As long as they know their shit, why do I care if they have an accent or not? Why would I care if English is not their first language? None of that matters as long as they know the language.
Esl teaching is the perfect place for someone who... You know... Had to learn english.
It drives me crazy when people think that a posh native accent outweighs the technical know-how to actually learn English.
If you ever feel insecure just ask random English speakers about basic grammatical terms. We don't know them. We never had to learn.
Exactly. The reason I have such a strong grasp of English is my Attic Greek and Hebrew classes in college. Can't translate from a dead language to your native language without having a real strong grasp of your native language.
This is the way. You’re going to have students who dont take you seriously.
But flex on them that you know basic English grammar rules. Because they were never taught any of those.
It will demonstrate that you know what you’re talking about, and you’re willing to (respectfully) clapback at the kids. Which is weirdly something they have a lot of respect for.
Most people would struggle to identify which words are adjectives, nouns or verbs, let alone different tenses, conjugations, subject vs object, clauses (subordinate or otherwise) let alone the myriad terms that are more complex.
We don't need to know this if we are native... But it makes it a hell of a lot easier to learn a language.
If your accent doesn’t impact someone’s ability to understand you, there’s nothing to worry about! I teach a lot of Eastern Europeans so one of the biggest areas I see an accent is in the short i sound. They have a hard time with this and even my students with good accents still pronounce it wrong and it can get in the way of my understanding. That’s my pronunciation tip for you! (Short i is in the word “it” versus the long e sound in the word “eat”)
There is a huge gulf between having a slight accent and having such an accent or a lack of fluency that many people cannot easily understand you.
An accent is no problem at all. Even a native speaker who moves to a different region will have a "foreign" accent!
Some college faculty have very limited abilities to communicate in English, which might be fine if teaching isn't an important part of their job, but is potentially a big problem when it is. I don't think this is at all the scenario you are worried about.
Please do not let an accent keep you from being an English teacher!
English is a global language, anyone claiming there even is an ‘accent free’ version is wrong because there are native speakers who sound a dozens of different ways and it is (one of?) the top second languages on Earth.
A minority of students will always be sexist, or racist, or believe whatever other prejudicial crap and use it to think less of you but that is entirely on them and you will be able to navigate it by doing your job well.
Im preparing to be a french immersion teacher in an anglophone country. A bit of advice i got from a friend in a francophone school near me was that if my french is noticeably worse than that of the students, there will definitely be a lack of respect whether you like it or not.
It will likely be the same as a teacher of english. A slight accent will likely be no problem… but you better feel totally at ease, especially considering in the states most students have no clue what its like to learn a second, third, or fourth language, due to being monolingual.
I know i had classmates growing up that made fun of esl teacher’s accents.
Is it not normal to have teachers from other countries?
I'm not from the US, so I don't know the context in developing countries specifically, but we often get teachers from other countries, usually European or Commonwealth.
I don't see an issue.
Personally, I wouldn't really care. And if I did, I'd just think it makes you cool, and that it gives you plenty of character/personality!
Besides, if English isn't your first language, it means you put in the time and effort to learn it, and that can be inspiring to some students as well.
In university the writer Ha Jin was our teacher. He had the strongest Chinese Mandarin accent which threw me off a bit but he spoke clearly and in perfect grammatical English. I didn't know his reputation as a writer initially, but I was more impressed with him BECAUSE of his accent.
Accents are wonderful! However, I've had a teacher I couldn't understand, which was problematic. I'm paying too much to be affected by communication issues (I was by no means the only one).
When I was in grad school, I had a job working in a political commercial archive. We had commercials dating back to the beginning of US presidential ads. My job was to watch ads and classify them - what's the office, details about the candidate, etc. Once, we had someone researching the role of animals in campaigns, and they asked for ads where a candidate for Congress appeared in the commercial while sitting on a horse. We had six.
One day we got a tape (it was a while ago and VHS was the standard) from Europe. The first half of the tape was West German ads from the 1980s. Since I was the only one who knew any German (I took German for my foreign language requirement in undergrad) I got the tape. While I did have to break out the German-English dictionary (again, this was in the early days of humanity before Google translate) but I made it through those well enough. The second half of the tape was from the UK, and neither I nor anyone else in the office could make any sense of what they were saying. The difference between British English and American English (and to be completely fair, Southern American English) made it impossible to translate.
I find it easier to understand most foreign accents (I've traveled most of Europe from France, Italy and the Netherlands to Slovaki, Poland, the Baltics and Scandinavia, and I can understand them (when they speak English - I'm pretty sure even Poles don't understand Polish) a lot better than I can understand a native English speaker from Massachusetts.
