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Non-Native English Speakers Teaching in China Revisited
Written by Robert Vance on June 4, 2008 – 10:55 pm***Join in our discussion about non-native speakers of English on our China forum by clicking here.
A 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 relation to finding teaching jobs. Since that article was posted, this site has received hundreds of hits from non-native speakers of English asking me to help them find schools that will hire them to teach English. Unfortunately, I am not a recruiter and nor do I run a school, but the overwhelming response the article produced prompted me to do some further investigation into the issue of non-native speakers of English teaching in China. Over the last few months, I have contacted a number of English schools in China in order to get some feedback about non-native English teachers in the PRC. Here is what I have discovered:
–Most of the English schools I contacted about non-native English speakers teaching in China did not bother to respond to my questions. The schools were either too busy or didn’t care.
– Non-native speakers of English are much more likely to get a teaching job in China if they are already in the country. Many schools in China are hesitant to hire teachers from countries that are considered to be ‘poorer’ than China. For better or for worse, some schools are afraid that teachers from these ‘poorer’ countries will simply use the school as a way to get into the China.
– Non-native speakers of English will often find themselves having to apply for part time teaching jobs first in China. If the school is satisfied with the quality of the part time work, it may consider ‘upgrading’ the non-native speaker to a full time position.
– A sad but true fact is that many schools in China are more inclined to hire a non-native English speaking person who looks at least in part like someone from the West. Preferential treatment is also often given to teachers who come from European countries that do not hold English as their official language (Spain, Denmark, etc) over other non English countries. In many English schools around China (especially privately owned schools), looks are far more important than actual teaching skills. I have seen many excellent non-native English speakers passed over because a school decided to hire a Westerner with blonde hair, blue eyes, and horrific teaching skills.
– This year in China, as a result of visa restrictions, English teachers are in high demand so non-native English speakers of English may have an easier time finding some work. However, non-native speakers of English can almost always expect to be paid lower than their ‘Western’ counterparts. This wage disparity between native-speakers and non-native speakers is all too common in China.
Is there any hope for me as a non-native speaker of English in China?
Now that I have gotten the bad news out of the way, I want to share some helpful tips for those of you who are really determined to teach in China:
– As I mentioned earlier, if you are already in China, it will probably be much easier for you to find a teaching job. I have met non-native English teachers who came to China originally to work in trading companies or do other forms of business. Obtaining a visa and traveling to China is your best way to ‘get your foot in the door.’ Once you have arrived, you can spend a few weeks taking part in job interviews and hopefully a school will hire you. If you are hired full time, the school will help you obtain that ‘precious’ work visa.
– If you want to teach in China, do not just focus on English. Many schools are looking for people who can effectively teach computers, math, music, and even physical education. Schools that are seeking to fill these positions are less likely to care about your ‘advertising value’; they just want to find someone who can teach these subjects regardless of where they are from. If you are passionate about English, perhaps you will also get the opportunity to teach some language classes as well after you have started working at the school.
– Make sure you are effectively pursuing a job in China. Please read our free guide to teaching English in China which will help you better understand the process that goes into finding a job here. Whether from the West or from another country, you can benefit by reading our helpful guide.
Do not be too discouraged if at first you receive little or no response in your quest to find a job in China. While the situation may seem bleak for non-native speakers of English in China, every year, hundreds of people from countries all over the world do find jobs in schools here. Exercising patience and not becoming discouraged is key to your success.
Please feel free to leave your questions, comments, and even ‘job wanted’ requests in the comments section. If you are the headmaster or recruiter of a school that does actively recruit and hire non-native speakers of English, then we also want to hear from you. One of our goals at TeachAbroadChina.com is to help non-native speakers of English as much as possible because we know that there are many quality teachers out there who come from countries other than just the United States, Great Britain, Australia, New Zealand, and Canada.
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[...] Please see an update to this article entitled Non-Native Speakers of English Teaching in China Revisited [...]
I’am an esl teacher in china,and what I’ve witnessed in observing non-native speakers is quite embarassing.First of all,their pronunciation of the english language is very difficult for esl students to understand.Secondly hardly any of the non-native Teachers are fluent in the English language.I don’t think they should be barred from teaching esl, but I think that they should have a lot better knowledge of the english language.
