teacher, I now go into negotiations with a clear idea of what is acceptable or not and stay totally calm as I direct things go the way they should go. Knowing that I covered up and dealt with punches coming at my face while I was pinned to the ground in a cage makes it a lot easier to manage someone who is just arguing over a small work point.

Recently I have:
 - Established a new and much higher baseline pay rate that most people accept now.
 - Negotiated a higher pay rate with one school for a lesson they need me to cover.
 - Ensured that an agency covered the cost of training they didn't inform me about until the last minute (Sorry, I'm not paying to work for you).
 - Reorganised my schedule with a big school who were failing to provide enough lessons in a timely manner.


Now please understand (especially any new ESL teachers reading this) that you have a lot of responsibilities that go along with steps like those above. If you teach a bad lesson when you charge someone ten euros per hour, that's one thing, but double the price and you'd damn well better be on your game. People are less forgiving of mistakes and rightly so. If you charge a premium price, deliver a premium product.

I also put a lot of energy into my clients and my lessons, particularly in the initial stages when 'selling' the first few hours with a new student. I make sure they have a great time, I'm in a good mood (even if I'm tired/sick etc.), I really focus in on the English mistakes that matter to that student and leave them feeling like they enjoy what's happening and can see the benefits. I am happy and willing to pay 20 euros per hour for a private lesson of Slovak from a teacher I know and trust. My job is to make sure my students feel the same and know they are getting a better product than those who went for cheaper options.

When you are selling that first lesson, don't only bring your best attitude. You may want to let the lesson run over for 15 minutes or so, especially if you're having a good time. That way the students are happy that they get 'free' lesson time. Previously I offered half price or discounted first lessons and that was popular too. Now I go for the extended time but both ways are good to make people feel happy. You should leave them thinking:

"Wow, that was fun and useful. I can't wait to have the next lesson and spend more time with my new teacher."

Get that part done and you'll be rolling in students soon enough.

There you have the basic story of how I took the lessons learned in a cage and brought them into a classroom and business environment. I had to learn a lot, nerve myself up to call bluffs and pretend I wasn't scared but the end results have been worth it and continue to improve day by day.

So teachers, if you know you are worth a lot and you aren't happy with where you are, step up and take control of your career and the people you work with. Think like the ever impressive George St Pierre (in red trunks), the UFC welterweight champion, and make sure everyone knows you are a dedicated worker and are getting what you're worth.

Best wishes,

Pete

PS: I was smiling giddily and did a little happy dance the first time I successfully a negotiated a good deal. A behind the scenes moment of truth ;-)

Becoming confident and assertive Part 1...

I feel like I've recently hit a breakthrough in the way I conduct business and work as a teacher. It came down to confidence, experience and just a bit of faking it until I made it. The latter is something that I've really had to work on in my life but it's not just a popular saying. I've been finding that there is more and more truth in it and I enjoy it.

So what's with the picture at the top of the post? It's from April 2011 during my last week or so in the US before I came to Europe to teach. Following the end of long term relationship I had started training at a mixed martial arts gym and got into it a lot. The picture is me mentally preparing ahead of a full contact cage match with a training partner. If you think I look nervous, you're absolutely right.

I've done martial arts for a long time because I like them, I'm a small guy and I have always been scared of violence. Even though I've spent a long time involved in them, I was always scared of fighting and getting hit. That fear has never gone away. I felt a nervous trickle of adrenaline when my instructor called me up to spar and I knew I could (and would) be hit. Moving into a full contact sport like MMA was a major step for me.

I spent a long time believing that I was the only one afraid to get into the ring/cage and fight. Everybody else seemed so calm and ready to go at any time. It was only after faking it for a long time that I realised I needed to fake it less. I could deal with a lot of problems and challenges without backing down. Other people were also scared but they also learned to push it down and be confident.

So I stepped into the cage for nine minutes of full contact fighting.

This is one of the high points in the fight where I started to find good range for my kicks and land them on my buddy. Unfortunately...

...his wrestling and size were a bit much for me and I spent the latter part of the fight getting battered and pounded into the mats. I lost the fight by decision but I didn't quit in the fight (I wanted to), I didn't make excuses about why I lost (it was my lack of confidence in my striking skills that really sealed it) and I didn't give in to my temptation to cancel the fight before it started.

Now I'm not training MMA or other martial arts any more. I've picked up enough injuries and I'm getting old enough that I don't want too much of a bad legacy from my wild younger days.

So how exactly do the photos above correspond to what I'm doing with myself these days since I'm an English teacher, not a cage fighter, right?

Well it's about developing confidence and assertiveness. These are traits that will serve you well in the cage but also very well in life and business too.

Part 2 to follow soon...

Going freelance as a teacher

So here I am, going freelance as teacher. I'm leaving Class over the next few days / weeks and going my own way in the teaching market here in Bratislava.

This is exactly what I'll be doing every day from now on...honest ;-)

I'm sure that a big question for friends and students revolves around why I'm leaving. Let's me say one thing first of all. I think Class was and still is a great school to learn at, I've enjoyed teaching my students and I am not leaving for reasons of dissatisfaction with the method or ideas. For anyone who wants kids or adults lessons, I do and will continue to recommend that people go and see the teachers at Class and have fun learning. There are great teachers at Class and I would and do recommend them to students.

