Present Imperfect; A Black Male, EFL Odyssey

By I.C. Akbar

Present Imperfect; A Black Male, EFL Odyssey describes what teaching EFL has been like from a black, male perspective. The book discusses why I chose to teach EFL, my T.E.S.L. qualification, my experience teaching EFL in various settings in Korea and especially in Japan, my M.A. in Applied Linguistics, my thoughts regarding improving teacher quality/training, current employment trends and conditions and discrimination/racism as it pertains to teaching EFL in Japan. The book covers a roughly 20 year period and includes anecdotal/autobiographical evidence, academic essays and op-ed articles in various tones. Many assertions in the book are common knowledge and easily corroborated. Unlike the Odyssey the book is not a work of fiction. But, like the Odyssey, it does include accounts of trials, adventure and hardship. The book would be of interest to any ESL/EFL professional (or student). Especially, if they happen to be black or brown skinned.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: Dec 3, 2017
• ISBN: 9781387416721

Book preview

Present Imperfect; A Black Male, EFL Odyssey

Present Imperfect;

A Black Male, EFL Odyssey

I.C. Akbar

Acknowledgment

To R.P. Ross, Word God, editor and friend; for lighting the fire and keeping me real.   

Forward

Did this state of affairs happen because of what I did, what I didn’t do, who I am or, what I am?

This book was inspired by a few stories I had read over the years concerning young black men who basically described their frustration and disappointment about their inability to obtain gainful employment, allowing them to lead decent lives (i.e., raising a family, buying a nice home, etc.), despite making all the right moves (i.e., studying hard, working hard, etc.) and paying all their black taxes.  These fellas were mostly North American; though I’m sure their experiences are not isolated ones.  I myself had to leave North America and chose to work as an EFL (English as a Foreign Language) instructor in Asia, where, despite my aptitude, I’ve met with limited success due to the colour of my skin.  But, to be clear, as an instructor, I’ve received far more compliments and testimonials in the form of letters and cards (even art) than negative experiences.  (You win some, you lose some)  I have successfully taught and produced material for businesses, jr. and sr. high schools, vocational colleges and universities.  However, it’s the negatives that stick in your craw.  This book describes what teaching EFL (mostly in Korea and Japan) has been like from a black, male perspective.    

This book will discuss why I chose to teach EFL, my T.E.S.L. qualification, my experience teaching in language schools in Korea and my experience teaching in language schools, the public and private education systems in Japan, including vocational college and university, my M.A. in Applied Linguistics, my thoughts regarding university teaching and improving teacher quality/training, current employment trends and conditions and discrimination/racism as it pertains to teaching EFL in Japan.  Events are listed in chronological order.  This book provides samples of the worst you can expect and a guideline of how to be your best; it is my truth or honne based on my Western conception of morality, ethics and simple human decency.  But, it is, no doubt, the truth of many other people of colour (i.e., black and brown males; though they face similar obstacles, the experiences of women and Asian EFL professionals are slightly different and beyond the scope of this book), whether they be teachers or not.  It’s really nice to be able to choose your own battles, but sometimes your battles choose you.  

To this day, the system (i.e., government and big business) does not offer a level playing field for success.  In fact, the system usually works against men of colour.  I know the system finds us terribly inconvenient, even troublesome; with all our whining and moaning about equal opportunity, equal rights and not having access to good education, housing and health care.  I mean where does it end?  Next, colored folk will want to be moving in next door to white folk.  There goes the neighbourhood!

But in all seriousness, to succeed in the present system, in all occupations, not only EFL, coloured folk need an open mind and a willingness to learn and adapt to changing circumstances.  To facilitate this, support from friends, family, co-workers, superiors and organizations is essential and our contributions need to be trusted and valued.  The importance of culture can also not be ignored, especially in EFL.  Ultimately, success for people of colour in language teaching in a foreign context is tempered by our old friends: prejudice and unconscious bias. Coloured folk must always be on the lookout for these siblings.  Though, as most of us have been dealing with these issues for the entirety of our lives, they are not difficult to spot.

This book covers a roughly 20 year period and includes anecdotal/autobiographical evidence, academic essays and op-ed articles in various tones.  More recent experiences are, of course, fresher and, therefore, more detailed.  Many assertions in this book are common knowledge and easily corroborated.  The time period covered is perhaps a little longer than the famous Odyssey by Homer, but who’s counting?  Unlike the Odyssey this book is not a work of fiction, in many cases the information contained below is a matter of public record or I am still in possession of supporting documentation (i.e., letters, emails, reports, evaluations and contracts).  But, like the Odyssey, it does include accounts of trials, adventure and hardship.  Odysseus searched for a way home, I’m still searching for a place where my participation is viewed as an asset, not an inconvenience.  A long-term home, if you will.  Naturally, some names have been changed or omitted in this book to protect the guilty and narrow-minded from accidental injury in frivolous litigation.  Unbeknownst to them, redemption is simply not possible from the Underworld.

