Internship in Early Childhood Education

You will fly into Warsaw for our pre-course orientation week and the in-class component of the training course, which is held at a partner school in Warsaw. Interns who opt for one of our Accommodation Packages will be housed together at a guesthouse within walking distance from the city center.

For the job placements, we work with schools all over Poland, so you may or may not end up working in Warsaw.

Yes. All of the schools language centers that we work with for this program like to speak directly with our interns. Many interviews are conducted remotely in the months proceeding the internship’s live component, while others are conducted in-person either during your pre-course orientation week or in the weeks following the live training course. You may also be asked to conduct a trial day at the school. 

In the unlikely event that you are not offered a job, your instructor will continue to work with you to find a suitable school through our network.

Although schools will always make the final call on who they hire, the schools that we work with trust our training program to produce quality teachers. Our trainers and program directors have many years of experience in the Polish ESL job market for VYL teaching, and know how many job openings to expect each semester. We accept only a limited number of interns to match the expected job openings.

It is important to note that our job guarantee only applies to interns who meet our program requirements, pass the training program, and follow our provided guidance. This program provides an extremely high level of guidance and support in creating a professional CV, interviewing, conducting trial classes, and loads more. As such, we provide no guarantee of a job to interns who do not follow the guidance our instructors provide, or are unable to pass the training program.

All schools that we work with will expect you to commit to working with them for the entire academic year (until late June).

Though of course, there’s nothing to say you can’t stay longer than that! Many interns have stayed with their schools for many consecutive academic years, and others have gone on to work elsewhere in Poland through one of our other teaching programs. 

Absolutely! We love to welcome couples and/or groups of friends to our internship. Although we cannot guarantee that couples will be placed at the same school, we do our absolute best to accommodate the natural desire for couples and groups of friends to work in the same city.

Absolutely! We love seeing applications from teachers who have already made the jump into life overseas. However, if you are not an EU citizen, you may not be able to get a visa before you arrive, as it is not always possible to obtain a Polish visa in a third country. Check with the Polish embassy in your current country to see if it will be possible to obtain a visa without having to return to your home country.

To put it simply, no.

The International House course in Teaching English to Very Young Learners goes far beyond what is covered in a standard 120-Hour TEFL course, and our partner schools are expecting to have this knowledge and practice before they begin teaching. Furthermore, teaching ESL to VYLs (Very Young Learners) is a very unique skillset that is rarely covered in most TEFL courses (most TEFL courses focus on teaching teenagers/young adults).

If you already have considerable ESL teaching experience and/or a similar advanced qualification and do not feel the need to obtain an additional qualification, we recommend you check out some of our other teaching programs instead. 

Yes you are. We do not require a Bachelors Degree for this program. However, as the training program is an intense, university-level course, you will be expected to prove that you are academically competent and won’t struggle with academic reading and writing.

Yes! Our 160-Hour course in Teaching English to Very Young Learners goes far beyond what is covered in a standard 120-Hour TEFL course, so there is no need to also take a generic TEFL course elsewhere. 

Nope! This program is built for talented teachers who have the right personality to teach but do not yet have any teaching experience. However, some prior experience working with kids is required, preferably Very Young Learners (age 3-6). Maybe you’ve volunteered at a daycare center, been a tutor or camp counselor, or worked as an au pair.

Our trainers are excited to work with teachers who have the right personality and some basic experience, and can help you transition into being a classroom teacher for the first time.

Our program is open to all nationalities. It is not your passport that’s important, but your English proficiency.

However, if you require a work visa, there are certain nationalities that are not presently eligible for this particular visa. While all English-speaking countries are eligible, there are certain non-English-speaking countries that are not eligible, as per Polish and EU regulations. If you come from a non-English-speaking country and require a work visa, please see our visas page to see if your country of citizenship is eligible for the visa before applying. 

You must be a legal adult (18+), but there is no upper age restriction. Age discrimination is illegal in the European Union, and any school advertising a preference for teachers of a certain age is breaking the law.

This depends on how fluently and clearly you can speak English. If your level of English is anything below perfectly fluent or if you have a clearly noticeable non-native accent, we unfortunately cannot accept you on this program. Poland, like the rest of Europe, has a very high level of English proficiency. There is no shortage of local teachers who can speak C1 or C2 English with have advanced degrees and loads of teaching experience. For us to be able to consider you, you must offer something that no Polish teacher can offer: a native comprehension of the English language.

If you can speak English with a native proficiency and a neutral accent, and can prove it in your interview, we will gladly accept you regardless of your nationality and linguistic background.