However, it's time for me to spread my wings and try some things on my own. I've learned a lot at Class but unfortunately due to work availability factors and some other issues it was time to leave. It's a shame we couldn't negotiate a different outcome as I like the school and students a lot, but I'm excited to be my own boss and to see what I can manage as a freelance teacher.

So how am I feeling at the moment?

Mostly excited and a little bit nervous. 

I think that's probably a good mix of feelings for this situation and for the things I'm going to be facing. I've got a lot of organisation of lessons and timetables to do but it's looking very interesting, promising and profitable all in all. 

So far I'll be using a three pronged approach. I will be:

 - working part time for Berlitz, a very big and successful language school. This is a great way to set down a base level of lessons, develop my teaching skills by going back to basics in a very well thought out teaching method, have a lot of support from my employer, have access to really nice teaching materials and books, gain globally recognised CV experience and, with a bit of luck, become a certified Berlitz teacher so I can take my skills to other countries if I want to.

 - working with agencies (primarily business English) to get involved with teaching at different companies in the city and explore alternative methods and approaches to lessons. This will bring a lot of freedom and creativity to my working life where the onus will be on my to deliver top quality. 

- working directly with companies or individuals to teach different aspects of English. This is the most lucrative of the three options but also the most challenging in many ways as it's completely on me to find out how to make my clients the happiest with what I offer. 

More posts to follow talking about what is so exciting about my life at the moment.

Pete :-)

A teacher and a confidant

It depends on the kind of school you teach at but there is something very particular about one to one lessons. For various timetable and student level reasons I've had the privilege to teach a lot of individual students for the last six months or so.

People sometimes ask me if it's better to teach groups or individuals and the answer is, inevitably, that it varies. The great thing about individuals is that you can develop their language skills so much more in the same number of lessons simply by dint of having them be the only other person speaking. If we take a simple 70% student talking time (the less wasted teacher talking time the better) from a 60 minute lesson then an individual student will get to speak for 42 minutes where one in a group of 6 will only get 7 minutes of private time on average.  Of course, these are just averages and teachers use a lot of techniques to increase language production time for all (pair work, team games, group conversation, writing etc.). Still, it's among the individual students that you often see the most progress.

On the flip side it can be really hard as teacher because you are forced to focus on the students for such an extended time. In a group, you can start a lot of activities and then sit back and focus on the students, perhaps listening for corrections. One of the toughest parts is when you are engaging in role plays with individual students because you have to listen to what they are saying so you can formulate an appropriate response, listen for their mistakes and correct language use, and sometimes even write down the errors so you can discuss that afterwards. It's tiring and makes the one to one lessons that much more of a challenge from a focus perspective. Then again, when you have someone who you genuinely like and enjoy spending time with, it can be like meeting with friends where you get paid for it ;-)

One very special thing is how much you are exposed to when you spend time alone with people. Perhaps because I'm a relative stranger to them, my students often feel comfortable opening up to me. I've come to know things that are very personal and challenging including relationship problems, births, deaths, illness, drug problems, financial worries and work issues.

It can be hard to listen to these stories at times and I've had to do my best to comfort people without sounding trite. I'm also asked for advice in some situations and that brings the next big challenge...what kind of grounds do I have to offer advice to people on life problems that I may have never faced before? I'm not a psychologist (though I lived with one for some time) and have very little education or knowledge on the specifics of these cases so I have to be very careful what I say. Likewise when people ask me about what they should do in a work context with an annoying or difficult boss/colleague/situation. In each case I try to offer my best advice from my work experience while at all times trying not to make their decision for them. Usually I focus on what they could do and what some of the advantages and disadvantages of each choice may be. With any luck we get to work on expressing feelings, worries and using modals (should, could, might etc.)

I know that a lot of other teachers tend to stay away from topics like this because they prefer to keep their and students private lives away from the classroom. I can respect and understand that completely  It's not how I teach and I hope that my individual students enjoy having someone who is willing to be part of more personal and complex issues, as well as working on their language skills.

I knew in an intellectual way that teaching would be a lot about experience but as they say, there is nothing like actually getting out there and doing it. The more time I spend in classrooms and with students the more comfortable I feel, even in tough situations.

As far as this particular challenge goes I'll just say this. To all of my students who have talked about problems or challenges with me, I hope that I have helped you feel better, or given you some good advice, or been a good listener or just not annoyed you ;-)

Take care everyone,

Pete

Two words for the price of one...

Today I'd like to talk about something that can be really annoying for me as an English teacher and as a student of Slovak.

When you get two words for the price of one.

Or when you get two or more meanings from a single word.

My current pair of words to worry about in Slovak are pre and za. These two little gems are fairly common even in the low level language that I use and they get me a lot because they translate into the same word in English...FOR.

Let's take some example Slovak phrases with their English equivalents.

• WC pre mužov            - WC for men
• Ďakujem za info          - Thank you for the info.

It drives me crazy because when it comes to these words, I'm really stuck as to which one I should use. I do my best but it's not unusual for me to run into the wrong one and end up butchering a sentence. Thankfully my listeners tend to be kind enough to smile and nod indulgently as I mess up their language. Some of them are even good enough to correct me and tell me what I should be using and when.

