Welcome to SONDANNESTs (Supporters Of Non-Discrimination Against Non-Native English Speaking Teachers) !

What is this blog ?

This blog is dedicated to all teachers of English and any other people who want to support non-discrimination against non-native English speaking teachers (NNESTs).

Who am I and how was this blog born ?

After several years of working as a freelance English teacher in France, I have been discriminated against by training organisations because of my French origins…

Research has clearly shown that native English teachers are not the only ones able to deliver good English lessons and that there can be real advantage to being taught by NNESTs.

In this blog I will also talk about the people who have carried out such reasearch works.

Surprisingly enough, after months of research on the internet and until recently, I still couldn’t find any case of a teacher who had taken legal action against an organisation which had discriminated against them.

If this practice was called « discrimination » and if, as a result, it was supposedly illegal, then why had no one investigated on a legal level and considered taking the discriminators to court ?

So I decided to take my case to the French Défenseur des droits, hoping for this independent body to support me.

I provided them with several proofs such as emails from recruiters who explicitely said that my applications were rejected because I wasn’t born in an English speaking country.

There will be lots of interesting information about that to come in the coming posts !

Special thanks to the following people, who have inspired me to stand for my rights and to create this blog : Jane Ryder (The ELT Hub), Rachel Tsateri (The TEFL Zone), Silvana Richardson (Bell English) and Marek Kiczkowiak ( TEFL Equitity Advocates and Academy).

What are this blog's objectives ?

- Meeting with other teachers who have experienced or witnessed discrimination against NNESTs, or who have specific skills / know relevant information about the topic;

-  Raising awareness of the topic among the world of English teaching;

-  Brainstorming ideas to address the issue individually and collectively, while avoiding pitfalls;

- Becoming stronger together and giving collective support (including legal support as far as possible) to deal with the bad practices of certain organisations or schools;

- Allowing whistleblowers to report bad practises in order to warn other teachers;

Important clarifications :

Native speakers of English are of course welcome and no doubt that their contribution will be precious !

I've known and collaborated with very nice native English speakers and fortunately a lot of them share my opinion on discrimination.

I think there's room for both NESTs and NNESTs and that's why I still hope !

So I'm looking forward to your inputs !

Vincent RICHARD