Job Discussion Forums

[MikeySaid]

My girlfriend just revealed to me yesterday that there is a preference (in her experience growing up in Torreon, Coahuila) for Canadian and British teachers over teachers from the United States.

Can anyone corroborate or provide reasons?

[Guy Courchesne]

Can't speak for Torreon, but other places in Mexico I've been, it seems to come down to the individual. While many have told me they prefer British because the accent is 'easier to understand', others have said they prefer American or Canadian because they need to speak with people of these nationalities often.

[ls650]

Do you mean a preference from the schools or from the students?

At this school we're happy to hire native speakers from anywhere, and have tried to recruit from a variety of backgrounds. Currently we have about 9 Brits, 4 Canadians and 4 Americans. During this hiring session we noticed that we were getting significantly fewer applications from the USA than from either Canada or the UK. We don't know why, but I suspect it's likely a combination of negative news stories coming out of Mexico (the election, Oaxaca, etc.) on American news media.

As for students, in the past some have told me they find the American/Canadian accents 'easier' to understand than British or others. I imagine it's because they are simply more accustomed to hearing these accents in movies, songs, etc.

[MikeySaid]

[spiral78]

In Europe it is sometimes true that a British accent is preferred.

[tedkarma]

Japan, Korea, Taiwan - seem to prefer North American - but are becoming much more open to Aussie and Kiwi - and even a few Brits and South Africans are sneaking in.

Thailand seems to prefer British accents - but there is such a teacher shortage that they will take most anyone.

In Saudi Arabia, it seemed like each school or company had their own preference.

[Baoetta]

I have a similiar question, is there a preference for caucasions?? I am Canadian born asian, and was wondering if that would be a "liability"

b

[Guy Courchesne]