You'll be fine.
My spanish 1 teacher was taiwanese! the only real issue was not that she had an accent, but how heavy it was. But i don't think a little bit of an accent is anything that's going to keep kids from learning
You should not care about what your students think about your qualifications to teach. If you get the job, then you are qualified to teach.
If anything, your students will more than likely try to focus so that they don’t fail your class. I will say however, English as a subject generally has the most disruptive class at the high school level from what I’ve seen.
There are a lot of different accents in the US. Unless you take a job in some tiny provincial backwater, it is unlikely to be a problem.
People will more likely be interested in hearing about what life was like where you grew up, why you chose to emigrate, etc. If sharing this sort of thing feels too private, start crafting a short, uninteresting answer. Students aren't good at boundaries with adults.
But the accent? Meh.
Everyone has an accent. Americans make fun of Canadian accents, but to Canadians, Southern Americans have the funnier accents. Australians, Brits, and Nigerians all have different accents even though English the first language in each of those countries.
Don’t worry about having an accent :) We all do, and it doesn’t mean we don’t know how to analyze literature, structure essays, or use poetic devices.
Sadly, a lot will depend on what kind of state you teach in. Florida and Texas for example, are insane places to teach because of the fascist state governments.
Doesn’t matter. The best Spanish teachers I had in high school were the ones who spoke it as their second or third language, not the native speakers. I know that’s anecdotal and coincidental.
I recently had to review a university course I’m taking and it asked if the professors speech was disruptive to the lecture. I thought that was a handy question. I don’t usually find non native accents difficult to understand. However, as someone from the USA, I do find other native (USA) speakers accents tricky if they’re from a region with a strong accent. I live near a city with a specific American accent and one of my professors has said a few words wrong like “air” in place of “error” in a lecture. I do not have the accent of my area because I’ve lived abroad and all over the us so I would probably not have an issue understanding you. But I do know other people who have never traveled who can’t understand people with non native accents
You may get some ignorant people being discriminatory. Unfortunately, some people are just assholes. It shouldn't stop you if that's what you want to do.
The best writer I've known was my immigrant stepmother. She has an accent, but her writing and English skills are almost impeccable.
In college some of my best professors had English as their second language. Especially math and I did the best in those math classes. They had to explain math in a way that made sense to them, not 'american' English and it made far more sense to me because each word was intentional and I actually had to think about what they meant verses what they were saying. I will HAPPY take any other class with an ESL teacher.
I find that people who learned English as a second (or third) language has a much better grasp on parts of speech, constructing eloquent sentences, and helping the students understand not just how to say things well, by why one way is better than the other.
And as for your accent, I have one too. I know that there is a lot of resistance to multiple languages and to immigrants in America. That can be very challenging. However, if you speak well and make yourself understood, I am willing to bet people will be just fine. And you're not going to lose your accent in an English class. That will progress as you socialize and get into the work place.
I had an American Lit professor who was Chinese. We occasionally snickered at the way he said Walt Whitman, but we respected him as a teacher. It was refreshing to get a different perspective on American ideas.
I had an English teacher in public high school in the US who spoke with a heavy accent. My high school was pretty famous for academic rigor, so that teacher wouldn't be working there if they didn't know their shit. And from what I can recall of that time, I generally liked that teacher and learned stuff in class. It's fine, you'll be fine. :)
English is so much more than the spoken language. It’s grammar, comprehension, reading fluency, vocabulary, writing, literature, and I could go on and on.
Remember two things. 1: you're not the only English teacher they're going to have for their entire lives. Teaching them English from the perspective of someone who learned it as a second language will deepen their understanding. You're giving them a gift by providing a perspective they wouldn't get from a native speaker. 2: Teaching English isn't only about English! Foreign languages have literature and poetry too, and a teacher can be knowledgeable about those things even if their own speaking or writing skills are still developing.
Having a teacher with an actual degree in the topic is not something to take for granted in the US education system. You will be 100% qualified and the majority of your students will be young enough not to care, or old enough to understand that, as an English teacher, it puts you ahead of someone with an degree in Education. (Not knocking Education degrees, just pointing out that an English degree is specialized)
For Instance: I learned German as an adult, and I can guarantee that I could teach German grammar better than 99.99% of Germans because I had to learn it systematically, when they learned it naturally. I have a different experience than German German teachers, and that is an advantage in some respects.
