Job Discussion Forums

[noty]

I'm thinking about teaching English in Asia for a year once I graduate college, and I've been wondering whether I'd qualify for a job under the "native speaker" requirement. I came to the US from Poland when I was 9 and have studied in this country from the 4th grade up through college. As far as my command of the grammar and sentence structure goes, suffice it to say that I scored a perfect 36 on the English section of the ACT.

However, I do have a very slight accent that true "native speakers" can detect. So with that being said, would it be possible/hard for me to land a teaching job in Asia? I'm mostly thinking of China as I've been taking Chinese classes and wish to improve on my Mandarin while I'm in Asia. I guess a related question would be whether knowing limited Chinese would improve my prospects.

Thanks in advance for any advice.

Mike

[GambateBingBangBOOM]

Many / most employers in Asia won't be able to hear an accent. There are more than a few non-native speakers teaching English in Asian countries though their employers think they're native speakers (most, but not all, are native-level, so that's really the important thing anyway). [BTW, I'm a native English speaker]

The issue is that nine times out of ten the deciding factor is the passport. You have an American passport, so that equals native speaker in eyes of many employers, but the place of birth is a non-English speaking nation, and that could possibly be an issue, depending on who you talk to in consular services (the guy when I went to get a visa for Korea raised his eyebrows at having being born in 'GBR' (the UK), but said "well, it's an English speaking nation at least?" like a question. I actually had to say "Yes, they speak English in England" before he would continue. I ended up going to Japan instead.

[anyway]

Ha. Those Koreans. God bless their merry souls ...

I agree. It usually does boil down to passport, but after that there is some sorting out according to age, accent, major, etc. I wouldn't be surprised if your accent does work against you (especially if you want to teach children), but in that event you probably won't even be aware of it.

If they mention it, just tell them that it is the local accent from your region of the US.

[gaijinalways]

I'm currently working with at one job; a Swiss, a Bangladeshi, an Indian, a Singaporean, and a Russian. We previously had a Malay, a German, and an Israeli working with us.

It will depend on the school, but of course they all speak/spoke with an accent. I do as well, though I can't say mine is Polish, even though half of me thinks so .

[jpvanderwerf2001]

To the OP: Do you have an American passport? If so, just use that and don't mention that you were born in another country. Problem solved.
If you don't have an American passport--no matter how good your aforementioned mastery of grammar and structure might be, you won't be counted as a native speaker, I suspect.
Either way, give it a try! Good luck.

As an aside, might I ask why you put native speaker in quotation marks?

[Chris_Crossley]

You could always tell them you were born in Poland because your parents "were there at the time", implying that at least one of our parents, if not necessarily both of them, had some work there so you all, as a family, lived in Poland (the land of my own mother's birth, incidentally).

You could be (or perhaps tell them that you are) the offspring of a (former) diplomat or ESOL teacher on overseas service, couldn't you?

After all, my daughter was born in China and my son will be born in China, too (next Monday, in fact! ).

Sounds obvious, but it's never anyone's own fault where they're born, is it?

However, I have, unfortunately, come across at least one Chinese manager whose mentality is such that, as far as he is concerned, English-speaking people "must be" born (as well as raised) in English-speaking countries, such is his shockingly limited (not to say heavily prejudiced) worldview.

The word "uneducated" does not even begin to describe him.

[denise]

If you have a US passport, transcripts from American schools/colleges, and a "slight" accent that only native speakers can detect, I really can't see how non-native school managers would know that you're not "native". Unless there are schools in China that ask for birth certificates?!?

d

[noty]

Thanks for the replies guys. I had no idea that having an American passport would be so crucial. Right now I just have a green card, but I can get a passport whenever I wish so I guess I'll pony up the $800 and get it ASAP since there is roughly a 5 month processing time.

As far as placing "native speaker" in quotes, I did it mostly to emphasize that I was inquiring about the term specifically as it relates to teaching English abroad rather than what it might mean to the average guy in the street.

Now does anyone know whether knowing some Mandarin gives you a leg up on getting a teaching job in China?

[GambateBingBangBOOM]

[Chris_Crossley]

[denise]

[Pelican_Wrath]

[naturegirl321]

Yep, and also , those interested in the language might be tempted to use it in their classes instead of teaching English.

[johnslat]

Dear naturegirl321,
That can happen. As an ELC coordinator in Saudi Arabia, I one happened by the classroom of a Ph.D. from Morocco. I stopped because I heard him teaching in Arabic.
Well, I thought, "maybe he's just explaining a difficult point." Nope, the "instruction" in Arabic went on for the rest of the class.
He wasn't asked back when his contract ended (which, fortunately, was only a couple of months later.)
Regards,
John

[naturegirl321]

I refuse, flatly refuse to speak Spanish in class.

Why? I get made fun of because of my accent, which I think is rude, since I've been speaking Spanish longer than my students have been alive.

And once they know you know Spanish, they don't want to speak English.

I will occassaionlly write a word on the board in Spanish, why? It saves time. Try explaining adventurous. I did. took five minutes, Still didn't understand. Next time just wrote it on the board.

I must say though, sometimes students don't get it. In one of my classes, there was a girl with perfect English, who hated English and spoke to me in Spainish OUTSIDE Of class, I answered in English. Other students saw us. This went on for 1.5 years. When I left the school, most of the students, including those who hadseen us talking together swore up and down that I knew no spanish.