Job Discussion Forums

[Non Sequitur]

It is just fair for everyone who is paying to get an education, not about pride.

And part of that payment is our salary.
If you are told there is a dress code you comply to get the job.
Why this resistance to an understandable accent?

[creeper1]

A well qualified candidate like you should be seeking international school work. Universities are bog standard work you could have got with just a degree.

On the subject of accents, I think most educated people can enunciate clearly what they want to say. We are hopefully not talking about rab c Nesbit going to tefl. (Americans check him out on YouTube)

And the other posters are right, there are tons of non natives in china teaching. As an example a French Canadian coworker that I can barely understand. Ukrainians, Russians, swedes all masquerading as native speakers. I personally haven't seen many Filipinos possibly due to the race issue but I am sure they are out there.

[Markness]

[baki]

Anyone who considers their position as English teacher worth their salt should definitely have a neutral accent. That's the least anyone should do. One would barely consider South Africans native speakers of English any more than say the Singaporeans, both are a bit hard to get used to. Australian English is also pretty sloppy.In Japan I have heard and met Irish JETs/ALTs who were sent home early because nobody could understand them.

OP, take cues from TV reporters, see how they've curb their strong accents so that they could be understood by the majority.

[johnfriendly]

I did not think that stating my nationality would cause such debate.
I have been teaching English for 8 years in many countries. Not once has my accent been highlighted as an issue.


Thanks to everyone for the useful replies. Based on what you are saying I should seek employment in international schools? What kind of salary can one expect with my qualifications and experience? Are benefits like housing and flights provided?

[RiverMystic]

A lot of highly prejudicial opinions on this thread. Some of you need to get out more. What accent is OK or not depends on multiple factors, not just whether you approve of it as "standard." Besides, speaking is only one of the four modalities. If a Russian lands a job teaching English in third tier city because nobody wants to go to that crappy place, good on the guy, I say. I am Australian, and have taught English in five different countries. Never had a complaint yet, nor even a comment, about my accent. So much for "sloppy" Australian English. Sylvestor Stallone has an American accent. Pretty standard mumbling, that.

[baki]

I've been in the industry for over a decade now, I take notes of all kinds of teachers not because I want to attack their accents but because I want to improve as a teacher. I found that most students simply can't get past the thick accents of some people. You may well have a clear accent I don't know, but you can't argue the fact that some accents are simply more difficult to listen to than others. Teaching "Good die" is just wrong, and watching an Irish video is bound to go over everyone's heads . I don't really want to dig up videos to demonstrate this because I'm pretty sure you're well aware of this. It's just like learning Chinese, would you mind learning with a Sichuan accent that's so different from everyone else that some people would complain about it (and even look down on), or would you rather have an accent that everyone can understand? My point is that if your accent clearly derives from another language (Australia's case is a strange one, it's a "slangy" dialect), then you have to make a more conscious effort to reduce it when speaking to other people.

[Elicit]

Being an 'intercultural speaker' should be the aim for teachers and students.

If we were going the route of a particular accent being more appropriate than others then all teachers should have RP, as that is what the phonetic chart is based upon. This would necessitate that all Americans and most British teachers could not teach English. When was the last time you saw an American chart in your classroom? Come to think of it, when did you last meet a British teacher with perfect RP?

Luckily, the University of London is developing a new phonetic chart for Estuary English (EE), so this suggests that all English teachers worldwide, if they wish to continue teaching English, should relocate to Essex for some pronunciation training.

[JB140767]

[NiHaoDaJia]

I think all native speakers are welcome in China if they have suitable education and experience. It does not matter if they are from Ireland or any other part of Britain, as long as they are qualified. I have not seen discrimination in my workplace.

[Non Sequitur]

Strong Irish contingent here in Shanghai and we all manage to overcome our handicap one way or another. Thankfully some employers look past the racist stereotypes propagated here and concentrate on things of actual importance like exp and quals which you have

There's nothing racist or stereotypifying about stating the customer* comes first.
*aka 'student'.

[RiverMystic]

[nimadecaomei]

I work/have worked with many Irish/Scottish/Yorkers/Aussies, and it is never an issue. I can understand a training school might get complaints, cause the little darlings can't quite grasp what the English language is and it is easy to target someone else for it. I have never had an issue understanding any of my co-workers (and that comes from an American out of California). English, like Chinese, has a lot of regional dialect. The more you reject that the more dumb you become.

If you can mimic the accent then it is native, if you can't you are not native.

[nimadecaomei]

To be more specific to the OP, yes international schools or joint venture foundation programmes.

[Non Sequitur]

But in all my time in teaching abroad I am yet to encounter a teacher who cannot be understood purely because of nationality or accent.

Maybe they were cut at the phone interview and never made it to China?