This isn't exclusive to me and Slovak though. As a teacher you should be aware of the words in English that cause problems for your students because they double up on what their mother language has. There are some words that almost directly translate from one language to another and when you find them....great :-) Then again, there are others that will cause repeated problems in your classroom and it's your job to find those words, identify them and figure out what the problem is for the learners. That will help you identify them ahead of time what might be problems in future lessons.

Now you don't have to do this alone. In fact, if you can avoid that, all the better. Another example that comes to mind for Slovaks learning English is the word nervous. 

As I understand it, the translation of nervous into Slovak can lead to two English word meanings tied up in one - nervous....and stressed.

Stressed!

Nervous.

Knowing that these are problem words for my students and knowing that I've got a phone call lesson planned means that I can anticipate the problem words. There will be times when discussing workload where my students might say nervous and mean stressed. Then again, I need to be aware that they might actually mean nervous when they say nervous. I mean, who likes to go on conference calls in a language that they are learning? It's hard enough to understand when you're a native speaker dealing with the weak microphones and speakers that every conference call system seems to suffer from (especially when it's my turn to use it), but when you have someone who is still picking up English then it's a real hurdle. 

So by giving them the confidence that they are choosing the right word will let their English flow more fluently, hopefully reduce their stress and nervousness, and leave them more comfortable in what they have to do. I know it takes time to break down the old habits or first language interference but step by step you get there and make things better for your students. If you don't want to do that, then you probably shouldn't be teaching ;-)

What's the best way to get rid of these kinds of problems and trouble words then?

What I'm learning more and more as I teach (and learn) is that it's not so useful to memorise a big list of rules about when to use each word and when to avoid it. I've done that kind of thing when teaching articles, which many Slovaks struggle to use, and it's not that helpful because the students struggle to remember all of the rules as they are talking and using English.

Instead, I try to give as many examples as I can of how the word can be used. Simple sentences, even those with similar meanings and different subjects/objects, are a good start. Give the students time to practise, put them in situations to draw out those problems words and be fairly ruthless with corrections (though always with good humour and a smile) until they start to get it locked in.



Now all I need to do is find a Slovak teacher with the time to do this to me so I can finally figure out which word I am looking za/pre when it comes to Slovak. I mean, if I can't do that then what are these lessons za/pre that I'm paying za/pre ;-)

Take care,

Pete

LGBT rights: The line between what's right to me and what's right professionally...

"Since many of you will get to participate in the decision in a few weeks whether or not to allow me the privilege to get married, I'll just leave this here. Needless to say, if you're reading this, I sincerely hope you believe I'm worthy of the same rights and privileges as the rest of the country, if for no other reason than the 14th Amendment."


My American friend wrote these words on Facebook yesterday (October 15th 2012) and they struck a serious chord with me. I've long been a supported of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (hereafter LGBT) rights but by and large it has been in a passive role. In debates or conversations I've stood up for the LGBT side but have only been active in limited ways. 

That's something I want to change now. Both my friend's words and the recent news my girlfriend read in the paper that the Slovak State doesn't allow LGBT couples to inherit or have civil union rights really frustrated me. I've done a little more digging and while same sex relationships are legal and accepted by a majority (68% according to Wikipedia. I've not located the original study yet) the support for marriage and adoption rights is much lower.

In many ways Slovakia is a conservative nation and the religious background tends to be Catholic (~65% in a 2011 study). I have no intentions of disparaging that faith but it's no secret that it tends not to support LGBT couples or LGBT rights (a common theme in some religions). This is a long way from saying that Catholics hate LGBT people but there does seem to be an undercurrent of distrust or possible dislike at what a few of my students have described as 'unnatural'.

My problem at the moment is that I need to find the line between what I think is right (morally, ethically and humanistically) and what is professionally appropriate. As an English teacher I am encouraged to engage my students and provide conversation/discussion that pushes them. The problem arises in that when this kind of issue is discussed I am not just an observer/teacher. I want to step in, break down the opposing arguments through their weak points (from my perspective of course), educate and convince them that my position is a better one.

But it's not fair to do that.

I'm not debating with my peers. I'm a native speaker of English with a strong education and a relatively extensive discussion and debating background. While many of my students are as (or more!) educated than me and have comparable experience, it's still unbalanced. None of them can match me in the English language which, on a side note, ensures that I retain a job ;-), but it can allow me to sound more comfortable, eloquent and convincing. Are my points necessarily more valid because I can express them better?

No, that would be crossing the line.

Of course, I still stand by my points as being better and more worthwhile but that is because of their content, not because of how well I can deliver them.

Ultimately what I'm searching for is a way to make a difference in the minds of people who've not really considered this social and cultural issue fully. I don't expect to convert a significant population overnight but I would like to generate dialogue, thought and start to change opinions. Even if I influence just a few people to think about the other side of the debate I can hope that that will spread as they start to talk with family and friends about their new perspectives. Social change comes in small steps after all.

What I need to be careful with is crossing the line professionally. My job brings me into contact with a great many people and gives me the chance to talk/discuss things with them. It does not give me carte blanche to start preaching or forcing people to agree with me because I'm the teacher and can argue in English better than they can. I have classroom power to a degree, but it's not my place to use that to support an agenda beyond that of educating students. 

I still bring this issue up from time to time with my higher level students but I do my best to stay out of the debate as much as possible and just interject points in the manner of "what some people say is...", which seems to keep things less heated as I can be the neutral moderator. If students then ask me what I think, I put in my personal opinion but keep it out of the debate. If someone wants to talk to me afterwards then that's fine but the lesson time isn't taken up with my views.

