The China Teaching Web

Dear Jean,

I am a Filipino who has spent 20 years in the Philippines and 8 years in the United States. While English is not my first language, I definitely feel that my skills are very good and that my ‘accent’ has diminished since coming to the U.S. I am wondering how much luck I would have in finding a teaching job in China since I am not a ‘native’ speaker. Do schools in China hire Filipinos? I also want to ask about my friend Dawan who is from Kenya. He has been in the U.S. almost as long as I have and we were hoping to go and teach ESL together in China. Any advice you could give me would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Jun

Jean answers Jun’s question

Dear Jun,

Thank you for your question. TeachAbroadChina.com receives many similar questions from non-native speakers of English around the world. First, no matter what you read on other websites, be assured that there are English teaching jobs available for non-native speakers in China. With that said, it is more difficult to find good teaching jobs in China if you are not from a ‘Western’ country. Fortunately, TeachAbroadChina.com has some great resources for non-native speakers who want to teach in China. Instead of repeating what has already been written on this website, I will refer you to some links on TeachAbroadChina.com that will be useful.

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.

Non-Native English Speakers Teaching in China Revisited – A followup to the original article with more information about non-native English speakers teaching in China

Teaching Jobs in China for Non-Native Speakers of English – Another followup post.

Make sure that you read the comments at the end of these posts carefully as you will be able to find job offers targeted at non-native speakers of English.

You can also visit the section of our Travel in China Forum that is dedicated to non-native speakers of English teaching ESL in China.  

Sincerely,

Jean

Ask Jean about China is a weekly feature on TeachAbroadChina.com. We welcome any questions related to living and working in China. Feel free to submit your questions by clicking here. We look forward to hearing from you.