Rather, my former coworker because I quit. I got into a huge fight with the owner over a number of things, including that. It was a part time job for me, teaching English. I started there in March and worked with this wonderful lady from Ghana.
Mary, as I’ll call her, has worked in that small English conversation and cram school for over 10 years. She’s got a bit of a temper but is a wonderful teacher especially with the younger kids. She went to a British school in Ghana and is as fluent in English as me.
There had been another American female teacher, but she wasn’t able to control the kids so the owner “April” fired her and had me take on additional hours.
April is pretty good at talking to the parents, but really sucks at working with the teachers. She’s native Taiwanese, and while she’s got good English, she thinks that her employees are machines and not people.
I had become increasingly frustrated working there. Finding out that she was underpaying this loyal teacher was the last straw. No, I don’t know that it is racial discrimination, but finding out the white Americans get more than black Africans who speak the same English and has more actual experience, not to mention many more years of seniority was too much.
When confronted, she chose to lie instead of owning up to it. She claimed it was because I have more travel expenses, and remained silent when queried about the other former worker.
It’s too bad. I really liked the kids there. I just didn’t see any way of continuing my employment.
Sadly common. The worst situation I know is a very good international school outside of Chengdu whose English Department was essentially founded and built up by a very dedicated Filipino staff. After many years of loyal and excellent service, they were unceremoniously let go so that more prestigious white teachers- often with nowhere near their experience- could take their place.
[QUOTE=even sven]
Sadly common. The worst situation I know is a very good international school outside of Chengdu whose English Department was essentially founded and built up by a very dedicated Filipino staff. After many years of loyal and excellent service, they were unceremoniously let go so that more prestigious white teachers- often with nowhere near their experience- could take their place.
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My anecdotal experience? Back in University there was a chance to spend three months in China teaching English during the summer. I applied and so did my Portugese flatmate. I had actual English teaching experience, and I used to to correct his work at times, (his English was ok). He got in because, “its a European language afterall”.
It’s the official language of many places whose population doesn’t necessarily speak it, or speak it in a way that would be recognizable as “English” to people from other countries.
Not much need for rolleyes, really. English is the official language of Uganda, spoken by most educated Ugandans with varying degrees of fluency. Once outside of Kampala, English speakers are nearly non-existent, and even in the city most are speaking a tribal dialect as their primary language. My cite is that I lived there for a year. French is the official language of Mali, but the vast majority of the population speaks Bambara. I lived there for two years.
Uneducated peasants do not usually apply for English teaching positions. The point was that Nava stated that English of Ghanians and others would not be understood as English by most.
I had been posting from my cell phone, so I was too brief. I’m back at home so I can explain in more detail.
I’m not a government agency, I did not conduct an extensive investigation so I cannot prove her motives. However, based on the knowledge that three white American teachers were paid one salary and one Black African, with greater experience and seniority was paid less, plus with my interactions with the owner for the last nine months, I have confidence that is the case. As even sven says, this is unfortunately very common.
Young blonds tend to be the most employable in many English schools because they have the image the school wants. When I moved here to Taiwan, I contacted a number of recruiters and the first things they wanted to know was where I was from and how old I was. Being American was good, being middle aged was not. When I lived in Japan, I knew a number of Japanese Americans who had a very difficult time getting jobs simply because they “didn’t look American.”
In my OP I stated that she went to a British school. I don’t know the overall fluency of English in Ghana, but I’ve met people from there who have strong accents and sound like they are speakers of English as a second language. She does not. I didn’t know she was from Ghana until several months after I started working there. I know white South Africans who work as English teachers and they get paid the same as Americans, Canadians and British. I even know a guy from the Czech Republic who gets “native English” wages.
The story about the other teacher is that she was paid the same wage that I am getting. I know why she was fired. When the owner fired that teacher, she told me.
Why I said that April lied is that when Mary and I confronted April about the difference in pay between us, with Mary having ten years seniority, April claimed that the difference was because I lived out of town and needed more money for the commute. This is not true because April had been paying the previous teacher the same rate that I’m getting. When confronted with evidence that her story wasn’t holding up, April simply shut up and refused to answer.
That’s not at all what was said. Nava was speaking of the general population of countries with an “official” language, and in general, the statement is correct.
Replying to the fork: I have visited Barbados many times. Their native language is said to be English, but it is incomprehensible to me. Nearly all Bajans can speak and all can understand what I call mid-Atlantic English and the radio and TV announcers all speak it too. But saying someone’s native language is English does not automatically make them good models.
I once met a Highland Scot whose native English was also incomprehensible. He spoke to me in Scottish accented by perfectly understandable English but that was not his native tongue. And no, it wasnt Scots Gaelic, it was a variety of English. I’ve also run into Cockneys I could not understand. At least I assume they were Cockney, but it was in London.