I'm not trying to make people change everything about themselves either. If you don't like or agree with something then there's nothing wrong with that, but controlling the legal system to prevent others from doing that thing does not strike me as right. In this case, the argument is about trying to stop people in love from choosing to share their lives together and make a public commitment to each other. 

In the pictures above I see three couples who are happy and in love. To me, marriage is a wonderful thing that shows love and willingness to make a commitment. The more happy couples there are in the world providing stable families for children, the better off we will be.

Getting rich - a.k.a How much money does an EFL teacher make?

Hi everyone,

So to follow up with my end of year reflections list it's time to talk about something that makes the world go around and keeps us all occupied (perhaps too much).

I'm talking, of course, about money. How much money does an EFL teacher make?

This is an actual, genuine, in no way faked, perfectly normal

 monthly pay packet for an EFL teacher. I make this much money every month ;-)

Now in the interests of privacy for my colleagues and the school I work for, I'll not be discussing exact details of contracts and hourly rates etc. This is more a post to let people know roughly how much money you can expect to make as an EFL teacher, at least here in Slovakia.

Basically I make between 700 and 900 Euros per month after tax when teaching. It's hard to give an exact figure because I have two contracts, one fixed and one which pays me for each lesson I teach more than the fixed amount. Because of this, my exact income is variable, though almost always falls into the numbers outlined above.

Many other EFL teachers I know work on a kind of business license where they are essentially freelancers who can work for many different companies. Generally they get a higher hourly rate and so come out with a bit more outright cash. On the other hand, because they are not guaranteed any work by companies they can face less certainty in what they do. In addition they don't tend to get other benefits offered and must pay for their own health insurance etc.

So how much will I make as an EFL teacher in Bratislava? Well, about what I outlined above as long as you have a good school and are flexible. I like to teach business English and one to one students at high level, but I also teach adult and children's groups in our school, as well as some lessons at primary schools that Class works with. I sometimes start early in the morning and sometimes work late into the evening....it comes with the job.

The more flexible, skilled and versatile you can be as a teacher, the more work you will get. The more work you get, the more you will earn as an ESL teacher. The more limited you make yourself to a school (no kids/only high level/not too much travelling etc. etc.) the harder they might find it to give you enough lessons.

Of course, from a personal development standpoint, teaching different levels is great too, but let's keep it focused on the moolah for now ;-)

One question that I recall from the last day of my CELTA training course in England was during a final meeting with the director of the school. We were all proud of having completed the course, what we'd learned, what we needed to work on and so on, and he took an hour or so to give us some advice on the more practical side of finding a job, what he looks for in teachers and answered our questions. The question that hit me was:

"Where can I go to make a lot of money as an EFL teacher?"

To the director's credit he answered it effectively, pointing out that Saudi Arabia tends to pay well (though life can be quite restricted there, for women in particularl), South Korea has a good reputation for paying well and so do other Asian countries. The response I was secretly hoping for though, was something like.

"Where can I go to make a lot of money as an EFL teacher?"
"To the admissions section of the medical/law/finance school up the road."

It's no secret that teachers don't make a huge amount of money, EFL teachers included. That said, you get to meet interesting people, do a job that makes a real difference to individuals, get challenged and have good opportunities for travel.

As far as my experiences living in Slovakia go, I think I do alright for my money. My current annual salary is approximately 50% that of what I was earning at my job in the US as a radio station sales coordinator where, while the colleagues were great, the work was often dull, repetitive, didn't challenge me and I was quite poorly paid.

So how is it living with half as much money? Well if we compare the costs, it starts to look really good. I have a bus pass from my school so I can travel for work, largely eliminating transport costs, certainly commuting ones, I get food vouchers every month as part of the government program for employees in Slovakia and my rent is much much lower ($200 a month including all bills and internet sound good?).

I am not a heavy drinker and I have few expensive hobbies (wargaming aside) so I can happily report that in the last year I have managed to save about 50% of my annual salary, which is a really good feeling.

I'm not rich by any stretch of the imagination but I'm happy with what I do, I'm interested to go to work and I am building savings much more consistently than I have done in the past. It must be that getting old and responsible thing people keep telling me about ;-)

So that's all from me on this point. If you have any questions about being an EFL teacher or how much money you can make doing this, then please get in touch via the comments section or email.

Best wishes,

Pete :-)

EFL teachers....LEARN ANOTHER LANGUAGE!

So...teachers...go and learn another language. If you are teaching English to students, you WILL learn more about it, about how they feel and about better ways to teach from learning a foreign language.

I'm learning Slovak at the moment.

The first reason for that is, of course, that I'm living in Slovakia. While a great many people here in the capital Bratislava do speak some English, it would be rudeness of the highest order for me to expect them to do so here. The English do hold a certain reputation for politeness and since I'm not in England, I'm in Slovakia, it is only polite for me to learn the language, if only to get by and exchange the necessary words for living here. Knowing some Slovak makes it fairly easy for me to get around the city, go to the shops, order food, have some conversations with those who don't speak English and more.

That said, it makes me do this a little bit at times.

