Job Discussion Forums

[serenitywiz]

I wanted to post this here as well as the Latin American forum for any advice you can give a newbie! Please!

Okay here's the deal...

I am looking into teaching english in Latin America. I am currently researching schools, locations, etc. I joined this site to find out as much as I can about this profession from people with experience.
I have found or should I say haven't found a prevalence of black people sharing their experiences. I am btw African American woman too close to 30 for comfort.
I am a open minded person with a very inquisitive nature. I love to travel and learn about different cultures.
I have never taught but have worked in the education field as administrative support for some years now. I attended college to Associates degree level and have several IT certifications.
Are there any opportunities out there for a person with my background?
I am planning on taking a TEFL certification class due to my total lack of experience in front of a classroom.
From what I have read on the boards Argentina sounds like a great place to live.. I wouldn't want to get there and be dissapointed in the fact that I can't find employment.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated.


PAZ!

[ls650]

[serenitywiz]

Thanks for your input!
I will look into the volunteering option for sure, that sounds like a great way to get experience. I think there should be several such centers in the city in which I currently reside.

paz

[jpvanderwerf2001]

To serenity: So you're black? What's that feel like? (An actual question from one of my ex-students.)
I'm black and it hasn't hindered my teaching opportunities one bit. I don't know that it would be a problem for you, either.
Argentina, on the other hand, is more of a challenge. I lived there for nearly half a year and found that ESL/EFL jobs are hard to come by.
BA is great, though!
Good luck.

[StillWaiting]

[serenitywiz]

WOW It's good to see you both are out there making it happen!

JP - You seem to have traveled to several different places, may I ask where you had the most success and/or best experience?

StillWaiting - I would love to hear about Santiago!

The more information and opinions I can gather the better.

To all - keep the replies coming I am loving this!

Peace!

[Gawain]

EFL Teachers please give her accurate advice. ACCENT!!! The reason why it is harder for African Americans to be EFL teachers overseas is all about ACCENT. And Ebonic Vocabulary. Do you have a southern drawl or "Black" accent? Do you speak in perfect English grammar and vocabulary or do you use Ebonic slang?

Point of hiring an American is to get a geniune "Native English Speaker" with a clean accent and vocabulary for teaching. Many schools in Asia won't hire Blacks because they assume all Blacks have terrible southern drawl. Even if you speak clean like Denzel, an Asian may be scared to hire you until you convince them you speak clean like Denzel. Teachers, am I right?

[Guy Courchesne]

Are you joking?

[Gawain]

Guy C-- great to see you respond! Guy is expert for Mexico / Latin America! I assume from Guy's response he considers my response racist, and that in Latin America, you should not worry about this accent/vocab thing.

I taught EFL only in Taiwan. Over 3 years in 3 schools meeting dozens of teachers, I never once met any teacher who was not white. In fact I was just about as dark as they got because I have brown hair, brown eyes, look hispanic. What I heard from locals in Taiwan is that accent/vocab may make it harder for African Americans to get hired.

I hope we get more responses to this thread-- from teachers in both Asia and Latin America for comparison!

[Guy Courchesne]

You're right...you assume.

I'm more curious as to what you think people in Asia think of black Canadians.

[StillWaiting]

(Without addressing the absurd notion that all "white" Americans somehow speak flawless English, themelves...)

I found that the issue of accent on the mainland was very country-specific. Where I was working, I noticed that many schools refused to hire South Africans (even the whitest ones) because they preferred teachers with North American, British, or Australian accents. And even Australia could be hard-pressed in places.

The major problem for "black" teachers is that there's a tendency to instantly assume we're from the African continent, and therefore either not a native speaker or have an undesirable accent. There are many teachers from Africa working on the mainland (man, if I could count the number of Nigerians and Cameroonians that walked in looking for jobs...who we were not allowed to hire).

During my first weeks of teaching, my school manager told me that several parents complained once they saw me, accusing the school of hiring Africans. Once he showed them a copy of my American passport, along with my American-issued TEFL certification, he never heard another word from them. This also happened with a handful of British "black" teachers, who fall outside your handy model that all "black" people have this Ebonics accent of yours.

The same often went for our Asian-American teachers, who were instantly assumed to be from China, Japan, etc. They probably got more complaints than I or any other "black" teacher did.

Were there other problems that revolved around perceptions of me due to my race? Certainly. Though I have to say that the ones worst mired in preconceived notions were not the Chinese -- they were the other foreign teachers. Especially some Australians.

[Gawain]

Great post! You are African American teaching in China?

Right. I'm saying African Americans might experience same problems as Australians or Scots or Asians re accents.

Perception might differ between veteran ESL school directors such as Guy (above post), local school owners who are Asian or Latin, and local students who get their perception of Americans from Hollywood.

Maybe Asian school DIRECTORS would be colorblind but ACCENT would cross their minds. I think many Asian buxiban school OWNERS would assume all African Americans have thick southern accents. Local Asian students might be hesitant to take class taught by African American for that reason. Then again they might be attracted to this teacher for the novelty, since almost every teacher I met in Asia was white.

As for Black Canadians maybe DIRECTORS would know they don't speak with a Georgia accent, but maybe Asian students would assume every Black teacher must be American, or as you say, African!

Latin America is less homogenous so more colorblind? I'm interested to hear from other teachers in Latin America and Asia!

[StillWaiting]

I don't think anything can be said for "all" students in any region

I had one absolutely terrible experience in central China when I was sent to assist in the opening of a school in a rather isolated area. I was the only foreigner there for a while. Long story short, the Chinese partner pitched an absolute fit over the fact that I wasn't white, and demanded a white teacher come down. Once that request was filled, he directed me to stay in the office during school hours so no parents would see me, lest I hurt the reputation of the school. Needless to say, I soon returned to my old school.

The issue of an American dialect or lack thereof, and how that would impact the quality of my teaching never came up. It was pointedly an issue that people in that area were not likely to accept the notion that "American" meant anything but white. They would assume I was African, and believe the school was cheating their children by not hiring a native speaker.

We also had numerous cases of branch schools refusing teachers on basis of appearance (that was lots of fun to deal with on the teachers' ends, let me tell you).

I pose that it comes down to the area, many times, and often the size and general reputation of the school as well. In the large city I was based in, as I said, complaints could be fielded and dealt with easily since we had an established few teachers who were not white. And a Chinese co-management team who'd been exposed to them, knew their quality, and was willing to stand up for them. In other areas where I was on my own, not so much!

I'm interested to see how Chile deals with me when I head down there in a few weeks. I'd also love to hear from a few more teachers in Latin America about their experiences.

[Guy Courchesne]

Sorry for my terse post...I was just starting a class and had to finish writing quickly...

StillWaiting, you brought up what I had wanted to bring to the mix, that of color not being so tied to nations - Canada, UK, and the like. You beat me to the punch too on Asian Americans or Canadians. Accent clearly has little to do with the difficulty of an American born of Chinese parents.

I think the issue is much more direct - color. For those of you working in Asia, would you say that negative perceptions still exist even after a black teacher demonstrates his 'Denzel Washington' like speaking abilities? Can people in Asia even detect accent differences?

Of course, my experience in this is limited, working in Latin America. I'm not an ESL school director, but I do have some dealings with Korea and China in hiring and have experienced the same thing many others have complained about. Flat out lack of response or a 'no' when a teacher isn't of a pink hue.

You'll not find that Latin America is completely colorblind...similar perceptions can be found here too, but nowhere as strong as what I hear and see for some Asian countries.

[ls650]