Part 1 – 1996 - 1999

Chapter 1 – Introduction – Why teach ESL/EFL?

Why did I become an ESL/EFL instructor?  Seemed a natural step for me as I’ve always been good at English, with above average comprehension and grammar from the age of 8 and placed in advanced English classes from the age of 13.  I started teaching English as a Foreign Language (EFL) about 20 years ago in 1996.  I knew I wasn’t going to get rich, but I like working with people, traveling and learning about other cultures.  It’s good work, which doesn’t exploit people and helps alleviate ignorance and build understanding, if it’s allowed to (i.e., if the people using it, intend to use it for that purpose).  I honestly thought I could make a living at it.  However, 9/11 and the subsequent financial crisis (2008/2009) introduced a level of resistance, ignorance and bigotry that I didn’t expect.  Man plans and God laughs, so they say.  . 

My EFL journey was also fueled by extenuating circumstances, at the time of my graduation from the University of Toronto in 1994 (with a joint specialist and a major - in other words, 3 majors – even managed to make the dean’s list in my second year), a recession was on.  I started university a little later than most, at the age of 24.  But, despite 6 years of work experience before university and another 2 years during, I couldn’t manage to obtain gainful employment in Toronto.  One of my degrees being in environmental studies, I then decided to try my luck out west of the Rockies, in Vancouver, again with as little success.  In fact, I haven’t managed to get a decent job (outside of substitution) for almost 20 years in the Great White North.  Joke’s on me, since I went back to university specifically so I could get better employment. 

Around 1994, support for equal opportunity (a.k.a, affirmative action), in practice, started to dry up in Canada, which often occurs in hard economic times.  (It is truly sad that intelligent, capable individuals have to rely on programs like this just to get a foot in the door; a telling sign of what some of us are up against)  Unfortunately (?) for me, I’m Caribbean-Canadian, of Indo-Caribbean descent.  My ethnicity is mixed.  Most Caucasian-Canadians thought/think of me as black; this situation made obtaining decent employment even more trying. I tried for almost 2 years and sent out hundreds of (hard copy) letters with no success.  Life on the slippery slope began when the bank hamstrung my credit rating a few months after graduation because I was unable to make my student loan payments.  The Canadian government had sold its’ loan collection business to a private company.

Chapter 2 – In the Beginning

2.1 T.E.S.L. Certification

I started working with holiday/working visa students from Japan in Vancouver on a volunteer basis in 1995 at the age of 28.  It was difficult to understand what the students were saying, due to their limited language ability.  Having spent the last 4 years trying to find better and/or more sophisticated ways to express myself, I found it difficult to break down that habit.  I, therefore, enrolled and graduated from a T.E.S.L. certificate program (since defunct) 3 months later.  I was quite surprised by the fact that one of the students in the program, a Korean woman, had higher grammar scores than I did.  It was an introduction to how seriously some students took the mechanics of English.  I then returned to work with the holiday/working visa students to complete my practicum. 

The T.E.S.L. program was helpful in making me a better E.S.L./E.F.L. instructor by educating me about the importance of learning psychology, teaching and learning styles, as well as grammar and test taking strategies.  I was educated in the communicative approach to language teaching.  Three things really stick out about this experience; first, I was nearly kicked out of the program by the white, female instructor for politely asking (in private as not to embarrass) her to put page numbers on the stack of papers she gave us as it was often difficult to find what she was referring to.  (overreaction, or what?!)  I was chosen by the group to undertake this task.  As British Columbia and Alberta have the highest concentration of white supremacist/white power groups in Canada, I guess I should have known better or at least known my place.  If there are any people of colour reading this, I know you’re nodding your heads right now. 

Second, I came to learn that it’s important for second language learners to have an open mind and a willingness to adapt and change to suit circumstances, but here I was with an instructor who had anything but.  The instructor was definitely not student centered, but provided a realistic example of the hypocrisy in the industry I was about to enter into.  Third, despite graduating at the top of the class, I was passed over for a full-time job in favour of the instructor’s brother-in-law!  The people looking for a teacher were from Korea and some of them can be quite discriminating.  Naturally, the brother-in-law was Caucasian and nepotism is quite common in Western Canada.  However, despite these circumstances, I eventually managed to get my first teaching contract, in Korea, through the T.E.S.L. program at the age of 29. 