The Slovak language is renowned as being very hard to learn. There is some contention as to what the most difficult language to learn is but most of the Slovaks that I meet tell me firmly that theirs is language number one for challenge (much as the Hungarians say about Hungarian ;-) ). I can attest to its difficulty and the frustration that I have with how much things change when you start conjugating and making sentences. Still, it's made me understand how my students feel when you start to realise what is missing (or added) from the language compared to English.

I used to hate the ending of Slovak words with a passion. In English, we have Bratislava. It's Bratislava whether I want it, have it, need it, like it, am on it, live in it, am going to it etc. etc. Not so in Slovak.


To je BratislavA                - It is Bratislava
Byvam v BratislavE           - I live in Bratislava
Idem do BratislavY            - I go to Bratislava
Mam rad BratislavU           - I like Bratislava
Vrtul'nik nad BratislavOU   - A helicopter over Bratislava

How's that for a change from English? When I started getting into this and frequently making mistakes in conversation it drove me up the wall. I remember raging and complaining about how annoying it is to deal with, how silly it is to have this in the language and how much better it would be without.........until it hit me that this is EXACTLY how Slovak's tend to feel about the perfect tenses. They don't exist in a tense form in Slovak, the students often struggle to use them and they are quite resistant at first because to them, it has the same illogicality as the endings did for me. It was such a revelation for me and I was surprised at how quickly my annoyance and frustration evaporated.

Then my attitude towards learning Slovak was more like this...

Other reasons that learning a language is a great thing, particularly when you primarily teach one nationality of student:

• Sometimes it's easier to just translate a word, especially when you're tired. My school doesn't like us doing this but hey, if it helps the student (or teacher) then who needs to know ;-)
• You understand why people make certain mistakes. Slovaks tend to use the preposition 'on' a lot more than we do in English, so it's good to be able to catch that and understand why they're doing it.
• You get to feel where the differences are and how they can impact on the learning. I couldn't understand why Slovaks so frequently said 'How is it called?' 'How does it look like?' until I learned and translated their frequent greetings 'Ake je tvoje meno/Ako sa volaš?' as basically the same as the English 'What is your name/What are you called?' with how in the place of what. It's a Slovak thing :-)
• You can share frustration and amusing stories with students so you get a better bond with them. When I have students confusing two similar sounding words e.g. thought, though, and they get frustrated I always point out how many times I've asked people around for yesterday (včera) instead of dinner (večere) when I speak Slovak. It's really helped my students and I get along better, which makes my life a whole lot easier when I'm teaching. You really do benefit from people skills in this line of work.
• If nothing else, you put yourself back in the shoes of a student and understand more fully what your students go through when you're teaching them.

Well that's all I have for now. I hope you enjoyed this little insight into why I'm learning another language and why all teachers should do it if they can.

Take care and feel free to drop a question in the comments section if you have one.

Pete

Reflections after a year of teaching.

So here I am after a year of being an EFL teacher.

My apologies for the lengthy delay between posting. I could make all sorts of excuses about being very busy, having lots of lessons, travelling around, focusing my writing energy on a sci-fi competition and generally being tired, but it wouldn't really be that interesting, though it is true ;-)

I feel like I've run through a full year's worth of EFL teaching now since we just got back from the school's summer camp. I started here in Slovakia with the summer camp last year, jumping in a bit at the deep end, got my training from the school, taught lessons all year long for business, kids and adults, got a few private students and traded some of them for better private students, planned some great lessons and some crappy ones, winged it when I forgot to prepare and got away with it, winged it and had the lesson flop, dealt with great students, uncreative students, tired teenagers, noisy kids, grammar monsters and found where I work well in teaching and where I'm not so good. The year finished with a trip back to the same summer camp as before (Camp Wonderland for those who are interested).

This rather charming picture is me one year prior to the beach party disco at camp. The facial hair has largely been ditched (except when I'm feeling too lazy to shave), my muscles have also taken a bit of break since I'm not a regularly training martial artist any more and there might be a hint more of a tan now as the summer here was pretty warm and bright. When it comes to teaching though, there have been huge steps, learning points and more that came from just getting a lot of hours in the classroom. 

Here is a tired but happy me a year later at the same camp, on the same stage and near enough in the same spot. As before, there is a funky costume going on but that's the way of summer camp. What's really changed is the confidence and experience of the teacher, something that I hope, and think, is reflected in what my students gain from each lesson I teach now.

So, in a nutshell, what have I learned from one year of teaching. I intend to expand on these points in future posts.

• You get to meet a lot of really interesting people. You owe it to them to be genuinely interested in who they are and what they do. It can bring remarkable dividends too ;-)
• Lesson preparation is key, though not in the way that I expected when I started. Micromanagement generally comes unstuck, but without a framework a lesson can be very hit and miss. 
• Go and learn another language, seriously. You will learn a lot about how students think, feel and will come up against the stupidly illogical (to your mind) things that others feel about English. 
• Sharing and working with your colleagues will make your job a LOT easier. Build that team up and all of your lessons will benefit from it. 
• EFL textbooks can be fantastic to work from and will save your butt when you're short of ideas, but should be expanded upon to cover certain areas more or less. 
• You'll learn a lot about the English language.
• It makes it really easy to travel when you're an EFL teacher and a native speaker can be in quite heavy demand. As a side note of travelling, you'll see more of the city in a year than many people who live there do in five years.
• Teaching English is not going to make you rich, though you can save a surprising amount depending on where you live, but you'll have a really fun and interesting job.
• You will get tired as a teacher, you'll often end up working funny hours, starting early, finishing late, having dinner at 9.30pm or snarfing sandwiches on the tram.
• You'll realise that despite the annoyances, if you really enjoy teaching and languages, you will be doing a job that keeps you interested, challenged and excited. 

