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Can Non-Native English Speakers Teach in China?
Written by Robert Vance on March 9, 2008 – 7:26 am***Visit our job board for non-native English speakers who are seeking to teach English abroad.
Please see an update to this article entitled Non-Native Speakers of English Teaching in China Revisited
Non-native speakers of English who want to teach in China will find that their options are limited. A sad but true fact in China is that foreigners are often hired based on their looks with a much lower emphasis placed on actual teaching skill. Many schools will only hire teachers who look like they are from the West (or Australia and New Zealand) because of the advertising value. A school that employs a blue eyed, blonde hair foreigner for example, is going to attract more attention than hiring someone from Africa, Central and South America, or elsewhere in Asia. In addition, schools are wary of hiring non native speakers because they want their students to learn the native accent.
However, there is hope for non-native English speakers teachers who want to teach in China If you have a good degree and can demonstrate that your English is comprable to that of a native speaker’s you do have a fighting chance. Just today, I was talking to a senior in highschool who told me that her English program employs two Philipino teachers. Schools may also hire non-native English speakers from European countries. A school that I worked for some years ago employed a couple from Spain and Germany.
In my observation, non-native English teachers have the best chance of finding jobs at universities and schools in big cities. A school in a small city that is only hiring one foreign teacher will probably not employ a non-native speaker. Big schools in larger cities often employ multiple foreign teachers from various countries as they want their students to be exposed to all different varieties of English.
If you are applying for an English job as a non-native speaker, it is important to be upfront about where you are from. It is equally important to be confident and to remind the school that your English grammar is probably better than that of a native English teacher. You should also emphasize any teaching experience that you have had in your own country and any traveling or contact with foreigners that has allowed you to practice your English.
Another suggestion is to go to China on a tourist Visa and seek jobs by talking to the employers directly. Schools that may be otherwise nervous about hiring a non-native speaker may be more comfortable if they can meet you in person. Make sure that you speak slowly because if prospective employers can’t understand you, they will assume that their students won’t be able to understand either. Again, it is important to let the school know that you are very confident about your English abilities and that your students will benefit from your classes.
While I can understand the “business aspect” of hiring a native English teacher, I do know that many great non-native teachers are passed up every year. I myself have talked with prospective non-native teachers who have near perfect English skills. In my opinion, a school should be more concerned about the teaching ability of a person as opposed to the color of their hair or their eyes. If you are looking for a job and having trouble, don’t give up! There are schools in China that hire non-native speakers so keep trying!
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Good afternoon. My name is Svetlana. I am from Russia, but my English level is quite good, I studied this language at the university and now I am an enterpreter, but I would like to teach English in China. And I really need a vacancy for the next term which begins in summer or autumn. Now I work as the teacher of the russian language in Harbin,so I am searching for the job for the new semester. If you provide some suitable vacancy for me I would be extremely glad.
Thanx for reading my letter-request.
I am looking forward to hearing from you soon.
Best regards, Svetlana
Hello,Svetlana. This is Emma.Our school is looking for a new foreign teacher these days and I’d like to know more about you. If it is possible, could you please send me your cv as well as your photo so that we can know more about you?
Hope hearing from you soon.
Best wishes!
Yours,
Emma
Hi,
This is Michael from Ethiopia. Since childhood, I was so interested to learn about different cultures and immerse myself in the tradition of other countries people.
I believe I have a very good command of English language. I am working for Canadian university called University Of Windsor as a director and counselor of the liaison office in Ethiopia. I have met a lot of native English speakers and I didn’t have any difficulty of communicating with them.
I also work in my office with a German woman and we communicate only in English everyday. I can also easily communicate with a person who barely speaks English. I write persuasive and argumentative essays. I am also very experienced to explain my self and other things in simplified English words.
I have a desire of teaching English in China (anywhere in China). And on the process I also want to learn Chinese language. This will be the best opportunity for me to have an exposure for new culture and tradition. Please help me to get one.
