Hilal Hastaoglu » discrimination

 

Today I got a very interesting comment from one of my readers. I felt like I had to write something about it so here it goes… 

Dear Hastaoglu,

How good is it for a non-native speaker of English? Despite the fact that we have a good experience and a college degree, I don’t think when it comes to teaching English, this CELTA can save us from getting discriminated on the ground of birth origin. What do you think? In fact, doing CELTA was a long-targeted thing for me and my friend, but we could not see a promising outcome for teaching in other countries. So, we consider it a waste of time and money. We might still get a good job in teaching without it in Nepal. 

Dear ****** 

Having lived in the Middle East for over 15 years as a Turkish & Canadian, I can completely understand what you are talking about. In some places of the world, they wish for you to come straight out of USA or UK to teach English. If you are not from the USA or

UK, then you can’t teach English no matter how good you are in teaching! However, I learned to overcome such discrimination with my secret guide. I will be kind enough to share, hehehe, this with you and everyone else out there that feels they are not getting what they deserve from the education sector of this big industrial world due to discrimination.

Secret Guide Number 1:

If you feel that you will be discriminated, then you will probably end up being discriminated, because every job out there looks for confidence. When you carry negative feelings, they often take away your strength. I look at many people out there and see that they come from very poor countries that have bad reputation. But when they walk with their head up and confident of every step they take, that is when they get respect. Once you have that respect, then the rest is a piece of cake. 

Conclusion: Be Confident! 

Secret Guide Number 2:

Certificates like the CELTA bring prestige to your CV. Don’t forget, quality comes from qualification. These two words are highly related…. so related that they both start with “qua” hehe. So when you have quality on your CV, then it won’t matter whether you are Indian, Chinese, Arab or whatever. 

Conclusion: Quality brings Qualification. Prestige is somewhat important.  

Secret Guide Number 3:

If you are not a native speaker of English, then you WILL need a certificate like the CELTA. Not to add qualification or prestige to who you are, but to add information into your head. What is inside the CELTA, helps you a lot. It gives you ideas, tactics, methods and everything else you need to become a good teacher. Without the CELTA you can still be a good teacher, but you will have to learn by your self; by educating your self with psychology books, teaching method books, culture books, student approach books etc. Let’s not forget that courses like the CELTA offer you this education and then have you practice until you can do it on your own. 

Example: Just like how mother birds help their baby birds fly, the CELTA educates you and then trains you so you can fly on your own when you are out there. Not to forget that the CELTA offers you a flying pit; classrooms with real students! 

Conclusion: Educate your self with courses like the CELTA or by reading many different types of books.