All the best to everyone and look out for more thoughts on the above coming soon.

Pete

When a song encapsulates a time in your life.

Hi everyone, I was listening to some music recently when I came across a song that I like, but that really resonated with me. As I listened, it seemed like the song was telling the story of my life as I came to the end of my life in America.Have you ever had something like this where you really feel as though the song is telling your life as you listen?

The song in question is called Chances and it's by an Australian folk artist called Xavier Rudd. I highly recommend that you have a listen to his work if you have time.

Sometimes this video is finicky on Blogger so you can enjoy it on Youtube here:-)

The lyrics that I thought I heard (which I later found to be slightly different) were:

At times in life,

You'll connect with someone's soul,

And have to move on.

At times in you'll feel

The need to fly and fly

Though you may hurt someone

You were there

Your chances were clear

Choices were made in spite

Of times that were spent

Feelings were mixed

Amongst your support base

A heart was lost

But a heart found its place

This is a recipe of life

Made up of five months of people's peace

And people's vibes

Well now it's each now to their own

Well your heart will know.

I had been going through a lot of different things at the beginning of 2011 when I was gearing up to leave America. One major point that struck me with respect to this song is that I almost entered into a relationship with someone. We felt a strong connection with each other at the time but it didn't become anything. In hindsight was very much the better result for both of us, but she instilled in me the spark for travelling again.

I made the choice to leave America and come to Europe to live in a country I'd never been to before. I made that choice despite my friends in America being mixed about whether they wanted me to go.I'd spent something around five months living a non-married life after separating from my ex-wife. I felt like it was a new phase of life for me, but also something of a holding pattern. I was enjoying things but I wasn't moving forwards towards anything that I really wanted. I took a chance and took myself away from the familiar, into the unknown and it felt right, despite the fear. I know that I 'hurt' some friends with the sadness of parting and I felt the same too. In fact I recently found a notebook containing a worried note written as I sat in Washington Dulles waiting for my flight. I remember sitting there, wondering why I was doing it, why I was leaving what I'd become familiar with, what was going to come, whether I would find what I needed and if my heart would find something or someone that could make me truly happy.

A heart was lost....that heart then found its place.

It's often said that home is where the heart is.

I'm home again.


Thank you for reading my little tale. I hope that you enjoyed the song and perhaps I've made you remember a time that a song represented a moment or time in your life. Music is great :-)

Pete 

Homestead farm or just a home farm?

It's been a long weekend here in Slovakia because of a public holiday tomorrow. Since many people took today off as well to get four days it gives us teachers a break. Not the best for the bank account perhaps but nice to have a chance to relax.

I spent the weekend in southern Slovakia in the village of Muzla. It was really great to have some proper summer weather of 25-30C (which has continued in Bratislava too). We went to a memorial on Friday (my first Catholic ceremony I think) and then spent time with the family having mixed conversations in Slovak, Hungarian and English, all the while enjoying copious homemade wine and the energetic attention/attacks of the little kids. We spent most of Saturday afternoon outside with hammers and fingertips cracking walnuts, hazelnuts and some almonds All of them were collected from the garden trees or from the treesaround the village. We are also loaded down with other fruits and vegetables from the garden that we can take back to Bratislava and enjoy.

Yours truly about to get down to work on the walnuts.

Hurry up with the walnuts, there are lots of hazelnuts that need to be shelled as well

Fresh garden vegetables ready to come back to Bratislava with us.

Frozen berries from last year destined to be part of refreshing smoothies.

Nuts and mint.

To me it marks a stark contrast to another 'close to nature' experience that I had while I was living in America. I used to live in Maryland and went with people I knew at the time to a great place - Homestead farm, Md. It is a great day out for the family and you can buy or pick great fresh produce through most seasons. I enjoyed going there and by no means do I mean to belittle it in this post.

Here I am looking youthful in America.

What struck me is just how far many of us in the UK and US (to pick the countries I have lived in for a longer time) are from the source of our food. My girlfriend's family were surprised that such a commonplace activity for them is considered a day out by many in the area of Homestead farm, Md. To them, gardening, harvesting, peeling, drying, preserving and pickling are just normal parts of life and to make them a day out sounds as strange as having a day out at Starbucks might seem to those in a big city. 

Now before it seems that this is some idyllic praise of the village life, I must point out that a lot of the people down here farm and grow because they must. Unemployment is fairly low in Bratislava but outside the city there are a lot of people with limited income. Just as an example, where I can charge 20 Euros for an hour of teaching in Bratislava, here you could expect about 5 Euros max. Compare that to Bethesda, Md where I lived for a while and still recall my ex pointing out a lady wearing about ten carats of diamonds in her wedding and engagement rings. There is no doubt that in such an affluent neighbourhood people can take things like Homestead Farm, Md as a fun diversion or day out. 

