Where do you teach ESL? Are you a native speaker of the English language?

I teach ESL in Italy.

Yes, it’s true, I’m very lucky. I teach English in Southern Italy, along the bottom of the Amalfi coast, on the Mediterranean (precisely Tyhrennian) sea. The stretch of land under the famous Amalfi coastline is actually an entirely different entity. It’s the coast of Cilento, and in my opinion it is equally beautiful if not more, and much less commercial.

Anyway, I’d like to give you some information about myself. I came to Italy in 2001 on a week’s vacation and met my husband (well, I didn’t know that then). We dated for about a year long-distance, and then I decided to make the move. And it was a MOVE. Not just moving to the other side of town, but the other side of the ocean, and it was really an upheaval.

First challenge was trying to learn the language (still working on that). Next it was trying to get my papers in order so I would be officially legal in Italy (took about 1.5 years). Then it was driving a car in Italy. I won’t even go in to that. Terrifying is the word that comes to mind.

But, I did it all. Right? So, now I can speak Italian (kind of), am legal (mostly) and can drive a car (very defensively). What more could I ask for??

Did you say work? A job? That‘s right- because I was not ready to sit for a crash course in Italian domesticity. Unfortunately, I have never had any natural domestic inclinations, and would be a horrible full-time Italian housewife. If you have doubts, ask my husband.

In my previous life I was an advertising sales representative. I wanted to look for something along those lines, but it was nearly impossible with my limited Italian language skills and no higher-ups to call on for a nice recommendation.

So, there was tension. And frustration. And it was getting bad.

“I can‘t stand staying in the house anymore. I need a job. I‘m going crazy. I can‘t just sit here and eat all the time. She (his mother) keeps making me eat.“

“Why don’t you ever listen to me? You can teach. Why don’t you teach English?”

“Because I’m not a teacher. My Mom’s a teacher. I’m a salesperson. I don’t know how to teach.”

“But you’ve got the language- you’re a mother-tongue”

“ Yep, but I don’t have a teaching certificate- and I’m not even an Italian citizen…”

“Who cares? You have the language- you have everything you need”

To make a long story short, he was right. Here, if English is your first language, or one of many that you speak fluently, chances are you can teach English in Italy.

What about the country you teach in? How important is it for an ESL teacher to be a native speaker of the language?