[Wr8dIAUk]

Gee, I hate this. Thank God I was lucky enough to come across a school manager who does not care whether someone is a native speaker. She just sent all the applicants up to the K1-K2 room and asked them to engage the kids for an hour in some meaningful activities in English. Then she had a look at my resume and was rather impressed. In the end she picked me, and not one of those natives who had done a 4-week crash course in teaching and speak with a flawless accent, but have no idea how to simplify their English so that Thai colleagues with a vocab of 200 words or small kids with no English at all understand what they mean. Now most parents (some of them are natives) are amazed at the development of the kids' English in the past three weeks or so - and it's my qualifications and seven years of teaching experience lying behind the success. My colleague is Swedish, a young lad without any sort of college degree or teaching experience, but he loves the kids, the kids love him, he speaks beautiful clear English, they have a great time playing games, chasing monsters, flying imaginary airplanes, you name it.
Although I have a job now, I am still fed up with all the ads implying that even an unqualified, chewing-gum accent, shabby native is of more use than a qualified, experienced non-native speaking almost perfect English.
(No idea why I waste time writing about something that should be obvious.... anyway.... I'm so sensitive about the subject, it's THE THING that can make or break your life if you are walking in these shoes.)