I can't say, however, that I felt entirely at home in that area with some of the people who lived there. Those I knew personally were very welcoming and ordinary people, albeit often at the top of their respective professions and earning power, but from observing some of the gargantuan houses that are quite prevalent there I felt out of place. Perhaps it was a symptom of the simpler life feelings I have (An example here)but I feel much more at home now. I would support this as one of the reasons why living in Slovakia is like a welcome trip to the past and makes you feel more in touch with the natural world. For more reading, have a peek at this wonderful article which asks: 'Is Slovakia stuck in the 1950s? 13 examples of how it is.' 

The garden starting to bloom. I can't wait to enjoy the results in the future.

I'll leave it here by urging those of you in the US to visit places like Homestead Farm, Md or other such places. It's a great day out that you can enjoy with families and friends. For those of you who live with greater access to the natural surroundings, take advantage of them and enjoy the outdoors.

Best wishes,

Pete

A simple and versatile First Conditional lesson plan for teachers.

Need a quick lesson plan about the first conditional? You're in luck because that's what you get today.

I'm part of a teacher's group on Facebook and somebody linked to a blog post: Writing Your Own Materials - Plusses and Pitfalls.. Now, my school does not use textbooks for anything past our lowest level courses, so we have a lot of lesson material to go through and to come up with as well.

Since I know that other teachers out there may be in the same boat, here is the start of a lesson plan that you can take and run with in many different settings. It just requires knowledge of the first conditional from your students and needs very little planning time from the teacher.

The entire lesson is simple and I taught it several times with about four lines of plan. Here it is, somewhat expanded due to explanation:

Quickly remind students about basic first conditional construction (If + present simple, future with will). I then put up the concept of a promise conditional with a good result and a threat/warning conditional with a bad result.

Then you tell them that there is an empty piece of land somewhere in the local area. For Bratislava I used Petrzalka, the big district on the south side of the Danube. You are the mayor and they must persuade you that their building choice is the best by promising good things if you build their option, and threatening with the negatives of the other options. Give them a couple of examples and they will soon get the idea.

For buildings I chose: A library, a bar/nightclub, a football stadium, a park, a casino and a swimming pool.


I've taught this to low pre-intermediate students, a higher pre-int one to one and some advanced teenage students. At first the students come up with very simple things but it soon develops.

- If we build a library, children will get smarter but if we build a nightclub it will be noisy for people living nearby.
- If we build the stadium, we will make money from the games but if we build the casino the mafia will come into the city (their idea, not mine)

I introduced some vocabulary (littering, vandalism, create jobs etc.) and prompted them a little when they were struggling for ideas but otherwise it was all their creativity.

For the lower level students we talked a little bit about what they had come up with and left it there, but for the more advanced students I had them create reasons in teams and then debate/defend their position compared to the other side. They really enjoyed it and came up with some great concepts. It got a bit heated at times since they are teenagers but it was a good time for all.




So in conclusion if you want a four line first conditional lesson plan:
- Review threats and promises using first conditional.
- There is a new building site, give students the options of what to build.
- They must make their choice look better by promising good things that will result.
- They make the other choices look worse by threatening about bad things that will result.

*** - Higher level students should then debate/discuss the results.


I hope this lesson plan helps other teachers who need something to let students creatively use first conditional.

Best regards,

Pete

Advice on public transport in Bratislava.

I wrote about this subject a while back when I first got to Bratislava and started living here. Since that time I've experienced the transport system a lot more and I have some advice about public transport in Bratislava for those who are moving here or those who are just visiting.

I've been in Slovakia for just shy of nine months now and picked up a lot more experience with the public transport system. Hopefully this post will help people get around in the city while you're here.

Let's quickly review the three options for transport within the city:


The buses are much like those you'll find in other cities and they serve many many locations. If you go to Petrzalka, which the area on the south side of the Dunaj/Danube, you'll need to go on a bus of some sort as there are no electric lines running there as of yet. I most frequently ride the number 50 bus to Aupark (a big shopping/business centre) and the number 70 bus. These are both popular routes and you have to be ready for crowded buses in the peak commuting hours. You'll find a mix of bus ages here with some of them (like the articulated bus above) being extremely modern and sporting comfy seats, nicer decor and even TV. Others are a bit older with some lovely seat patterns that look like they're from my childhood, but they are still a comfy form of public transport.


The trams can get really busy too, perhaps because they have the advantage of not getting bogged down in traffic. The tram lines run through a good amount of the city and they coincide with the bus and trolley stops quite well so you can hop from one to another quite easily. The older trams have hard plastic seats that make it uncomfortable to turn around and chat with a friend behind you but the newer ones are nice. I usually stand on the trams though as they have less sitting and more standing room than the buses. I like having this option of non-road based public transport as it gives good flexibility.


I frequently use the trolley buses to get around as they run right past our apartment heading downtown. You need to be careful when on the trolley bus as they are electrically powered. That means that they can accelerate very quickly and without any telltale rumbling noise from the engine. I've nearly slipped over a couple of times when I've not paid attention while waiting at a red light. To be honest, I think the drivers enjoy being able to quickly head off when the lights change. It keeps you on your toes at least. One downside of the trolley buses is that the electric connector poles can slip off the overhead wires from time to time. This will add a couple of minutes to your journey as the driver must don a reflective jacket, go around to the back of the bus and fiddle with the cables there until it's all reconnected. Not a big deal for the tourist but it can be annoying if you're on a tight schedule for work. I studied Environmental Sciences in university and so I really like the electrification of the public transportation in Bratislava. I've seen it in a few other European cities and it's probably the best way to electrify transport.



