Does Teaching English Abroad Make Me a Neo-Colonialist?
I don’t want to be part of systems of oppression I am working to dismantle.
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Teaching has been apart of my life for the better part of a decade. When I first set out to college, that was my major — early childhood education.
I took part in classroom internships in a variety of settings, with children from different backgrounds, and before graduating with my degree, I was a teacher for five years in classrooms between Brooklyn and Manhattan.
I thought I would be a preschool teacher forever with daydreams in my foundational early education courses of having my own classroom and my students calling me ‘Miss Renée.’
When I decided to transition to full-time travel, I had to come up with ways of making money while on the road. It just so happened that six months before leaving home, I discovered online English teaching, where I taught Chinese students between the ages of three and sixteen years old.
It was a good gig while it lasted, but there were moments I felt myself cringing inside but couldn’t pinpoint why.
Was it waking up at 5 am every morning while I was still in New York?
Was it the over the top enthusiasm that was necessary to engage children who were on the other side of the screen?
Was it the duplicity I felt when having to follow a powerpoint style lesson on the “greatness” of America and its forefathers?
Or was it the betrayal I felt when having to recite words over and over for children to repeat, without the presence of their accents?
Since I stopped teaching English online earlier this year, I’ve noticed as I continue to meet more locals of countries who become friends, I have overt, adverse reactions to being considered a native English speaker.
Yes, I speak English, but technically, it’s not even my native language.
My real tongue was stolen from me the moment the first group of my ancestors was stolen and forced onto ships set for the shores of America before it was America.
Last year while teaching English as a volunteer in a small city in Vietnam, I experienced moments of doubt as well about sharing knowledge on a language that was not my own.
It felt like I was deceiving myself and the children of color I was teaching. However, I did my best to teach students in a way that wasn’t steeped in neo-colonialism and based on their experiences as Vietnamese.
Historically, during the British Empire, to move up in the colonial hierarchy, upward mobility required the ability to read, speak, and write English fluently.
The same is true today as it is seen as a status symbol that more times than not, the wealthy have greater access to. People believe that English is a magical scepter that will open them up to better job opportunities and education, which is not false because of globalization.
Robert Phillipson, an author, and English professor, writes in his book, Linguistic Imperialism, three underlying ideas in the teaching English method that are oppressive:
- The use of languages will reduce the standards of English
- English speaking only in the classroom
- The native speaker is the ideal teacher
I would also add the idea that students should have an “English” name as if their given name, which has powerful meaning is not good enough. That to be successful in the world, they must hold a name that is easy to pronounce.
Within the first week of class, I was asked by the administration and parents to give the students “English” names which they were super excited to receive. As I wrote “common” names on the whiteboard like “Laura, Tony, Melissa, and Brian, I felt guilty.
I secretly wished there was one kid who would protest to the bullshit. Who would demand I call them by the name given to them. By their name.
I can’t help but wonder, years from now how they will look back on having to give up their name — their identity, to learn a language that has been instilled in them will give them the power to go anywhere and be anything in the world.
Surprisingly, I’ve been considering re-entering the English teaching space. A recruiter in Vietnam sent me a message that was a call-to-action for native speakers to apply to a specific job on Facebook.
What caught my eye, wasn’t the English speaking countries he desired but the “White people with good English skills”.
It’s no secret that in the teaching English space, especially in Southeast Asian countries, schools, parents and recruiters desire teachers who “fit the part”.
Local teachers usually get looked over for that of native speakers which in itself tells a subconscious story to students who are learning English about who is worthy of teaching English.
I’m starting to recognize the power I have with English as one of the languages I speak.
I’ve learned that both these truths can be true at the same time: I am a native English speaker, and though I didn’t choose it, I am privileged to have it.
If I decide to re-enter the English teaching space, I will continue to approach it from the way that I always have: through compassion and authenticity. I will continue to incorporate activities and lessons that speak to the everyday lives of the students of color in my class and that validate their cultural identity.
