Teach English in DahuashAn Zhen - Beijing

TEFL FOR non native SPEAKING TEACHERSI did the tefl course; towards its end I thought I could start prospecting for jobs. I had no doubt I could find a job anywhere, thus I was very surprised and disappointed when I noticed almost all the advertisement had the mention ?For native speakers only?. I have been studying the English language for more than 10 years, I got a B.A in English, and I have a four years teaching experience. I never thought my application could be rejected because I couldn?t call myself ?native speaker?. What do I have less than the ?Native speaking English Teachers?? Is it possible that I could have some advantages over them? Is the path of teaching English anywhere in the world closed to ?non-native English speaking teachers?? Each language goes with a certain way of pronouncing, called accent. When learning a specific language, getting the right accent is part of the learning process. Acquiring the right accent may be the most difficult part of a language learning process and very often one never really acquires it to the end, but it is possible. The English language is spoken in many countries where local languages coexist with the English language and influence the accent with which English is spoken. These accents are considered ?non-native?(Indian), as opposed to the ?native? and comes from Great Britain for example. Non-native English speaking teachers find themselves discriminated because of their accent. The accent is an important part of a language learning process, often understanding is hindered by pronounced accent. Since English is spoken all over the world, there is a need for a standard accent that can be understood everywhere in the world. A teacher must make sure his accent is not too pronounced and doesn?t contrast too much with the standard one. Maybe an interview through Skype, or a sample of a prospecting teacher?s speech can be sent along with the CV to make the chances of getting a job for a Non-native English speaking teacher higher? As highlighted in many articles, one of the strengths of NNESTs is the fact that they went through the learning process, they know the difficulties learners can encounter, they are sensitive to the cultural differences and can apply their own method that helped them to learn. When I started learning English I was 10 years old, I remember the day my father tried to explain to me how to pronounce the ?th? sound. I felt stupid, sticking my tongue between the teeth. I felt repulsion and thought I am not going to speak such a language. I always remember that when I teach Russian native speaking adults. I usually ask them to notice in movies how ?Th? is pronounced, seeing renowned actors doing it helps them overcome the uneasiness. As for recruitment, the demand is huge and could never be met with Native speaking only, so NNESTs still have their chances especially if they are qualified for it. It could be more difficult in some countries because one needs a native-English speaking passport to get the visa, in korea for example. Having read articles and written this paper, my self- confidence came back to me. I know my strengths and weaknesses. Those who want to teach English must train their accent, and know the culture that English originated from, to understand idioms. Discriminating NNESTs because they are not native is not a guaranty that the recruiters will get a good teacher. The recruiters should rather find a way to check the knowledge and experience. With time and NNETs raising their voice and the demand growing, this discriminating criterion will back off. Sites: http://iteslj.org/Articles/Demirezen-NonNativeTeachers.html http://thelanguagehouse.blogspot.com/2008/08/non-native-vs-native-english-teacher.html http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6VCH-4R2H1P9-1&_user=10&_coverDate=12%2F31%2F2007&_rdoc=1&_fmt=high&_orig=gateway&_origin=gateway&_sort=d&_docanchor=&view=c&_searchStrId=1721343622&_rerunOrigin=scholar.google&_acct=C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=0fc742fc894dc2f5c3ba564a5f43adaa&searchtype=a http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_pric/is_200212/ai_4217021737/?tag=content;col1 Articles: ERIC Educational Reports, Dec 01, 2002 by Rosie Maum Braine, G. (Ed.) (1999). "Non-native educators in English language teaching." Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum