I like the country, the culture, I like Asian culture and I want to see, live, and explore it before death. So I thought about doing TEFL in east Asia, and Japan is one of my options. But I’ve heard on the web that East Asian TEFL teachers are mostly wanted by schools to be white. So, would my brown Indian skin impact that? Also, I have a stutter in my speech.
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I’m sure that you will get a lot of different responses here. I personally think that it boils down to personality, if you’re likable, present yourself well (conservatively) then you have an excellent chance. I think that schools are looking for educators who are personable first and foremost. One challenge I see is not necessarily your stutter, but any residual accent, if I spoke with you over the phone, could I immediately tell where you are from.
Do you have the other requirements? (Educated for 12+ years at an English speaking school in the US/Canada/UK/Ireland/Austalia/New Zealand, plus at least a ~~BA~~ bachelor’s degree in some field?) If so, then you’ve got a decent chance. They might still select a white person over you, but I definitely think it’s possible. I’ve seen Black, brown and Asian ESL teachers in Japan.
There are plenty of schools and eikawas that don’t care about your skin color. The ones that want only white people are the ones you want to avoid anyways.
Need a degree first then come back and ask the question
The other ALT at my school is raised in India, has an accent (although it’s relatively mild), and he’s very respected by all the JTEs. I wouldn’t worry too much.
Also, you said you’re going to study CS in university, how about you just get a CS job in Japan? You could easily study Japanese at the same time as an elective, then depending on your university maybe study abroad in Japan to get a feel for it. Lots of CS students at um university (UCSD) went to Tohoku University, so did I even tho I wasn’t CS, and we all liked it.
The skin color wasn’t a problem for me. A stutter might be though. Teaching proper pronunciation is one of the most important parts of the job.
No, your skin will not impact your ability to find a job. Your stutter might.
I’m US native but non-white, been teaching in Japan for over a total of ten years. Many of my colleagues are also non-white, not from the USA and speak with various accents. The stutter might be a problem if it makes you come across as unsure or if it poses as a distraction to listeners, but I’ve met plenty of teachers who don’t sound like public speakers either. That said, it’s worth a try!
I think you have your perceived barriers to entry the wrong way round.
Well I have a treat for you then.
I’m actually born and raised in India, went to Canada for university (not English or education), and moved here recently and just found a gig and have been working there now for a few weeks. I had a normal accent from India which I lost completely during my time in Canada. I passed essentially for a N.American during the interview and that part of my profile wasn’t an issue at all – more like the genuine ability to do the job having had no training.
I’ve also seen Latinos with a noticeable accent and a few other ethnicities in the industry here.
I think you should be fine though I imagine it’ll depend on the company and also on how thick your own accent is. Everyone has an accent – I’ve been told by some of my adult students that I’m a lot easier to understand than some fast-speaking New Yorker teacher they had before.
If you didn’t have an American passport I imagine it would be harder.
You being Indian won’t have much of an impact. Seriously, you’ll just be regarded as a “gaijin” here anyway. We had a ton of popular South Asian teachers before at my studio back in the day. Basically every single school now is full of all sorts of people, not just white.
The stutter might impact you a bit more, though. I mean, it’s not impossible. We had a teacher who had a stutter (he was originally from Pakistan). He did pretty good and had some pretty dedicated students. It might depend on how strong your stutter is, too.