Our school, ENL Program-Shanghai is located at the Gubei Area in Shanghai City, China. We are in need of English language teachers. This invitation is for top-caliber “non-native” English speakers. Please send your application letter with current CV/Resume to: enlprogramshanghai@yahoo.com.
@ greg…
I beg to disagree sir! There are lots of non-native English teachers with very good pronunciation. These teachers are very fluent and could even compete with native speakers. Maybe it was just unfortunate that you encountered somebody with bad qualifications.
@TJ,
Thank you for your post. It is nice to know that there are some schools out there that are actively looking for non-native English teachers. This page does receive a lot of views so hopefully you will receive some responses. I definitely agree with you that there are plenty of non-native speakers who could compete with native English speakers. Unfortunately, they are passed over because of the color of their skin.
I welcome any other schools in China who are interested in hiring non-native English teachers to post the information here.
The information given above is really very useful for a person like myself, who is thinking of moving to china to teach.
I have been teaching for past ten years in high schools in India and currently teaching in a reputed school in Jakarta, Indonesia.
I have many colleagues from so called ” West”. I find them rather a liability than an asset to the institution. Their knowledge of the language is rather poorer than teachers from India , The Phillipines so on and so forth.
The public education system in the west is in total shambles today,rather on the verge of collapse. What could be the reasons? The only reason i can see is the quality of teaching and teacher in the west.
Sadly countries like China and Indonesia will suffer in the long run, due to their biases and affinity to fair skinned west.ern teachers.
The irony is that American universities are full of teachers from India and China.
Hmm. I would have to agree with Greg, especially his last sentence. Mr Shahi is a case in point. Why bucket Westerners? Indians and Filipinos and others learn a different version of ‘english’ compared with fluent, native, english educated teachers! World speech physics vary for one. Tongue placement, tones, etc.
Please note the word ‘fluent’. Written english is part of the language and there are a few gaps even in the above transcription by N.Shahi. Maybe just ‘chat’ discrepancies? I will give him the benefit of the doubt.
In Manila, where I taught in a public school and also edited university Masters Theses some of the english was incorrect. But it is the ‘teacher’ as Mr Shahi is quick to point out. Many think/speak in Tagalog and mix it up with English. Hence it is a self perpetuating cycle if you like. Students may then grow up to be teachers or write a thesis! “Face” can preclude correction as an adult.
Perhaps India, Philippines, etc could use more native english teachers to speed up acceptability and placement overseas.
I dont think China or Indonesia are blatantly racist. Mostly they want the pronunciation, etc also noted by Greg and TJ. Past American salaries would have had nothing to do with attracting well educated Indian or Chinese lecturers to the USA, would they?
I am all for ‘fluent’, non native english teachers. Even ‘TJ’ above is looking for “top caliber”. We have a standing call centre joke in Oz - “Hello, is that Maureen from Mumbai speaking?” Thanks Vance; excellent article.
Steve said,
Perhaps India, Philippines, etc could use more native english teachers to speed up acceptability and placement overseas.
Robert Vance says:
That’s the best idea I’ve heard yet. I think that some of these non-native English speakers could really improve the way their English sounds and looks (on paper) if they simply had a native speaker who would help them fix some of the common mistakes that they make. Some of these people have great vocabularies but they just need to fine tune their mechanics a little bit. Pronunciation? Well, that’s a little more difficult to fix but I can tell you that I have non-native English speaking friends whose pronunciation is much easier to understand than some of my native friends who mumble and slur words together.
I’m a teacher from the Philippines. I take offense on the way the people mentioned the nationalities of the non-native speakers you are talking about. It is quite weird that this topic stemmed from an invitation for non-native speakers to teach in China, when all I read were prejudiced remarks about the pronunciation of non-native speakers and their grammatical errors. To the person who was working here in the Manila, it was quite unfortunate for you to be assigned to “edit” ungrammatical theses. Let me just enlighten you a bit, ok? Not everyone in the Philippines can ask a native speaker like yourself to edit his/her thesis. It would just be too expensive! It is so sad that you were not able to read the other theses of the other students here so that you might be more enlightened about their level of STANDARD ENGLISH understanding (whatever standard English is). May I also remind the people here that thousands of teachers who happen to be non-native English speakers are recruited to native English speaking countries. Why is that so? You know what is funny? China is asking to learn to speak English like native speakers, when what she should be doing is to start teaching the world how to speak her language.
