Overcoming Imposter Syndrome as a Non-Native Language Teacher 

The Challenge of Non-Native Teaching

As a non-native language teacher, I've faced numerous challenges that led to self-doubt and imposter syndrome.

Like many people, I was prone to some "native-speakerism" for a long time, before starting to downsize this feeling and being finally ok with simply helping others, doing it professionally, and stepping back when it's the time. 

Many of us worry about our accent, vocabulary, or cultural knowledge compared to native speakers.

But is this concern justified?

Recognizing the Root of Imposter Syndrome

My journey to overcoming imposter syndrome began with understanding its origins:

1. Meeting unprofessional non-native teachers. I was in contact with "bad" teachers of Italian who didn't hesitate to ask me for free help about very basic notions they should have mastered long ago.

Luckily, especially in the West, there is more professionalism, and this is not the norm.

2. Overestimating the impact of minor mistakes on students' learning. I overvalued the impact of teachers on the quality of the language spoken by a student, especially from the point of view of pronunciation (which was pretty bad in the case I mentioned above).

3. Forgetting positive examples of successful non-native teachers. I forgot the good example I had back in the day: my 100% Italian, secondary school English teacher whom I still owe to 90% of my current skills in English.

Steps to Overcome Self-Doubt

Once you've taken a step back and realized that what leaves a trace of your work is not a matter of life and death, provided that your student is minimally active, everything gets downsized.

I used to think that since I'm not a native I don't want to follow the footsteps of those unprofessional teachers on Instagram, so I must only work with Italian because that's the only language where I feel "legit".

Except for the fact that... I don't like Italian.

I teach it because it's my mother tongue, but I'm not passionate about it.

I'm not passionate about Italy either

I'm more passionate about Belgium.

Not for Belgium per se, but because that's where I live, that's where I've accomplished the most beautiful things of my life. It's where it feels like home and where I love helping people to integrate so that my positive experience is not only mine but can be shared by as many people as possible.

It stayed like this until an Italian friend from my town, who had just moved to Paris, asked me to help him... because he was not happy with the Alliance Française! What a coincidence xD

I'm passionate about helping people speak, whatever language they want to learn, and consequently about all the positive things that being able to speak autonomously can make real.

Wasting his trust felt wrong. After contacting me, I took some time to think about it and I kept asking myself: "Why not? It doesn't feel right, but why?".

So... since I couldn't find a reason to say no, I accepted it. And I have to thank him a lot for the change he unconsciously triggered in me.

1. Reframe Your Perspective

- Realize that pronunciation mistakes won't ruin a student's accent forever. Yes, bad pronunciation is not necessarily going to influence the accent of your student forever and ever

- Understand that minor errors won't hinder overall progress. Yes, some minor mistakes are not going to hinder the progress of the learner for all of their life because in 85% of the cases if they're going to make a mistake the fault is theirs

- Remember that students absorb a small fraction of what we teach. There is so much to learn and the amount of information to retain is so huge that people are going to absorb a relatively tiny part of what you say (including your mistakes - if they're equally tiny, of course).

2. Focus on Your Unique Value

As a non-native teacher, you bring unique advantages:

- Personal experience learning the language. It's quite incredible, but a lot of people lack it.

- Understanding of common struggles and effective learning strategies. Thanks to this, I could test my method for the first time in a different language.

I believed that it was useless to have live classes if he hadn't some basic vocabulary and it was a long-term commitment.

Also, I was much more insecure about my own way of working, so working asynchronously was a good self-protection, also to be able to check every comma.

- Ability to explain concepts from a learner's perspective. I think that's the one and only duty of any teacher, but experience is showing me that most of people don't work like this - weird.

3. Embrace Continuous Learning

- Double-check information to reinforce your knowledge. The first time I did it, I would frantically double-check every single thing I would say - a good revision for myself haha.

- View teaching as an opportunity for personal growth. Now, when it comes to languages other than Italian, my mantra has become: "I'm going to help until someone has a level comparable to mine. I'm just here to help and as long as I can do it, I'm legit".

Of course, when the levels are comparable and my skills are not enough anymore, I'm going to tell my students to go look for a native teacher. If I think about the kind of service I provide and what I got in their place with the traditional schools etc,... hey, they're still learning faster and better than I did with 100% native teachers.

My strength is my method, offering different ways of working that can better match the life of an average employee.

- Invest in your own education with your earnings. There's a crazy silver lining. Having to explain to others is an awesome way to review what I know and feel more ready to go beyond my plateau, while my earnings allow me to invest in education for myself.

Embracing Your Unique Value as a Non-Native Teacher

After him, well... it started growing on me. So, I met another Italian girl who "challenged" me to help her with Dutch when my skills were still much more clumsy than now. It was also the first time I asked for 100€ per month. What a feeling. But it worked!

This experience taught me:

- The value of my teaching method, regardless of native speaker status

- The importance of passion for helping others learn

- The strength in being open about my learning journey