Job Discussion Forums

[Arno]

Hi All,

Advertisements for Indonesia state that only American, Canadian, Irish, Enlish, Australian and New Zealand born people are eligible for a work visa in Indonesia. Anyone from other countries who obtained the required documentation?

Thanks!

[wannaBguru]

people for all countries are eligible to work in indo, depends on the job. but if u want to work as a native-speaker english teacher, you must be from one of the 5: UK, US, Canada, Australia, or New Zealand. People who are from Ireland, Wales, and Scotland are not included as their offical language is not English. However, if they also hold a UK passport, they will be allowed to work as native-speaker teachers.

[laughing_magpie06]

Well, most will say that as well as that you need a Uni degree and / or a CELTA qualification. But we all know that after a while they will choose just about anyone who can stand up and not fall over in a classroom. Well EF will anyway. I worked for one of them once that didn't even have a native speaker in the DoS role and they had numerous Indonesian teachers.

[guruengerish]

At one stage, some schools included South Africa on their list of English speaking countries. After all, for many, English is their first language.

At one school I was at, they gave a teacher from the UK a trial, but his accent was so broad that even native speakers had a problem understanding him. I think he was Geordie, but that does NOT mean I'm knocking Geordies!

[Arno]

I'm from South Africa. Even if schools would employ me, can anyone tell me whether I'd be able to get a work visa? Thanks for the replies.

[guruengerish]

Best to try your local consulate or embassy.

However, I've found that answers ofen differ, even in the same country.

[ezekiel]

Firstly, as much as they may not wish to be, Scottish, Welsh and Northern Irish people are included and are, usually, U.K. citizens..therefore they can be employed just as easily as Americans, Canadians, Australians and New Zealanders.

guruengerish has a good point..the fact that a British (N. Ireland, Scotland, England, Wales) citizen may possess a strong accent might present problems for students...If they are a good teacher, however, they can use their way of speaking to make students aware of the differences in the various other English speaking accents worldwide..with accents such as Irish, Northern English and American English, for example, sharing certain phonetic qualities it can only be positive thing to highlight and contrast them with students rather than avoiding them!
A good friend of mine who is teaching at the moment has quite a broad Manchester accent and he is a very popular and successful teacher..another, a Scotsman from Glasgow with a very strong accent, has been teaching for many years..rather than teaching kids 'homogenized' English, understanding of dialect and accent should be actively taught and encouraged.

[guruengerish]

Good points Ezekiel. It's what "Headway" does to such good effect, demonstrating the various accents around the English speaking world.

Headway also uses real people with real accents. Have you ever heard some of the EF stuff, where Americans try to imitate Cockney or Welsh accents?

[guruengerish]

seems the censor on this system can't handle those from East London, who are called C-O-C-K-N-E-Y

[Llamalicious]

Yes! The "Welsh" accent had me in stitches for a full day! If I remember correctly, the listening was all about how Welsh people love leeks. Thanks for bringing back one of the few good memories about my time at EF

[ezekiel]

I would love to hear that..although I find it funny and ironic that a recording of an American trying to do a Welsh accent is one of your best memories of EF, Llama I can relate, though, as I once worked there too

[ReveurGAM]

[Arno]

I haven't started negotiating with any school yet.