Job Discussion Forums

hellohowareyou · Joined: 07 Aug 2004 Posts: 15

i have a friend who is bulgarian. her english - even her pronunciation and accent - is better than many native speakers i know. she's newly qualified and is looking for jobs in the orient, but so many of them state the applicant must come from a native speaking country.... it's not fair! in particular korean advertisements seem to be almost entirely open to only native speakers...
is it possible for someone of sufficient standard who is not a native speaker to get jobs in the east... anyone got any tips or know of any places which are receptive to such teachers?

HELP!!!

hkgirlo · Joined: 05 Oct 2004 Posts: 57 Location: Hong Kong

It will be difficult...as in Asia, you are disadvantaged in that respect even if you ARE from a native-speaking country, because you dont look 'white'. But not unheard of... Im in Hong Kong and have a Romanian friend teaching English, but shes a trainee. A Polish woman worked at my old school. And HK is harder to get work in. Tell her to apply and if all else fails, I'm sure she will get a job in China.. good luck

GabeKessel · Joined: 27 Sep 2004 Posts: 150

It will help of the person has a passport from an Anglo country and a degree from it.

Nauczyciel · Posted: Tue Oct 19, 2004 9:29 pm Post subject:

Well, from my experience I know that applying for a job in Korea, Japan, Indonesia or Malaysia is no use if you're not a native-speaking teacher. I�m a Pole and I taught in China last year with my girlfriend. It was at the peak of the SARS outbreak and we got bombarded with job offers. This year we wanted to try some other Asian country, but we got no reply from Japanese schools whatsoever and from Korea and Indonesia only kind words: "We're very sorry, but we can't employ non-native speakers as teachers." I suppose that unless your Bulgarian friend actually has broad experience in teaching abroad and at least MA in Linguistics and preferably some TEFL certificate, she would be fighting a losing battle applying for a job there - a vicious circle I'm afraid. However, I heard of a Polish teacher who spent two years teaching in Japan � so it�s within your capabilities.

What I'd suggest is applying for a job in China. There is still a brisk demand for teachers there and if she has a degree in English (even if it�s awarded by a Bulgarian university) she should land a good position. I actually know of a Bulgarian teacher working for Zhanjiang Ocean University, if I remember correctly. This would also provide invaluable experience for future use when applying for jobs in other eastern countries. And my ultimate advice is that she should not be discouraged by the requirements the schools set regarding the nationality of foreign teachers. Unless they state it clearly in capital letters, like this: �ONLY native applicants accepted�, she can go ahead and apply. But she needs to know that she is in for some tricky questions when she arrives there - Is English the official language of your country? etc. Unless she does prove to be really very competent, helpful, kind, and approachable etc. they will try to pick on her about her non-native speaking status.

But it's already mid-October. The thread started early in August, so I suppose it's all over now - your friend is teaching in her dream oriental country, or she has given up the idea and is doing something else, somewhere else.

Good luck anyway.

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campestre · Joined: 16 Sep 2004 Posts: 46 Location: Japan

I know this austrian guy working in a little village in japan he works for a small eikawa.

Nauczyciel · Posted: Tue Oct 26, 2004 10:18 am Post subject:

The thing is that once you are there (a backpacker in need of some cash) you can try to look around and it's not impossible to find a school willing to employ you even if you're not a native speaker. However, if you are sitting at your home computer in Bulgaria, Poland, Brasil or Finland, sending your CV's here and there, it is most probably a total waste of time bothering schools in Japan or Korea - they will not want to take the trouble of arranging everything the official way, sending you the contract, applying for your visa, etc.

One of my fellow graduates, a Polish girl whose boyfriend is an Englishman with CELTA, tried to apply for jobs in Japan hoping that her boyfriend's qualifications will make up for her "non-nativespeakerness". In vain so far. But I'm almost sure that if they both flew to Tokyo now and started seeking jobs on the spot, they would be fine.

By the way, what is "eikawa"?