Job Discussion Forums

[booty]

I have a Polish friend who is DELTA qualified and has over ten years experience in teaching English to people at all levels. She wants to come over to the UK for the summer to work for an English school as a teacher. Has anyone heard of qualified non-native speakers getting jobs in the UK? Can anyone help?

[Chris_Crossley]

If she is DELTA qualified, then this indicates that she at least must have attained a very high level of English language. That plus the experience should be a great asset. I do not think that she should have any problems - she would be quite valuable to any school.

I guess that the one concern just might be her accent, given that she is Polish (I am half-Polish myself, BTW!). If it is quite neutral and English-sounding, then I think that, again, will be no problem. Hence, a telephone interview would make sure (in the potential employer's mind, anyway) of whether she can communicate her ideas well.

Good luck to her in her job quest.

[BELS]

To be honest, I think it should be impossible to teach in UK as a non-native speaker, just look at the the threads, you are in the centre of the world of the world of the native speaking english, flooded by qualified English native speaking teachers. Where the whole world is expecting when they arrive in our country that they will be taught by a native speaker. The market is saturated. Even in your own country , what do they ask for, the students, the customers, a native speaker, so therefore how do you stand a chance in the UK, the centre of the world of native speakers.

It is simple , you meet the demand of what the customer wants, and the customer wants a native speaker, especialy from the source country.

[SandyM]

You're wrong again, BELS - I do wish you'd keep your stupid little comments to yourself! I guess you've never taught in this country before, or at least you have very limited experience.

Highly qualified teachers (even foreign ones) will have no trouble finding work in the UK during the summer - that's been my experience, anyway. In this case, if she can wangle an interview by making a few phone calls to prove she doesn't have much of an accent, she'd be sure to find work.

She would be an asset to any summer school, as she can probably teach much better than the average Tourist Tefler with a Celta. She might even find herself given a post as DoS.

So, I would definitely advise her to try, try, and keep trying (as it will probably not be an easy task) - and to ignore the irrelevant blatherings of BELS and his uninformed prejudices.

Sandy

[grahamb]

Pithy comments... blunt, no-holds-barred approach... sound grammar and spelling... must be a fellow Scot. Am I right or a meringue, Sandy?

[dyak]

In my experience students will assume your nationality unless you tell them otherwise. It is all about the look. Here in London students are always more suspicious of British Asian teachers, from India, Pakistan etc. despite the fact that they were born here and are native speakers. Yet I've seen a trainee teacher with the thickest Czech accent imaginable not raise an eyebrow. I think it's more psychological than anything else, as long as students have the, 'oooh I'm learning English from a native speaker' idea then they're more than happy.

[booty]

After weeks of trying for jobs she finally got a job in the UK and has been offered another one somewhere else. It goes to show that non-native speakers can get jobs in the UK with some perserverance.

[SandyM]

Well done Booty! I said it was possible, and you've proved me right. I do hope it proves to be a success.

Where are you now BELS? Still peddling your childish crap somewhere, I suppose...

[marblez]

The most highly qualified ESL/Linguistics instructor at my university is originally from the Czech Republic. She instructs classes (in Canada) that few non-native speakers dare to attempt (and I admit her thick accent doesn't help), but she is quite respected in her field.

[steven_gerrard]

I've worked in several summer schools in the UK and the fact is that demand far exceeds supply when it comes to English teachers. I worked alongside quite a few non-native English teachers and although this caused some problems for the company (e.g. a group of Italian students from Pisa coming all the way to London to be taught by a teacher from.... Pisa- you can imagine how that went down) they simply had no choice but to employ them.
In fact, my experience tells me that most Summer schools will employ just about anyone, qualified or not, the demand is so high. Having no CELTA is no problem either- an aptitude to teach and no criminal record is enough. A DELTA qualified teacher, whether a native speaker or not, would probably be by far the most experienced and qualified teacher there.

By the way, if you haven't done Summer School, you really should- at least once in your life. You won't sleep for six weeks, the organisation is a nightmare and by the end you won't know what day it is but it's really great fun and an experience you'll remember for ever.