2.2 The Communicative Approach to L2 Instruction

In this section, I’d like to take a moment to introduce you to the elements of the communicative approach through an essay I submitted in the T.E.S.L. program I attended. 

Abstract:  The communicative approach to teaching English as a Second or Foreign Language is a very positive, flexible, and practical way of teaching and learning a second or foreign language.  The teacher is, primarily, a facilitator; his/her role is supportive.  Teachers also utilize positive reinforcement and thus serve to motivate his/her students.  Students enjoy the benefit of a safe environment in which to learn cooperatively, with attention being paid to their backgrounds, interests and goals (B.I.G.), and receive meaningful instruction in practical situations and uses of the second/foreign language. 

Within this paper, the communicative approach to teaching English as a Second or Foreign Language will be examined.  Accordingly, what the communicative approach is and the importance of the approach will be presented, the role of the teacher and the student will be assessed, the implications of these roles will be discussed and major elements of one possible methodology for this approach will be presented.  The reader will discover that this approach is, essentially, a very positive, flexible, and practical way of teaching and learning a second or foreign language. 

The communicative approach focuses, primarily, on the student’s ability to communicate with other speakers of the second/foreign language.  This approach focuses on speaking and listening skills, writing for specific situations and the use of realistic materials.  Communicative competence is an important theoretical principal underlying the communicative method.  Communicative competence refers to the ability to convey and interpret messages and to negotiate meanings interpersonally within specific contexts. 

The teacher, in the communicative approach is, essentially, a facilitator.  Students are encouraged to deal with situations under the guidance, not control, of a teacher.  However, the teacher is also an independent participant within the learning environment.  He/She organizes resources, is a resource themselves, and assesses needs and performances.  Feedback is one of the important functions a teacher performs.  The nature of feedback determines the criteria for success, depending on what is stressed, e.g., stress on linguistic form or stress on conveying meaning.  Feedback is generally positive.  Therefore, criticism and correction are not excessive, since this lessens student’s motivation in learning a second/foreign language.  At all times, students and teachers know what to expect from one another.  In the communicative approach this condition is referred to as Bias-for-Best, meaning, no surprises. 

Of equal importance is the fact that this approach is student-centered.  Students are actively involved in cooperative learning, e.g., conversation.  This form of learning implies full participation of both teacher and student in the planning and making of effective choices; students help each other and the teacher (and vice versa) with small and large group activities, and the sharing of discoveries.  In cooperative learning, students are given responsibility for their own learning.  Students also learn to express themselves in front of each other and are able to contribute with their own personalities to learning exercises.  Furthermore, students are given safe learning environments where they are free from threats and ridicule from others.  The rationale being, if the student is comfortable it is easier for them to engage in conversation. 

Since the focus of this approach is on communication, not accuracy or pronunciation, mistakes are allowed and the language is basically learned by trial and error.  Errors are positively corrected.  However, it is important to mention, that improper pronunciation of a second language may offend some speakers of that language, making interaction with such individuals/groups especially problematic.  All skills are addressed simultaneously, i.e., reading, writing, speaking, listening.  Positive correction builds the student’s self-esteem, confidence and therefore motivation in learning the language.  Careful attention is also paid to learning what the student’s background, interests and goals (B.I.G.) are.  With this focus on B.I.G., the designs of methods are sure to reflect student’s needs.  Since the classroom is not the only setting for the communicative approach, activities and/or excursions must consider B.I.G.  Thus, a certain amount of flexibility in the methods used in this approach is ensured.

Students especially receive guidance in practical situations where the student will need to use the language, e.g., banking or social functions, describing something, requesting, etc.  This may be accomplished through comparing sets of pictures, noting similarities and differences, discovering features on a map, solving problems from clues, discussion, debates, role playing, etc.  When utilizing excursions as part of a class or lesson, the excursions should be meaningful, a condition which promotes learning.  Students also receive guidance in the use of non-verbal communication, e.g., body language, gestures, facial expressions.  For example, topic shifting and termination of certain subjects are sometimes done through non-verbal signals.  Furthermore, they must be informed as to which gestures might be acceptable and which are not.  For example, prolonged eye contact is acceptable in North America, but considered rude in Japan.  Moreover, they must be aware that there are different styles for different situations, e.g., formal, casual.  Some non-North Americans tend to be overly formal and must get used to the informality of North Americans.  Since there are so many uses/functions to be learning in the second language, variety is structured in order to make sure the student is competent in all skill and functional areas of the second language.