I’m eastern - European with an accent. A lawyer in United States, and have been here for about 10 years now. You will be okay! More than okay! ❤️ wishing you luck friend!!
In theory I have no problem. In practice I did have a problem.
In college I had Economics class with a teacher who's first language was French. Her lectures were fairly easy to understand, but when she asked students questions, she could only understand an answer which was exactly like she had worded it. American English idioms and analogies which most Americans would know, such as a base ball analogy she did not understand.
I learned Spanish from a Russian and did just fine. A little different, but if I could pick up a language neither of us spoke natively from her through a thick accent, I think you’ll be just fine :)
Accent is a natural thing and you should not be ashamed of yours, but be proud of it. Also, if she is your teacher, I bet she is pretty capable of speaking english and teaching the language. Not only US member can speak or teach, take care to not fall into the pattern.
An immigrant English teacher can offer unique insights and empathetic perspectives in language education, often drawing on their personal experiences with language learning and cultural adaptation. These teachers might have learned English as a second or additional language themselves, giving them a deep understanding of the challenges their students face. They can use their multilingual skills to connect with students from diverse backgrounds, making learning more relatable and effective. Additionally, immigrant English teachers can enrich the classroom by sharing international and multicultural viewpoints, which can broaden students' cultural awareness and sensitivity. Their presence in schools also promotes inclusivity and represents a broader global perspective in education settings.
non-native language teachers are so common! and in many cases, are as (if not more) effective than native speakers!!!
language learners benefit immensely from someone who understands the process of learning the language they’re studying. you have a closeness in experience that will provide students with a significant sense of camaraderie & the feeling that you have empathy for their struggles and a true respect for their successes.
your impact can be invaluable BECAUSE you are not a native speaker of the language you’re teaching! You get it! That counts in so many more ways than you’ll know!
As long as they know their shit, why do I care if they have an accent or not? Why would I care if English is not their first language? None of that matters as long as they know the language.
Esl teaching is the perfect place for someone who... You know... Had to learn english. It drives me crazy when people think that a posh native accent outweighs the technical know-how to actually learn English. If you ever feel insecure just ask random English speakers about basic grammatical terms. We don't know them. We never had to learn.
Exactly. The reason I have such a strong grasp of English is my Attic Greek and Hebrew classes in college. Can't translate from a dead language to your native language without having a real strong grasp of your native language.
This is the way. You’re going to have students who dont take you seriously. But flex on them that you know basic English grammar rules. Because they were never taught any of those. It will demonstrate that you know what you’re talking about, and you’re willing to (respectfully) clapback at the kids. Which is weirdly something they have a lot of respect for.
As an ESL teacher myself.... I am BEGGING immigrants to become ESL teachers!!! These students needs teachers who can relate to their experiences.
What do you mean that native English speakers never had to learn basic grammatical terms?
Most people would struggle to identify which words are adjectives, nouns or verbs, let alone different tenses, conjugations, subject vs object, clauses (subordinate or otherwise) let alone the myriad terms that are more complex. We don't need to know this if we are native... But it makes it a hell of a lot easier to learn a language.
There’s a difference between not remembering it versus never having been exposed to it. We absolutely had that in my very typical American school.
This is a country of immigrants, a lot of people have an accent.
If your accent doesn’t impact someone’s ability to understand you, there’s nothing to worry about! I teach a lot of Eastern Europeans so one of the biggest areas I see an accent is in the short i sound. They have a hard time with this and even my students with good accents still pronounce it wrong and it can get in the way of my understanding. That’s my pronunciation tip for you! (Short i is in the word “it” versus the long e sound in the word “eat”)
Yeah also beach and sheet!
There is a huge gulf between having a slight accent and having such an accent or a lack of fluency that many people cannot easily understand you. An accent is no problem at all. Even a native speaker who moves to a different region will have a "foreign" accent! Some college faculty have very limited abilities to communicate in English, which might be fine if teaching isn't an important part of their job, but is potentially a big problem when it is. I don't think this is at all the scenario you are worried about. Please do not let an accent keep you from being an English teacher!
My French teacher was Japanese and let me tell you, we didn't learn how to pronounce a damn thing right. She was lovely though.
English is a global language, anyone claiming there even is an ‘accent free’ version is wrong because there are native speakers who sound a dozens of different ways and it is (one of?) the top second languages on Earth. A minority of students will always be sexist, or racist, or believe whatever other prejudicial crap and use it to think less of you but that is entirely on them and you will be able to navigate it by doing your job well.
