In the eyes of God, everyone is equal. 

Unfortunately, when it comes to hiring teachers in Thailand, the decisions rest with humans - and humans, as we know, aren’t perfect. 

Some people end up being more "equal" than others. This creates an advantage for a certain group, referred to in the world of TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) as "Native Speakers." 

If you've ever wondered, "What makes someone a native speaker?"—well, that likely means you aren't one, and regardless of your qualifications, you'll find fewer job opportunities and lower salaries. Life may not be fair, but there’s a silver lining: when someone wants to learn Serbo-Croatian, Tagalog, or Burmese, you’ll face much less competition.

If you ever browse the constitutions of English-speaking nations, you might notice a little-known clause (buried in legal jargon) that states: if you were born and raised in an English-speaking country, you’re automatically qualified to teach English in any nation with a lower GDP than your own.

In the UK, we don't have a written constitution, but we do have the Magna Carta—the country’s first attempt at establishing laws. It categorized the population into two groups: “us” (the elite who created the charter) and “them” (everyone else). It addressed important issues like the rules of cricket, how to brew the perfect pot of Earl Grey, and, of course, the correct way to pronounce "scone." But more crucially, it decreed that as a citizen of the British Empire, one could teach English in any country that was, is, or should have been a colony—especially those with sunny, tropical climates.

So, for native speakers, there’s an ingrained understanding that even if life goes awry - say, you end up spending six months in an open jail - you can always land a job teaching English abroad simply because of where you were born.

I've seen online comments from well-meaning individuals who want to "make a difference." Unfortunately, their primary focus tends to be on how teaching abroad will change their own lives, without considering the impact they might have on their students.

“I want to teach, but I’m only 19, have no experience, and don’t plan on taking a TEFL course because I’m already fluent in English. I also only want to work over the summer holidays. Surely, there’s a school that needs me, right?”

It seems "need" here is being used in the same way a fish might "need" a bicycle.

I try to redirect their ambitions, suggesting other ways to make a difference - like recording a charity single, discovering a cure for cancer, or even joining the search for wanted criminals. All of these, I argue, would probably offer a better shot at success than stepping into a classroom unprepared.

Typically, the response I get is something like, “I’m pretty sure TEFL course providers are just in it for the money. I have a friend in Bangkok right now who got a job despite having no qualifications = just a pale complexion and the confidence to bluff his way through interviews.” This is usually followed by a complaint about the friend leaving the job because the school didn’t pay him what he was owed. Why the person emailing me doesn’t consider this a warning about the type of school that XYZ is remains a mystery.

Many people seem to think that after 12 years of schooling and observing a range of teachers—the good, the bad, and the downright awful, they’ve picked up enough to be able to teach themselves. A few moments of nostalgia bring back memories of engaging classes, where teachers patiently answered questions, gave helpful feedback, and remembered students’ names. With these experiences in mind, they feel ready to teach English themselves, believing their instinctive grasp of the language is all they need.

What they don’t realize is how much work those teachers put into making their lessons enjoyable. If teaching were so easy, why weren’t all teachers and lessons equally great? It’s one thing to know when a sentence sounds wrong; it’s another to be able to explain why.

The reality is, while your nationality might open the door to a job, it won’t take you the whole way. You’ve still got to earn your right to teach English.