@Dina,
Thanks for your comments. I think most of us are aware that many teachers from the Phillipines are recruited to teach worldwide. However, it is ironic to note that even Phillipinos seem to have a much better chance of finding a teaching job in China than do Africans (or even African Americans for that matter). I think that I had teachers from Africa, India, and the Middle East especially in mind when I wrote this article. The majority of the Phillipinos who I know in this area have been able to find teaching jobs around my city.
You do bring up a good point when you write about STANDARD ENGLISH. I think this term is thrown around loosely but does anyone really know what it means? I am American; do I speak standard English? I would like to hope so but I don’t really know. I do know that I have met plenty of Americans who do not speak the same ‘kind’ of English that I do. Does that mean their English is non-standard? Or is mine non-standard? It’s a puzzling question…
If English schools in China that hire only native English speakers are doing so because they are truly worried about pronunciation then I see little problem with that. They are in the English business and it is their right to try to provide a native sounding pronunciation. I happen to speak Spanish (as a second language) and I would expect that I would be passed over in the U.S. for a native Spanish speaking teacher from South America for example. Unless I live in Mexico for 10 years, I realize that I will always have an accent.
However, as I have stated in numerous posts on this website, I am not convinced that pronunciation is really much of a worry for English schools in China. I think that ’skin’ color is the most important factor for advertising purposes. The school wants someone who they think will ‘attract’ attention and bring in more students. Can this be called racism? I think so. But, I think that the schools are only part of the problem since they are simply responding to a culture that seems to value more light skin, blue eyes, and blonde hair.
I’ve been wondering for a while now about my English/Spanish teaching career. How do I categorise myself. Am I a native speaker of English? Or am I a native speaker of Spanish? I was born in Chile and received all my education in English, moved to Australia and also completed my education in English. I have not only one undergraduate degree but also 2 post graduate degrees, but I do have an accent. I really don’t understand why countries will prefer native English speakers to teach English. It is not only China that asks for native English teachers, but many other countries around the world.
There’s one thing I realised. No matter how many NATIVE English speaking teachers the school has, the students or learners will NEVER speak like a native unless they are growing up and studying at an English school in an English speaking country, with English native neighbours, with English native friend! Etc. etc.
I do firmly believe that it is better to teach English with an “accent” so learners or students are aware of the different pronunciation of the “English” language and they get use to it. Australia has many nationalities and we all speak English with different “accents”. Once the students are “outside” the classroom in the “real world”, they don’t understand a word of what’s happening. At the beginning, I made an effort to exaggerate my pronunciation and they understood me perfectly. The next day, when they were coming back to class, they used to tell me: “How come I understand you perfectly, and when I am going to buy things, I cannot understand them or they cannot understand me”. It was at that moment that I realised that I wasn’t doing them any favour. I began to speak with my accent, and fast. No more slowing down for them. I have taken the same approach and I see the need for them to get used not only to my accent but also to the different people’s “accents” in their English language, and they are doing great. I am looking for a job in China, and I was concerned about the “native”. However, I will keep applying.
If China or any other country in the world believes that a native English teacher will teach its students to speak like a native, they are surely, in Dreamland.
to robert vance, well i want to say if today africans have less chances to find jobs in china, it is as a result of some bad guys involving them selves in dirty business that have help to create this scenerio..as you rightly said, infact white guy ,sorry to say europeans or the so called natives do commit crimes here but …..??????? , it is color not pronunciation or standard english that plays the game of finding a job in china.it si not surprising that a school once hired an 18 years old boy to teach college students after they rejecting non-natives, this was shameful to the school because this guy didnt want to but they told him just to go to class , what ever….i m african ,why should i speak like an american, i can easily mimic american or british accents, but that makes me more or less a carricature.i will like to say english is all about good pronunciation and fluency not about accent, accent comes from so many other factors however a moderate and flexiable accent is good , too hard is too bad indeed, not all british or americans speak the same, they all have diffrent accents and some are laughable, so we shouldnt concentrate on accents and non-natives, we should try to educate others to know that english is a world language.