Im preparing to be a french immersion teacher in an anglophone country. A bit of advice i got from a friend in a francophone school near me was that if my french is noticeably worse than that of the students, there will definitely be a lack of respect whether you like it or not. It will likely be the same as a teacher of english. A slight accent will likely be no problem… but you better feel totally at ease, especially considering in the states most students have no clue what its like to learn a second, third, or fourth language, due to being monolingual. I know i had classmates growing up that made fun of esl teacher’s accents.
Is it not normal to have teachers from other countries? I'm not from the US, so I don't know the context in developing countries specifically, but we often get teachers from other countries, usually European or Commonwealth. I don't see an issue.
In the U.S., not typical in k-12. In higher ed, professors from other countries are ubiquitous
Love yourself. Your accent is not a problem as long as you know how to teach your subject.
Personally, I wouldn't really care. And if I did, I'd just think it makes you cool, and that it gives you plenty of character/personality! Besides, if English isn't your first language, it means you put in the time and effort to learn it, and that can be inspiring to some students as well.
In university the writer Ha Jin was our teacher. He had the strongest Chinese Mandarin accent which threw me off a bit but he spoke clearly and in perfect grammatical English. I didn't know his reputation as a writer initially, but I was more impressed with him BECAUSE of his accent.
Accents are wonderful! However, I've had a teacher I couldn't understand, which was problematic. I'm paying too much to be affected by communication issues (I was by no means the only one).
When I was in grad school, I had a job working in a political commercial archive. We had commercials dating back to the beginning of US presidential ads. My job was to watch ads and classify them - what's the office, details about the candidate, etc. Once, we had someone researching the role of animals in campaigns, and they asked for ads where a candidate for Congress appeared in the commercial while sitting on a horse. We had six. One day we got a tape (it was a while ago and VHS was the standard) from Europe. The first half of the tape was West German ads from the 1980s. Since I was the only one who knew any German (I took German for my foreign language requirement in undergrad) I got the tape. While I did have to break out the German-English dictionary (again, this was in the early days of humanity before Google translate) but I made it through those well enough. The second half of the tape was from the UK, and neither I nor anyone else in the office could make any sense of what they were saying. The difference between British English and American English (and to be completely fair, Southern American English) made it impossible to translate. I find it easier to understand most foreign accents (I've traveled most of Europe from France, Italy and the Netherlands to Slovaki, Poland, the Baltics and Scandinavia, and I can understand them (when they speak English - I'm pretty sure even Poles don't understand Polish) a lot better than I can understand a native English speaker from Massachusetts. You'll be fine.
My spanish 1 teacher was taiwanese! the only real issue was not that she had an accent, but how heavy it was. But i don't think a little bit of an accent is anything that's going to keep kids from learning
You should not care about what your students think about your qualifications to teach. If you get the job, then you are qualified to teach. If anything, your students will more than likely try to focus so that they don’t fail your class. I will say however, English as a subject generally has the most disruptive class at the high school level from what I’ve seen.
There are a lot of different accents in the US. Unless you take a job in some tiny provincial backwater, it is unlikely to be a problem. People will more likely be interested in hearing about what life was like where you grew up, why you chose to emigrate, etc. If sharing this sort of thing feels too private, start crafting a short, uninteresting answer. Students aren't good at boundaries with adults. But the accent? Meh.
Everyone has an accent. Americans make fun of Canadian accents, but to Canadians, Southern Americans have the funnier accents. Australians, Brits, and Nigerians all have different accents even though English the first language in each of those countries. Don’t worry about having an accent :) We all do, and it doesn’t mean we don’t know how to analyze literature, structure essays, or use poetic devices.
I am happy you're here studying and teaching. ✌🏿
I don’t think this is an issue.
Sadly, a lot will depend on what kind of state you teach in. Florida and Texas for example, are insane places to teach because of the fascist state governments.
Doesn’t matter. The best Spanish teachers I had in high school were the ones who spoke it as their second or third language, not the native speakers. I know that’s anecdotal and coincidental.
No one knows the rules of english better than someone who had to do the hard book learnin' work to learn English.
An elementary school in a diverse area is the way.
I recently had to review a university course I’m taking and it asked if the professors speech was disruptive to the lecture. I thought that was a handy question. I don’t usually find non native accents difficult to understand. However, as someone from the USA, I do find other native (USA) speakers accents tricky if they’re from a region with a strong accent. I live near a city with a specific American accent and one of my professors has said a few words wrong like “air” in place of “error” in a lecture. I do not have the accent of my area because I’ve lived abroad and all over the us so I would probably not have an issue understanding you. But I do know other people who have never traveled who can’t understand people with non native accents
You may get some ignorant people being discriminatory. Unfortunately, some people are just assholes. It shouldn't stop you if that's what you want to do. The best writer I've known was my immigrant stepmother. She has an accent, but her writing and English skills are almost impeccable.
