When Hate Catches You Unaware

“Is it wrong to teach English as a second language if one is not a native speaker?” asked Ruxandra, a Romanian teacher of English as a foreign language living in Spain. But starting this discussion at a Facebook English teaching group, she never expected to find hate, especially among fellow teachers.

by Ruxandra Constantinescu

When I first decided to share my first post on several Facebook English teaching groups, little had I suspected I was already on a bitter path. It was the kind of path you find yourself on when you ask for opinions, yet what you get is an open personal attack based exclusively on where you were born. One could also say I was looking for it, just by posting.

I had been working as an EFL (English as a Foreign Language) teacher in Spain for several years then and I had secured positions of head of the department and director of studies in two different English academies in Madrid. I used to teach adults, prepare them at all levels of English knowledge for official exams and job interviews, while also managing and directing the academic part of the business. I was obviously interested in all the buzz.

I wanted to know what teachers thought about workplace conditions, fares and wages, scheduling, students’ expectations and feedback. I was understandably curious about the apparent differentiation between native and non-native teachers. I was the latter, and I hadn’t known there really was an issue until I dug some more and asked:

“Is it wrong to teach English as a second language if one is not a native speaker? Is it audacious of them? Are native English teachers offended or bothered by it?“

Did I not know there are people who still think like a century ago when it comes to language, race, culture or religion? Did I not at least suspect there are people still willing to use nationality or birthplace to label, judge and condemn all at once?

Did I really expect to have a decent conversation, however controversial? Absolutely. What I never intended was for a question about the appropriateness of teaching English as a non-native speaker or what and how native speakers feel about sharing a profession with non-native counterparts to lead to aggressive verbal attacks from some of the former.

However much annoyed a native English speaker might have felt when reading my questions, did that even begin to justify my being called “you and your people are the scourge of Europe and nothing will get the smell of campfire out of you”? Did that somehow explain my receiving private messages with pictures of poorly dressed people, supposedly sharing my nationality, in front of an ATM, allegedly trying to rob someone, only to help make the point that my countrymen and women know nothing better than stealing?

“you and your people are the scourge of Europe and nothing will get the smell of campfire out of you“

I failed to see how my question justifiably provoked people to lash out at my English accent, even though they had never heard me speak or how that somehow logically resulted in a discussion about the wrongs of immigration, the reasons some voted for Brexit or what a mistake the EU in its entirety was.

I asked for fellow teachers´ opinions on whether it bothers them to know that non-native English teachers manage to secure jobs teaching their native language and I got my answers. Indeed, some native English teachers do feel that non-native speakers should not be allowed to teach, no matter how talented, fully proficient or good they could be. It’s a matter of opinion.

Needless to say, many of the teachers had nothing but nice and beautiful words for it, emphasising how much they had learned from non-native fellow teachers, how responsible and amazing they were, what an enriching and amazing experience working together had been.

Some even tried to make the point that non-native people could actually make better teachers because they know first-hand and better than any native the mechanisms and strategies of learning the language as a foreigner. Hats off to all these wonderful, smart and open-minded strangers who put my soul and mind at ease when thinking of the responsibility people who teach in classrooms all over the world have.

I got several different answers and the way some fellow teachers chose to speak their minds is of mild importance: some politely said they believed I somehow lacked the cultural knowledge to explain specific use of English, and others started criticising the way I had phrased my question, thus trying to prove I am not proficient; some told me I could never be a good English teacher because I was born in Eastern Europe and my accent – that of a person they had never met or heard, for that matter – is one of the most difficult to understand; yet others have accused me of “spreading this shit on several groups” with what they called “provocative posts”; some even insulted me and others called me names, just like that.

What seemed to be eluding them all – and this is the crux of it all – was that the question was not about me. I hadn´t asked them what they thought about me, my English teaching skills or my chances of securing a good job as such. It was personal to them, even if it wasn’t really to me.

There is something I just can´t stop thinking of. These people, the ones who insulted and accused, judged and condemned, furiously spat and threw origin-related arguments in the conversation – these people are also teachers. They are not just the average voter who punishes the right when they don´t have free healthcare anymore and chastises the left when they have to pay more taxes. No, they are also teachers. They get into classrooms full of people of all ages and walks of life and teach them to hate, despise, spit rage and feel anger towards people who are just not like them. They show people how easy it is to discriminate, to crush, to loathe, to brush off feelings and emotions.

And that is scary – yet not because it´s unheard of. These people have always existed, they will always be there someplace, anywhere in any society, and hate will always be felt, as fathomless an emotion as it may be. The scary thing is what caught me completely unaware: I never expected to find these people among teachers. People look up to teachers. Teachers mould minds and give shape to thoughts, feelings, emotions. They share a huge responsibility and what should be unheard of and fathomless is hateful, angry, and frustrated teachers.