Hey, but why should Chinese, Indian or Filipinos copy the pronunciation and accent of Americans, British or Australians? English is an international language and it is spoken and written differently in different regions. That’s it.
It’s very difficult for me understand my Scottish colleagues – Steve, are going to send more native English teachers to Scotland ‘to speed up acceptability and placement overseas’
I think pronunciation is not so important as long as people don’t have to try hard to understand you. The bigger problem is when non-natives mix words that don’t belong together, words that can’t be used together in the same context. I also have this problem since I’m from Bosnia and Herzegovina and English is not my native language. I try to read and listen in English as much as I can, but I would like someone to talk to other than my students!! I think I still manage quite alright but I can’t say that I speak English ‘fluently’ and that prevents me from applying to teach abroad.
@Millie,
Thanks for your comments. You mentioned that not speaking English fluently “prevents” you from applying to teach abroad. Is that a restriction that your country has in place or do you think that no one in China would hire you? I think that non-native speakers CAN find jobs here but that they just have to look a little harder.
I’m afraid no one would hire me! My spoken English is good, but it’s not excellent. Maybe spending some time in an English speaking country would be just what I need to feel more confident, but I can’t afford it just now… I won’t be discouraged so easily, I’m just pointing out my fears…
@Millie,
Well, as much as I write about the problems that non native speakers of English have in China, there are a lot of them here and a lot of them have found decent jobs. It never hurts to try. Your written English seems excellent in my opinion. I’m glad you are not discouraged. Keep practicing as much as possible so that when you do have the chance to go you will be able to fully take advantage of the opportunity. By the way, you mention that you have students so I am guessing that you are an English teacher in your country?
Hi Robert,
How do you define “non-native” speaker? I know quite a few ABC (American born Chinese) that have taught or still teaching English in China. Are they considered native speaker? I’ve been thinking about this route myself. I was born in Taiwan though I moved to Canada when I was 8 and have lived in California for the past 23 years. I have 3 college degrees from the US and feel I have native speaker fluency in American English with Mandarin being a very distant second. Is that good enough to avoid the dreaded “non-native” speaker label?
Also, does the fact that I can pass for a local Chinese person, depending on what clothes I wear, a plus or minus? Sometimes I find that being a “banana” is a detriment when I travel through China. Will students think, “Cool, he’s Chinese so we can connect better,” or “Hmm, he appears to be fluent in English but I’d rather be taught by a white guy.”
Thanks.
@Totochi,
Thanks for your comments. I really hate working with ‘definitions’ but in China, there is no question that the term “non-native” speaker is very important if you want to find a teaching job. From a technical standpoint, yes, ABC, as you call them are native speakers. Many schools in China, especially universities, would have no qualms about hiring them. However, there are other schools in China, especially private schools, that do care about appearance. It is not just if you can speak English fluently but do you look like you can? Some schools that I have been involved with seem to put more emphasis on the advertising value than the actual teaching skills.
Considering your qualifications, I think it would be hard for a school to say ‘no’ to you. Having a teacher who is fully fluent in English and also very conversent in Mandarin is a huge plus wherever you go in China. Considering that you spent most of your time in the West, you should also be able to fulfill the responsibility of teaching your students about Western culture.
I really don’t know what other Chinese students will think about you. It’s an interesting question. I think that most would be happy to have you as their teacher but there would undoubtedly be some who might resent you or even be jealous. It’s just something you would have to deal with as you go along.
I hope you let us know how this process goes if you do decide to teach in China. I am very curious about how schools and students will treat you in light of your life in America and Taiwanese background.
Sir / Madam ,
I have the honour and most respect to apply for a teaching position in china. I am a holder of a BSc in Economics and Management, a BA in English Modern letters and a Diplec from Higher Teachers Trianing School. am also a holder of the General Certificate of Education ( G.C.E) Ordinary and Advanced level.
