Wednesday, August 22, 2012

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 :-)

Friday, August 3, 2012

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




Sunday, July 29, 2012

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

Saturday, May 5, 2012

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 

Monday, April 30, 2012

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

Saturday, March 31, 2012

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

Thursday, March 22, 2012

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.