Page 33 - ELG2109 Sep Issue 477

FEATURE

Two CELTA grads with very

different opportunities

The CELTA has been a quick and thorough way for teachers starting out in EFL/ESL
to get qualified and gain the necessary skills to teach. A CELTA signals to potential
employers that a candidate is knowledgeable and serious about English education and
yet, not everyone with a CELTA gets the same opportunities.
“You need to be British with a British passport and a British accent,” says Rachel
Lewis, who got her CELTA last year from Live Language Glasgow. Rachel, an Indian
PhD student at the University of Glasgow and ESL teacher, was speaking about her
experience job seeking post-CELTA in the UK and online.
Angela Bagni, who is Scottish-Italian, took the same CELTA course with Rachel.
“Before CELTA, I wasn’t that good at grammar and I hadn’t a clue what was needed.
After the CELTA, my [confidence] was a bit higher,” she says. Prior to the CELTA,
Angela already had a job lined up in Italy teaching with a private education company
and says post-CELTA, she wanted “job security”.
Before the CELTA course, Rachel thought, “If I get the CELTA, I’ll be eligible for
loads of jobs.”
PHOTO BY WIKIIMAGES FROM PIXABAY guess I was Indian by my photo. It’s only when it comes to a Zoom call or [they] ask for
However, this was not the case. Rachel applied to many places and only had one offer
in the Midlands, miles away from Glasgow.
“I apply online, and just from my CV and telephone number, I’m fine. You wouldn’t
my passport, that I’m blocked. This has happened four times at least. There’s a phone or
Zoom interview and then they say, we can’t take you,” says Rachel.
Rachel takes such discrimination without flinching. She speaks about it plainly
without anger, and even with a chuckle every now and then. But she is also honest
about the racism and xenophobia she’s experienced.
“In the UK, if you’re offering an English course, you have to be white or at least look
white, so I don’t think the CELTA makes much of a difference,” she says.
jobs asked for English level qualifications (C2 Rachel and Angela are similar in many ways. Both have degrees above a Bachelor,
level or IELTs band 8/9). speak multiple languages and have a passion for English teaching. They are also
In Russia, companies are split about different: Rachel speaks four languages and wants to work in the UK or online. Angela
NNESTs. Interestingly, the companies hiring is bilingual and wants to work abroad or online.
NNESTs require teaching certificates, while I assumed Rachel was a non-native speaker of English, as many recruiters and
ones hiring NESTs do not. NNEST or NEST, companies might, but she corrected me saying, “Technically, I am a native English
it is unlikely to be bad at over $13 per hour. speaker. That is my first language and it’s the only language we spoke at home. Indian
The lack of posts from regions outside of English is about 200 years [old]. It’s not so different from Australian, South African or
Europe and East Asia showed that, despite American English.”
the increase in digital learning worldwide This point is critical to the discrimination Indian and other South Asian teachers
because of the pandemic, there were very few face, and it is one of the reasons scholars have been arguing whether the terms native
online ESL opportunities: four in Southeast or non-native should be used. Rachel is also honest about the implications of the
Asia, two in the US, two in Latin America, discrimination she faces, saying, “For a white country, for a first world country, we
one in Southwest Asia. [Indians] are not English enough… It’s linguistic racism.”
Here are possible trends for the future: While Angela did not face racism in her career path, she noticed many online job
as over half of online ESL jobs are based opportunities which advertised for native speakers only or British passport needed. In
in East Asia, the field will continue to brick-and-mortar Italian schools however, requirements are different from the UK and
explicitly discriminate against NNESTs and other parts of the world.
teachers with nonstandard accents. The “Italians are more relaxed when it comes to non-native teachers. They look at the
Western Europe market may continue to qualification more than the person,” says Angela.
grow as digital learning becomes a new norm, Looking at the qualification rather than the person can also be problematic, but it
which could help NNESTs, as it is illegal to can help ease xenophobic or racist discrimination.
discriminate against people based on native Angela also faced a different type of discrimination: sexism. “[A recruiter] asked
languages in the EU. Southwest Asia may me to send my teaching video. I didn’t hear back from him for ages and then when
expand online as well, because of its large I messaged him, he said, ‘Sorry, it looks like we were looking for a male teacher at
number of face-to-face ESL jobs and the this time’.”
growing economies of Indonesia, Vietnam, Angela currently works as an online EFL teacher for Chinese students. She enjoys the
and Malaysia. The industry’s future is full freedom the role affords her, but bemoans the fact she gets fined for taking a day off.
of possibilities. Rachel mainly works as maths tutor as well as an admin head for an education
company. She teaches two to three English classes per week.
When asked whether she regrets taking the CELTA, Rachel says, “I’m happy I did it.
Gerald Smith is an online I got more than I was expecting, especially in terms of lesson planning.”
ESL teacher and MSc In an ideal world, a certification like a CELTA along with a passion for sharing
journalism student at the language would be enough for a professional to get a job in this field, whether it’s online
University of Stirling. A native or in person. Unfortunately for Rachel, Angela and indeed all of us, we do not live in
Texan, he lives in a small town such a world.
in Scotland.

editorial@elgazette.com 33