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Q: Non-American teachers: Have you been made to teach American English? How do you feel?
I've had to do it sometimes and even though I retain my British accent for the most part I've had to make exceptions with some words and of course spelling. I don't mind doing it though I've found when I'm writing, certain American spellings keep leaking in. Has this happened to you? How do you feel about it?
11 years 5 weeks ago in Teaching & Learning - China
I'm neither an expat nor a teacher. As you might have noticed I'm actually Chinese. I'm sorry if the school you have been working for hurts your feelings or your pride of your nation or your language in this way. Chinese schools and students obsession with American English is a reflection of the unique position of the USA as the only superpower in the world, and Chinese people being eager to understand and catch up with the US, possible or not, I have no idea.
To your comfort, I know some classmates in my high school are really fond of the British accent. They think it's cool. 
darkstar1:
He he don't worry I'm not patriotic in any way and one of the things many British do is indulge in a good old session of self-mockery. I can sort of see why they want to learn it regarding your comment though, and thanks for the comment on the British accent!
I would like to comment, though I am an American teacher.
Why on earth would a non-American teacher be required to teach an "American accent" or spelling?
I find this completely absurd. In fact, I am constantly urging my students to speak to non-Americans so as to get a better ear when it comes to the different accents we have in English.
GuilinRaf:
P.S. I just want to add, there are some British accents which I find cool too, just like OhChina says.
Australian and New Zealand accents are also cool.
ohChina:
Yeah. I remember all my Chinese English teachers said American and British spellings are both good. What a weird requirement it is. Also, the new TOEFL listening comprehension part has added British and Australian accents materials to it since 2008, in order to encourage English learners to get familiar with other accents besides the American one.
darkstar1:
Hey Raf,
Absurd as it may sound there are many schools that prefer or even require American English speakers as their kids maybe planning to go to the states to study or whatever. I completely agree with you regarding the accents thing though, and do my best to expose my students to as much variety as possible when it comes to that.
MissA:
It happens- at my school the phonics system, as well as being unutterable crap, was explicitly American English. Not that the two necessarily go together.... just in this case
The Chinese teachers would try to 'correct' my British partner's pronunciation when we first arrived, as they only knew American ways of pronouncing words and assumed his pronunciation was 'wrong'. Needless to say that wasn't taken especially well on his part, although I got some amusement out of it!
GuilinRaf:
I have noticed a similar problem with the Indian accent and the Kenyan one as well. Many of my Chinese colleagues will declare that people from those countries "cannot speak English" on account of their accents. Trying to convince them that their English is perfectly fine, it is just a matter of accent has proven to be a near impossible task.
Nope, never had any school even suggest it, and if they did i'd flatly refuse. Nothing against American English, it simplifies much of the language in places where it is unnecessarily complicated, i'd just take it as insulting to suggest that my own native English was not good enough. Personally I teach British English, I don't ignore its American counterpart any more than I ignore English as it has evolved in any other part of the world, but just as I approach learning Chinese by studying the most standard example of putonghua that I can find, which is basically that you'd find spoken in Beijing, I teach English by teaching the most standard example of the language i'm aware of. In other words I get all my students to stick a plumb in their mouth and a thumb up their arse and talk like they're introducing the Queen on BBC Radio 5.
That's a common issue where I work and I assume it's an issue anywhere else. If you sound any other Native sound it's not English and they have the nerve to make you feel you are not good at English. Also the American English, the phonetic, it approaches as to my understanding to the Chinese' speaking abilities. It adapts faster to the way they speak than any other English accent.
I am quite attached to British accent, but I realized how easy is for them to embrace the US accent that I had to readapt my pronunciation and get along with their immediate and sort of predisposition linguistic abilities. Two reasons, as to my perception may explain this sort of "natural approach" to the US than UK or other English sounds:
1. A common ground between the Chinese and US sounds.
2. The propaganda that pushes Chinese people to look to US as the Country to "conquer" in anyway, if you know what I mean. Learning its language it's a first step of this process. All these are only assumptions and it helped me to understand what better fits my teaching in this Country.
ohChina:
Not really "conquer", just want to be "equal", and able to defend the oriental itself.
I remember the very first class in middle school, for many of us Chinese students it was the very first time of English lesson in our lives at that time. There came in our English teacher, a young and pretty girl, telling us the purpose of learning English, with a quote of the famous saying which occurred in Opium War time: "师夷长技以制夷".
It means learning foreigners' advantages as a countermeasure to constrain the foreigners. 夷 is used to refer to non-Chinese civilization people, by the ancient China dynasties who considered themselves as the center of the world, with a lot of pride and prejudice.
For 170 years, China and Chinese people haven't stopped the debates over what China should learn from the stronger nations, how much China should westernize itself, whether the western system fits China, and how to make it practical. There are lots of pains, feelings of inferiority, struggling and self-doubts along with a nation's pride and fundamental confidence.
For 170 years Chinese people haven't stopped feeling the shame and pain that a country with 5000 years history was defeated by countries far younger than her, and smaller than her. Many Chinese have been questioning themselves again and again: why did we lose? Why we did so bad? Why?
It would be a very long list of such questions. China, might like other countries or not, only bows to the stronger. ;
But in Chinese subconsciousness, there is a voice: We want to be the strongest. We never bow to anyone.
ohChina:
Sorry to make it so serious lol. Relax. Most people don't think that much, and their purpose of learning English is just to pass the exam, or to go abroad and enjoy life there. Or just want to understand the English movies and NBA games better, because they like them.