I would like to share my expirenced abroad. I wish to serve you honestly ,deligently and with determination.
while waiting to hear from you.
sincerely applicant
ashu nassa barnabas
I would like to make a correction about our nationality as what Robert has posted last July 14. We don’t call ourselves as Philippinos, Phillipinos or Philipinos but rather Filipinos.
@Jhunex,
Thank you for pointing that out. I made a mistake with the spelling. I’m glad you caught it.
i am a non-native speaker (filipino) and i teach IELTS classes in a school. for me to be “acceptable” to the students and their parents, the school suggested that i should tell my students that i come from a western country, that i am an immigrant. the irony is, the school considers me to be their best IELTS teacher (based on student evaluation and feedback) yet, i have to pretend i am something i’m not and my salary is lower than my american counterparts. so excellent teaching skills and strategies or knowledge for that matter do not really play a big role when looking for a good job in china. appearance does.
sir / madam,
when you talked of non-native speaker , they people from asia who are still learning the language. I have study in english from nursery ,primary,secondary,high school and university. up to this date am using the language and having a good pronunaciation of words and a very good ascent. some of the native speacker do not even write, spell or pronounce well.
I went to the british council and meet ,Americans,Austrilians, canadian whom you prefered as native speacker and pay them high salaries could not even speak langue as their mother tongue. please kindly give us non native speacker a chance and good wages for them to do it better.
Ashu, I have always defend non-native speakers, however, in your paragraph above, there are a lot of mistakes: I’m just going to point out the spelling. I don’t want you to get offended but, you should look a bit more carefully to the “spelling”.
they people… I think you meant “the”
pronunaciation = pronunciation
ascent = accent
speacker = speaker
Austrilians = Australians
langue = language
Through all these discussions, one thing is very certain: English is the ‘lingua franca’ of the world. Chinese, as the most widely spoken one, would have had the honors but it is not as easy to learn as English.
Our offer still stands. We are in need of top caliber non-native English language teachers. Especially now that we are opening a new branch in Shanghai. Please send your CV and application letter to: enlprogramshanghai@yahoo.com.
Thank you for the free advertisment Mr. Robert Vance.
Hello Sir/ Madam,
It’s my pleasure again to outline certain facts as concerning the issue of non -native speaker teaching English as a foreign language. well even though the call us non native speacker or the difficulties of visa today that does not change the fact that we are better place to teach the language than the native speakers themself.
some body who have studied in English from nursery,primary,secondary,highschool ,university and training colleges is turn to be a native speaker because he is not within your area of selection. now let us look on the number of english language spoken in the world. just to name a few ,canadian english ,american english,austrilian english ,new zealand english, south african english,zimbawian english, nigerian english,keyaian english all this originated from the british english. The british english which is the best and that is what all british colonies used . and why should you people call us non-native speackers. it is because of segregation of the colour or what, whereas those other nations that you regard as native speakers could not use the language very well as we do. Lastly how many of these native speakers can go to asia to teach as compered to the high wage level in their pespective countries.
what i would say is this ,use what you have to gain what you want.
thanks
@Kaisa,
That is really a sad story you shared with us and it just goes to confirm what I have always said about teaching in China. As you suggest, getting a job is all about appearances and not so much teaching skills.
I do have one question though. What if you decided just to tell the truth and tell your students that you are from the Phillipines and that you are proud of it…? Would the school fire you?
Nobody can claim that he/she has perfect English…
I don’t think even Mr. Vance would claim that his English is perfect.
We are all teachers and we should always strive to better our craft.
Native or not, we should all go back to the drawing board.
Learning is a continuous process, as they say…
hi robert!
even before i enter a new class, the school already tells them that their teacher is an immigrant and that even if she is filipino, she is actually a native speaker, having grown up in a western country. and yes, i actually have tried doing that but the school said that some parents are “very picky” and that it does have a positive effect on the students if they think i am a native speaker. so what i do is, i just tell them i’m also filipino and that i’m very proud of that fact. you see, parents might think they are not getting their money’s worth if their child’s teacher is an asian (total BS if you ask me). in fact, i have had students who do not attend my classes once they see me (usually the girls though haha) because they prefer the “white men” to teach them. no offense to chinese girls, but this has happened to me a lot. and i’m like, whatever, their loss not mine!