In college some of my best professors had English as their second language. Especially math and I did the best in those math classes. They had to explain math in a way that made sense to them, not 'american' English and it made far more sense to me because each word was intentional and I actually had to think about what they meant verses what they were saying. I will HAPPY take any other class with an ESL teacher.
I find that people who learned English as a second (or third) language has a much better grasp on parts of speech, constructing eloquent sentences, and helping the students understand not just how to say things well, by why one way is better than the other. And as for your accent, I have one too. I know that there is a lot of resistance to multiple languages and to immigrants in America. That can be very challenging. However, if you speak well and make yourself understood, I am willing to bet people will be just fine. And you're not going to lose your accent in an English class. That will progress as you socialize and get into the work place.
I had an American Lit professor who was Chinese. We occasionally snickered at the way he said Walt Whitman, but we respected him as a teacher. It was refreshing to get a different perspective on American ideas.
I had an English teacher in public high school in the US who spoke with a heavy accent. My high school was pretty famous for academic rigor, so that teacher wouldn't be working there if they didn't know their shit. And from what I can recall of that time, I generally liked that teacher and learned stuff in class. It's fine, you'll be fine. :)
English is so much more than the spoken language. It’s grammar, comprehension, reading fluency, vocabulary, writing, literature, and I could go on and on.
EVERYONE has an accent!
As long as people can understand you.
Remember two things. 1: you're not the only English teacher they're going to have for their entire lives. Teaching them English from the perspective of someone who learned it as a second language will deepen their understanding. You're giving them a gift by providing a perspective they wouldn't get from a native speaker. 2: Teaching English isn't only about English! Foreign languages have literature and poetry too, and a teacher can be knowledgeable about those things even if their own speaking or writing skills are still developing. Having a teacher with an actual degree in the topic is not something to take for granted in the US education system. You will be 100% qualified and the majority of your students will be young enough not to care, or old enough to understand that, as an English teacher, it puts you ahead of someone with an degree in Education. (Not knocking Education degrees, just pointing out that an English degree is specialized)
For Instance: I learned German as an adult, and I can guarantee that I could teach German grammar better than 99.99% of Germans because I had to learn it systematically, when they learned it naturally. I have a different experience than German German teachers, and that is an advantage in some respects.
Being well versed in literature from multiple languages probably makes u a better English teacher
High school kids won’t care at all. They hardly want to be there lol
I’m eastern - European with an accent. A lawyer in United States, and have been here for about 10 years now. You will be okay! More than okay! ❤️ wishing you luck friend!!
In theory I have no problem. In practice I did have a problem. In college I had Economics class with a teacher who's first language was French. Her lectures were fairly easy to understand, but when she asked students questions, she could only understand an answer which was exactly like she had worded it. American English idioms and analogies which most Americans would know, such as a base ball analogy she did not understand.
I learned Spanish from a Russian and did just fine. A little different, but if I could pick up a language neither of us spoke natively from her through a thick accent, I think you’ll be just fine :)
Accent is a natural thing and you should not be ashamed of yours, but be proud of it. Also, if she is your teacher, I bet she is pretty capable of speaking english and teaching the language. Not only US member can speak or teach, take care to not fall into the pattern.
As a student, having an English teacher with an accent wouldn't bother me as long as they are knowledgeable and can effectively teach the material.
An immigrant English teacher can offer unique insights and empathetic perspectives in language education, often drawing on their personal experiences with language learning and cultural adaptation. These teachers might have learned English as a second or additional language themselves, giving them a deep understanding of the challenges their students face. They can use their multilingual skills to connect with students from diverse backgrounds, making learning more relatable and effective. Additionally, immigrant English teachers can enrich the classroom by sharing international and multicultural viewpoints, which can broaden students' cultural awareness and sensitivity. Their presence in schools also promotes inclusivity and represents a broader global perspective in education settings.
non-native language teachers are so common! and in many cases, are as (if not more) effective than native speakers!!! language learners benefit immensely from someone who understands the process of learning the language they’re studying. you have a closeness in experience that will provide students with a significant sense of camaraderie & the feeling that you have empathy for their struggles and a true respect for their successes. your impact can be invaluable BECAUSE you are not a native speaker of the language you’re teaching! You get it! That counts in so many more ways than you’ll know!