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[tedkarma]

I think most of Asia is coming around to the idea that not all "native speakers" are blond and blue.

I worked for three years - 2003 to 2005 - in Korea with quite a few Black-Americans, Hispanic-Americans, Chinese-Canadians and so on.

It might take just a little longer to find good work - but it is out there.

[JZer]

[JZer]

[JZer]

Ted wrote,

[Justin Trullinger]

The accent here is a red herring. Are black people less likely than white people to have "non standard" accents? Yeah, right.

The fact is, the world can be a racist place. Sad, but true, and not exactly breaking news.

I have worked with teachers from all over the world, and haven't noticed that black teachers have any more accent related issues than say, Scots, Irish, Cockneys, people from the southern US, people from Boston, people from the Bronx, I could go on and on...often less than some of these groups. Because, "black" is NOT AN ACCENT, and there is no particular accent that black people have. (Though I have known some who had accents related to some of the other groups mentioned.)

At least here in Ecuador, teachers of African heritage will have a somewhat harder time than white teachers. It can be done- but for Ecuadorians, "English" is still somewhat and ethnic concept. I currently work with a teacher, from Somerset, in England, who is occasionally asked where her family is really from. Because she has brown eyes. Looks as anglo as all heck, to my eye, but here they're told that English is spoken by blue eyed blond people. Obviously, the questions would be more frequent if her skin, as well as her eyes, were brown. Sad but true.

Justin

[tedkarma]