My e-mail is michaelarayanme@yahoo.com
michael@windsorwired.org
Dear Sir or Madam ,
Good day please . I must admit it affords me an infinite wave of pleasure to have come across a honest website for once . You see I am a seasoned English teacher from Cameroon but unlike some of my colleagues currently in China I have a North American native accent having worked with friends from Texas for the past four years . Now I’ve always loved to come teach In China due to the better pay package coupled with my eagerness to learn and maybe write some mandarin . I’d also love to use a chopstick . Reason? Well china just fascinates me so to say . Especialy Chinese quisine.
As we all know most website are hosted by Americans who never give us a second thought when we post our resumes . They usually prefer th British , Australians Canadians and South Africans . Hence I was so impressed with your honesty about traveling in person to China and proving my worth . I should be over there by the end of this month and would very much love to pick up a teaching position . I was just hoping you could be of assistance . Could that be possible? Because I know there are still a few hundred vacancies all over China begging to be filled . I would love to have you Tel number so I could call on arrival . Thanks for you industrious web site and keep in touch if interested in my humble proposal . God bless you Sir .
Sincerely ,
Mr Divine Tendoh Sangbong
Pop box 2154 , Bamenda , Cameroon
W Africa
Cell +237 799 369 27
i studied in English From my Childhood. Best English student in my days at college
Hi, my name is Shirley, I’m from the Philippines. At present, I am working as English teacher to Koreans, Taiwanese and Chinese nationals . I have man to man classes, and group classes of 4 students. During summer and winter vacation, I am in charge of the English camp for Korean children, a project which usually lasts for 4 weeks.
I am interested to work in China. I prefer to work with children, but willing to teach adult also.I can guarantee that I can work well with less supervision. Please contact me.
Thak you.
Hi, my name is Shirley, I’m from the Philippines. At present, I am working as English teacher to Koreans, Taiwanese and Chinese nationals . I have man to man classes, and group classes of 4 students. During summer and winter vacation, I am in charge of the English camp for Korean children, a project which usually lasts for 4 weeks.
I am interested to work in China. I prefer to work with children, but willing to teach adult also.I can guarantee that I can work well with less supervision. Please contact me.
Thank you.
We are trying to get something going on TeachAbroadChina.com for non-native speakers. If there are any schools out there who are interested in hiring non-natives, please contact us through our ‘contact us’ option in the menu above or leave us a message here. We would like to create a list of schools that do hire non-native speakers. For my non-native speaker friends, I feel your pain. It’s difficult to compete with native speakers in certain parts of China. We will do everything we can to help.
Good day!
I would like to apply in your good school as an English Teacher.
I graduated at Philippine Normal University with the degree of Bachelor in Elementary Education and Masteral in Educational Management.
I’ve been teaching for 15 years in elementary level.
I am willing to teach in China and I hope you will consider my application.
Thank you verymuch.my contact number is +639282307405
Marissa M. Cornelio
Applicant
perhaps the chinese english schools should hire non-native teachers initially as trainees. then after a month or so, evaluate if the trainees can be elevated to full time certified english instructors. filipinos are well known for their competence and fluency in the english language. china can benefit from their outsourced cheap labor
Eternal-sea hires a lot of filipinos. They’re actually looking for some new teachers right now.
tel 025-84820900
eternal-sea.com
No. 20 Minggugong Road
Nanjing - China 210016
Tel: 025-84820900 - 84820619
Dear Sirs or Madams
My name is Janna. I am from Russia. I am an English teacher and I have been teaching English in Russia for 2 years, mainly, high school students, but I have also participated in tutoring middle-class children and adults for 6 years already.
I have 3 months teaching experience in Private school in China, Harbin city.
I have many foreign friends, some of them are from USA, when we meet each other, we communicate only in English.
I love my job very much and I am willing to teach in China. I am available for full and part time work and for private tutoring in my apartment. I can start working in August or September this year.
If you have some appropriate vacancy for me, please contact me.
Thank you very much for your time and consideration. I am looking forward to hearing from you soon.
Sincerely, Janna.
Dear Sirs and Madams,
I’m really eager to teach Russian in China. My name is Dolson. I’m 28 years old. I graduated from the Oriental Faculty of the Buryat State University. My qualification is a philologist of Oriental Studies. I know several foreign languages such as English, Mongolian and a bit Chinese. I’ve been working as an English teacher in high (secondary) school for 5 years. While working at school I attended several courses on teaching methods. This year I have been recommended to get the second category according to Russian Teaching Standards. I’d like to work at your college as a Russian teacher because it is considered to be my native language. I speak read and write in Russian from my childhood and I know it perfectly.