Autobusova Stanica, the main bus station is a real hub for getting around. Many buses and trolleys stop here, lots of people get on and get off, and you can also catch coaches to other cities from inside. If you need to get to the old city from my area (Ruzinov, a few km east) you can get off at the Autobusova Stanica and walk downtown in about ten minutes. The main buses that I see people taking or catching here are:
- the number 50 to Aupark (a big shopping centre).
- the number 70 to Novy Most (the new bridge, close to the old town)
- trolley number 208. Get off a Kollaro Namieste and you're at one end of Obchodna, a big shopping street.
- trolley number 202. This terminates at Rajska (sounds like rye-ska) and you're then on the eastern edge of the downtown area.

For those of you who plan to stay longer in Bratislava, you can walk upstairs in the Autobusova Stanica, go through the doors ahead of you, then turn left and go through the doors there. You'll find a small office not two metres past the door where you can buy a ticket that you can keep and just top up, much like the Oyster card in London. If your Slovak is not so good, here's a simple phrase to get a three month ticket "Prosim si trojmesačný lístok." Because my job involves travelling to different companies to teach so I get the three month card and then I don't have to worry about not having a ticket or not being able to find a machine.


Now if you don't have a long term pass, these are the machines that you need. It's really important to have a ticket before you get on the bus because there's no buying them on board. Unlike the buses I used to catch in England, the driver is there just to drive the bus. It's your responsibility to have a ticket that is accurately punched and appropriate for the ride. For reference, there are two tickets that I normally recommend for visitors.

- 15 minute ticket. It costs 70 Eurocents. Be very aware of how long your bus journey takes when you use this ticket. You don't want to be caught out by an inspector taking a 16 minute journey and have to pay a fine.
- 60 minute ticket. It costs 90 Eurocents and I always keep a couple as backup in case I lose my card or someone needs a ticket at a stop that doesn't have a machine. I consider it my good deed for the day when it happens.

As a backup, you can also get an SMS ticket if you have a phone that works over here. The instructions can be found on this page. I haven't done this yet and it's a bit pricier but it's a good option to have in case you're out of tickets and need to get on the bus.


Whichever ticket you get, be sure to punch it in one of these machines on the bus/trolley/tram. You just slot the ticket in, it beeps and your ticket is marked. Make a note of the time it was punched if your journey will get you close to the expiration time of the ticket.


WARNING TIME.

A piece of advice. The public transport in Bratislava (mostly) runs on time because you don't have to wait for the driver to sell a ticket to each person. They stop, let people off, let people on and then get on with the driving. This means you can get on the bus without a ticket no problem. Nobody will stop you.

Then again the inspectors may get on the bus with the other passengers and then you have a problem.

Inspectors work in groups and arrange it so that they are among the last to get on the bus. There will be one of them at each door of the bus and they tend to look a bit like bouncers in a nightclub. They don't wear uniforms so you won't know they are there (unless you know a few of them by sight as I do now). About thirty seconds after the bus has left, once everybody has punched their tickets, the inspectors feed in a special ticket that locks out the machines. If your ticket is not marked, you will not be able to mark it. They check printed tickets and also have scanners to check electronic tickets so make sure you have a valid ticket. If you don't have a ticket you'll be fined (50 Euros I think) and they will keep you on the bus if need be. I've seen people miss their stops because they didn't have the cash on them. I presume they go back to the station or perhaps the police come but I don't know for sure.

In my experience you're more likely to be inspected on the more crowded routes. I've been checked about ten times on the number 50 bus but only a couple of times on the trams, perhaps because I ride the latter less frequently. In bad weather I've noticed that the inspectors are more active. I guess people get on the public transport to avoid the rain.

In any case, the advice for public transport in Bratislava is to have a valid ticket with you when getting on board.



The last piece of advice I'll impart for now is to check out the route of the public transport that you're using and make a mental note of which stop you need, and the approximate travel time. Here's an example from the number 50 bus stop at Aupark. In this direction I get off at Autobusova Stanica so I have an eight minute ride. Most of the buses have automated announcing systems that tell you which stop you are at as you arrive and then tell you the name of the upcoming one when you leave. Some of them don't have this.Keep a mental note of the number of stops you've passed compared to how many you need. Usually the stops aren't very far apart but missing the stop where your connection is can be very annoying.

Here's a point of Slovak language that confused me for a while. The word for bus stop is Zastavka. The announcer kept reading this out amongst and it really threw me because I thought it was the name of a particular stop that wasn't on the scheduled route. It was a bit worrying.


To sum up

Getting around Bratislava on public transport is really easy and convenient for the most part. You can mix and match your methods to get to almost any part of the city in very little time. Everything usually runs on time, even in rush hour, the transport options are comfortable and you'll save yourself time vs walking and money vs taking taxis. Key points:

1 - Have a ticket that's valid
2 - Check the stops ahead of time. Know where you're getting off as best you can.
3 - Don't mess with the ticket inspectors. It's not worth it.


For anyone who has read these pieces of advice for using the public transport here in Bratislava and has further questions, please don't hesitate to get in touch and ask in the comments section below. I will do my utmost to help out with any information or answers that I can.

Very best wishes,

Pete


Your key website for checking the actual buses and so on within the city will be this one.You can type in a bus number or stop name in the search button in the top right.