Job Discussion Forums

ronin · Joined: 22 Feb 2003 Posts: 50 Location: canada

I'm thinking about teaching in Indonesia, I'm a native speaker born in Canada I'm also a muslim but I have brown skin. Are the Indonesians accepting of people of other colour teaching them English?

ls650 · Joined: 10 May 2003 Posts: 3484 Location: British Columbia

Not a problem.
One of the teachers I worked with was British-born and of Jamaican ancestry. She was the colour of milk chocolate. Her background was never a problem - in fact, when walking down the street she would often be mistaken for a local and have Indonesians walk up to her and start talking to her as if she were a local also!

gugelhupf · Joined: 24 Jan 2004 Posts: 575 Location: Jabotabek

I'd love to agree with LS650 but I worry that you might have more problems than he suggests. Indonesians are very accepting of immigres from other cultures and educated Indonesians would recognise that not all native speakers of English look like the man in the Marlboro advert. Unfortunately, the reality is that in most cases you will be teaching the offspring of Indonesians who are essentially uneducated but rather rich, and parents like these tend to kick up a fuss if their new teacher isn't a 'bule'.

I'd like to be proved wrong here but I do warn you of the potential for a rocky ride.

AsiaTraveller · Posted: Thu Apr 14, 2005 7:14 pm Post subject:

I tend to agree with ls650.

In my experience, many Indonesians are quite fascinated by people from abroad who share their religion. And they are even more fascinated with people from North America who share their skin color. If the person shares both qualities? All the better.

There are of course people who will resent the fact that you are not "white." And some (but not by any means all) of those people are Chinese. If most Chinese owners of private language schools share these sentiments, what then? Go to another school.

However, I'm sure you'll find plenty of opportunities in which your background will be an advantage rather than a hindrance. Prepare yourself for an adventure in cross-cultural communication. And prepare yourself to be touched (literally) and prodded. "You mean you're Muslim? No WAY!! And you're Candian? No WAY!!" Having an instant ice-breaker is a boon when you're living abroad.

Good luck!