Yeah true that, but the worst part is – these so-called “native speakers” cant even spell right. When I went to Korea, a lot of teachers there (from UK, Australia, US, Canada, Ireland, and South Africa) cannot spell right. I am not the best speller or grammarian in the world but at least I know that pagoda is spelled as pagoda and not pogoda. Most of these “teachers” does not have a teaching degree, nor any experience in teaching – most are kids just fresh out of uni from countrytown, USA and first time to go abroad. One hagwon or language academy in Korea hired someone from Canada thinking he was an English native speaker, turned out the guy was Russian and only had his Canadian citizenship a few months before that – worst of all he lived in Quebec! The guy barely spoke any English. LOL. English is an international language and is still rapidly growing and expanding and there is no such thing as Authentic English – hmmm – what is that? Queen’s English? American English? Aussie English? There are millions of Indians speaking their own brand of English, similar to the English in Singapore (which to me doesn’t sound anywhere close to English) and the English spoken by Filipinos (which can either be in varying accents like Californian/New York/Midwest USA or Aussie/British and of course Tagalog/Visayas accented English. Whatever it is, it is the First Language Influence – how your First language affects the pronunciation, grammar, etc of your adopted language. I think if you watch CNN now especially, you can hear these different accents of English depending on the speaker- but it is alright. I think if Asian schools hire “native speakers” of English, there should be heaps of qualifying exams and other criteria that needs to be checked. Proper grammar and spelling of course needs to be on top of the agenda and at least a decent teaching experience. if you keep sending trailer trash to Asia to teach English, then it is no wonder these poor people learn all the wrong things. It is okay if you don’t have the twang, it is okay if you can’t speak the way Americans, Aussies, Brits speak- as long as your delivery, diction and grammar is clear and can be understood, it doesnt matter.

Have you met an English Literature major who cant speak English, I have. Really pathetic. Tsk tsk tsk. LOL

Work visa etc is usually worked out as part of the contract and sorted by the English school…
ESL is in high demand so I’m sure the opportunities are around…you just have to go looking and do a bit of research…same as any other job. Also, the internet comes in really handy for information about that type of thing…again research…

By the way: I’m getting plenty of questions regarding Teaching English in Bali – especially here – though I don’t know much about it. Openings, probable salary, work visa or work contract. Could you or Paul Edwards please elaborate a bit further, if that’d be a real chance for foreigners to work in Bali? I can understand if that is asking you too much from my side.

Anyway – thanks for your great sense of humor and the friendly comment! And best of luck to your venture!

We were quite surprised to find that we’d caused so much talk over a name…we did well then!
Glad you were interested in what we do here and it’s great teaching the Indonesians as well as helping those less fortunate through the organisation…
A point of interest is that most of my students have a hard time understanding me at first because of my Australian accent and they often learn a lot of their English from watching American movies and so find Americans the easiest to understand. It doesn’t take them long though to get used to my voice…
Another really interesting point is that they find the British accent the hardest to understand…
I’m not really fussed about the difference between AUS, US or UK English, I teach with Australian spelling and pronunciation but if they use US spelling I don’t mark it wrong or anything….it’s still correct in America!

I enjoyed your article, made me laugh and especially the come backs you got…good to know you can receive as good as you give…

Anyways, if you know anyone that wants to study English in Bali, tell them about us, we do run a quality program that caters for all different ages and needs…I’m passionate about my job and I love seeing people learn a skill that will open up bigger opportunities for them in their life.

Cheers!