I’m looking forward to hearing from U ASAP
Regards,
Dolson
Hope to hear from you soon
is that most of the people they called native speakers are not better than some of the africans we have here.l applied for teaching jobs on line and they been turning me down.Education to me is non profit organisation.Knowdlege and culture sharing should be the main thing.As a trained teacher l dislike the chinese educational system because it lacks values.
Ayo,
Thanks for your comments. You are absolutely correct. The Chinese education system is all about making money. This is why so many schools will not hire non native speakers because they don’t think they get as much advertising out of them. It’s a shame but it’s the way it is…have you been able to get a job here?
[...] few months ago, in an article entitled Can Non-Native English Speakers Teach English in China? I discussed some of the difficulties that non-native speakers of English may encounter in China in [...]
the fact is that chinese thinks if they have a native speaker English teacher, they can learn a lot. in my own experience as a non-native speaker ESL teacher, it is really unfair. I have been an ESL teacher for 5 years by now,and I was confident of my teaching skills until my school hired an old american.just imagine an old businessman trying to be a teacher…but because of the fact that he is an american,the school thinks he is a perfect teacher…discrimination that is…
@Kikay,
Thanks again for your comments. Actually, sometimes I am not really so sure that students themselves really do care that much about what the person who is teaching them looks like or comes from. I think that this ‘discrimination’ as you rightly call it, really comes directly from school administrations that believe that they will get more for their ‘advertising dollar’ if they hire native caucasian speakers to teach. This is the travesty. Instead of focusing on teaching skills, it is all about bringing in more students. While this strategy may work for a while, eventually I think it will have some negative impact on schools because the quality of the actual learning process will plummet. I have seen this firsthand recently where I work. In the past few weeks, my school has had to more or less fire a few native speakers of English because students were complaining about their horrible teaching skills. In the meantime, there have been a variety of non-native speakers who passed through looking for jobs who probably would have done a much better job and made the students a lot happier. That, my friend, is bad for business.
My name is Tanya. And I am in Taipei . I would like to get a job , know Russian and English.
Could You help me?
Thanks a lot.
I am mina, I have been working as an English instructor in the Philippines for 9 years already. I have tutored and still tutoring Korean nationals until now. I would like to get a teaching job in China, but I know that there is a low regard for non-native English teachers there. However, the exposure and training of non-native English teachers here in the Philippines is indeed remarkable to be in a par with the native teachers. Evaluation and skill assessment is needed to measure the abilities of English teachers here in our country.
I am also hoping of getting a good chance of working as an English teacher in China. Hope something favorable happens.
My name is Shish Ram & I am from India. I am MA,MPHIL in English.I have been teaching English to Indian students since 1998.Now,I want to teach English to Chinese students.Ready to start asap.Please contact to me either on my
Cell : +91-9224662066
or via e-mail : sr999i@yahoo.com
Hey,i have really enjoyed reading this amazing article,actually,non-native english teachers should show and proove that they can teach english perfectly which basically depends on their english abilities and personal skills….i’m a non-native english teacher too, presently teaching in a private english school in china,i have been teaching english here for almost one year now,i haven’t encountred any problems with this school so far ;because as they constantly say (our best teachers are not english natives),;fortunately,the non_native english teachers who were previously working with this school before i got hired, were competent and well-skilled which automatically made the school owners change their mind about the effectiveness and the utility of the non-native english teachers,….my colleague (from spain) and i are considered the best lovely english teachers in this school because we’re simply hard workers and we often keen to teach in a good clear way as the school administration members usually make us hear with a big happy smile on their faces!!.the point is only about how to transmeate the message in a lovely clear way to the receiver without any obstacles or hinders that may lead to confusion!! thanks much for reading,good luck for everybody :):)
[...] Can Non-Native English Speakers Teach in China? – Original article on TeachAbroadChina.com addressing the issue of non-native speakers of English teaching in China. [...]