Dear Readers,
Thank you very much for sending your applications. Our vacancy now is just for two Filipino teachers.
If you are from the Philippines and is presently staying in Shanghai City, China, we invite you to send your CV and application letter to: enlprogramshanghai@yahoo.com.
TJ
Program Coordinator
ENL Program-Shanghai
Language Academy
We all know for the fact that “English is a Universal Language”, where in some words are borrowed from other countries. Example of these the words are imeldific derived from our Martial Law Philippines First Lady Imelda R. Marcos which means “extravagant and excessive”. Volkswagen means “people’s car in” German pronounced as fɔlksˌvaːgən. These are only few of the thousand words being used that didn’t came form the English speaking countries.
Now, for some reason that Chinese students couldn’t get the point that English Language is rapidly changing because of their thought that English words are only coming from native countries is totally ridiculous.
As what TJ has mentioned that Learning is a continuous process; it is also the same with the English Language where changes happen.
@Jhunex,
Thanks for your comments. I am not so sure that English students in China think that all English words come from native speaking countries. Teachers like myself, for example, are always glad to point out to our students that certain words come from French, Latin, etc. The problem is, there is this conception in China that English cannot be learned as well from a non-native speaker. This is simply untrue because there are many excellent non-native speakers out there.
However, just like there are some pretty bad native speakers out there, there are some not-so-good non-native speakers in China as well who should probably not be teaching English. The main thing is, schools in China should be giving non-native speakers more of a chance to compete with the native speakers for jobs…
@Robert
There is a misconception from Chinese students that English words come entirely from native countries like what I’ve experienced in a school in Dongying, Shandong before. where I taught for almost one year. We had a discussion on “How to be successful in an interview” and what are the requirements before having that such interview? We have come across the words like Resume and Curriculum vitae. At first, I asked them if these are English words and all of them said yes, but when I point out that resume is French meaning “summary” and Curriculum vitae is Latin meaning “course of life”; it was then that they’ve realized that in deed, English is a Universal Language.
Yeah, it is true that there are some pretty bad native speakers out there and non-qualified non-native speakers in China and should not be teaching English. As to my case, I’ve met lots of Filipino pretending to be ESL teachers but not teachers by profession specifically in Shijiazhuang, Hebei. I wouldn’t have known this but for the chance of visiting that city before because of a kindergarten school invited me to give a simple 20 mins demonstration. Upon reaching that school, to my surprise, I met 3 Filipinos, 1 Singaporean and 2 Ukrainian. To make it short, I volunteered to be the first one to have my demo, then after that very exhausting demo where I have to dance and sing just to make my lesson alive, these Filipinos asked for an advise. I’ve explained them that you better use the most traditional type of teaching method which is the Deductive or Inductive method then make some revision out of these methods. They suddenly said that, “OUCH, we don’t know what you are saying”. It was then that I’ve come to know that one was a taxi driver here, a clerk in mayor’s office and an assistant supervisor. They main reason that they said yes to the teaching profession in China is, they can speak fluent English which is a bad impression when it comes to applying for a job there.
You have written an article here which entitles teaching Demo-Have No Fear. I would suggest that schools in China must ask first their applicants to give a simple demo before hiring a teacher either, he be a native or non-native speaker. A demo will show how will be the teaching performance of that said teacher for the whole year.
This ad might be off topic…
A job opportunity for English native speakers just opened in our institution. Aside from non-native English speakers, we are now in need of native speakers (note: Caucasians). As was duly noted in this article and the subsequent replies, white skin has its advantages. So, to sum it up, if you are a language teacher and is interested to teach in Shanghai, send your CV to: enlprogramshanghai@yahoo.com. Applicants within Shanghai will be prioritized. Thank you again Mr. Vance.
@TJ,
Feel free to also post this on our main ESL board which can be found on our homepage.