AI-generated transcript:
I was just on Facebook now looking on a forum talking about native versus non-native speakers of English teaching and who makes a better teacher and all that kettle of fish and I'm sort of reluctant to wade into it because very quickly it
you know like all discussions on Facebook it kind of descends into the lowest common denominator and somebody starts accusing somebody else of being racist and then they're Hitler and then it's like what?
So I don't want to go there and I will not post my thoughts on Facebook but this is my blog so I'm going to say what I think and you are free to disagree and please tell me if I'm wrong but but you know this is my corner of the internet so I will
Tell You What I Think.
And what I think is, yeah, there's no place for racism in teaching English, of course.
Sorry, I'm just being visited by my black and white cat.
But how does it manifest itself in teaching English?
Well, of course, there is a sort of a bias like, oh, I only want to be taught by native speakers.
Here I am, a whitey native speaker.
well I get that because thank you excuse me I get that because if I want to learn Japanese I probably want to learn Japanese from a Japanese native speaker not exclusively though when I was a very much I'm still not very good but when I was a real beginner back in England I was taught my one of my first teachers in the night class was Chinese and she was very good she was a good teacher and
and it was great and I learnt a lot from her and she's Chinese so you know it's all relative there are two factors in teaching English how good are you is your knowledge of English and secondly how good a teacher are you and of those two things you need both really so obviously a native speaker has an advantage in that they know the language very well
But doesn't make them necessarily a good teacher.
So, you know, you've got to have both of those factors.
Now, it depends who your student is too.
As a beginner, I was absolutely fine with a non-native speaker.
And in some ways, maybe a non-native speaker is better because they have learned the hard way how to speak the language.
They weren't just lucked into it.
They weren't just born in an English-speaking environment.
So that's
Obviously Fine.
I'd be happy to have a Japanese teacher who's not Japanese because as long as their ability is much better than mine.
Having said that, a native speaker has the advantage that maybe they have an innate, almost innate feeling for the language and not so much of that, but knowledge of the culture from the inside out.
And if they're a good teacher, if they can bring that out,
That Would Make You A Really Great Teacher.
So what am I saying?
It's case by case, isn't it, really?
Generally speaking, I mean, you know, if I want my kids to learn English, I probably want them to learn it from a native speaker, but they could be an American or Australian.
Does that make it racist?
Maybe.
I think not, though, because I think it's a level of skill.
And when it becomes racist is when you get paid at different levels based on your race, or you get a job based on your race.
Then it's racist.
If somebody offers me a job because I'm a whitey, yeah, that's not good.
If somebody offers me a job because I'm a good teacher and I know my business, okay, we're in business.
In my eikaiwa, I mean, it's really just me and my wife most of the time,
We Pay Equal Wages.
You can say, well, but my wife is a non-native speaker.
Yeah, but she's really good with kids.
She has an ability that I maybe lack.
She's certainly, she's the enforcer in the class and we team teach.
But then the dynamics are different.
We're married.
Everything that I make, everything that she makes goes into the same pot.
So we are a team.
So I don't, the dividing it because, oh, you're a non-native speaker, so you should be at 80% and I should be at, it's absurd.
so equal pay for equal work I can agree with that just like I wouldn't distinguish between male and female for pay it's a touchy subject isn't it but you know in the same way that I couldn't get a job because my Japanese is awful so I couldn't get a job leading a Japanese company rightly because I don't know enough so you know
is that racist or is that just the way it is and as a business point of view you have to play things well on the one hand you have to go with what the market wants and if the market wants a native English speaker then that's what the market gets doesn't mean it's right and you know like they say you know you be the change that you want to see in the world if you think something is unfair then don't do that in your own business
So it comes back to being self-employed as all things do with Free Talk TEFL and if you're self-employed you make your own rules but yeah I'm sure I'm being visited by the cat again I'm sure I'm sure that you can shape things your own way as long as you do them fairly
Does that make it racist?
I don't know.
Yeah, you have to be conscious of these things.
I guess I'm going over the same ground again.
If you have knowledge and you have ability, it doesn't matter your native status or whatever.
If you're a good teacher, I think that trumps everything, beats everything.
If you're a good teacher and you know your subject, it doesn't matter what nationality you are.
Right?
Another example, I have a lot of my students, Japanese students, when they get to be like a sort of high school-ish age or late junior high school or high school age, they help us out with reading with kids.
And I'm perfectly happy with that.
Yes, they're not native speakers.
Oh, they don't have training as a teacher.
No.
But they learned how to read from my eikaiwa and I want them to pass on what they've learned and any tips that they have to the younger kids.
I think that's valuable.
They're not native speakers but I think they have something worth teaching.
So that's what it comes down to.
Can you teach?
Do you have knowledge of what you're teaching?
If the answers are yes, yes and yes, okay, you've got a job.
don't worry about it if you think you're being given unfair crack of the whip or unfair not getting the best jobs start your own business figure out a way of finding the customers that you can that would be my practical solution but you know as I say I like to go for the practical issues excuse me no respect I get no respect
rather than the broader philosophical questions which that's for somebody else to work out try and be fair and that's that a related issue was well you know you've got to have your qualification to teach you're teaching English as a foreign language your CELTA certificate of English language teaching to adults I think it is I've got one of those it's a one month course and I learnt a lot
Would I suggest that you have to have that?
No.
Is it a good thing to have?
Yes, if it helps you, if it gives you confidence.
Is it a necessity?
No, I don't think so.
People like to hide behind their qualifications.
Well, I've got this qualification and you don't have this qualification.
Yeah, well, it's what you do with it, isn't it?
It's what you actually really know.
If it's just a piece of paper, it's just a piece of paper.
But if that piece of paper gives you confidence, wow, okay, great.
What I'm saying is it all comes down to, are you a good teacher?
Do you know your subject?
And if the answer is yes to both of those, you'll be fine.
That's where I stand.
Okay, I'm gonna listen to this again, see if it makes sense.
If it kinda does make sense,
I'll put it on the blog and you can tell me if I'm on the right track or if I've completely lost it let me know bitch about me on Facebook do your worst okay have a good Friday and weekend and good luck and keep on keeping on peace man
45. Is it racist to prefer to be taught a language by a native speaker? A few thoughts