I would just like to share my thoughts on this. I had a similar experience here in the Philippines. First off, I am a native speaker, born and raised in America. I'm just not white, since both of my parents are Filipinos (that's what I was doing here, by the way).

I could say I felt discriminated at one point in my career. I was a new teacher applying in one of the academies here (I don't want to mention names or go into details). I was confident I would be hired, and I was. The catch was, since I wasn't "white", they would offer me a higher salary than my fellow Filipino co-teachers, but I wouldn't be able to make as much as a "white" native speaker. Since it was my first job as an ESL teacher, I was focused more on the experience and not the pay, so I took it. But I did have to swallow my pride, and definitely, I did feel discriminated at that time.

I am now in my fifth year of teaching ESL, it's great, and I love it. I'm working in another academy, making more money than before. My advice to you Jemon is: yes, there is discrimination, no doubt, but I took it as a challenge and I told myself I wouldn't let it affect me or my performance as a teacher. I took it like this, "These people won't give me what I want? I'll just to have to prove to them what I'm worth." And trust me, they will recognize if you are sincere with your work. Let it be an inspiration for you to become better. Because since we aren't white, most of the time we will end up with the short end of the stick. Let your skills be strong point and not your skin color, and with that, you won't fail.

That's it teachers, may you all have a good day.

I think the original poster's point is quite valid - there is much discrimination against non-native English speakers for English teaching positions - and those who would knock it down to the fact that there are several errors in his message are dismissing that point a little too quickly. While the original poster may have several unacceptable (to native speakers) errors in his writing, these errors are trivial (see: unimportant) in regards to teaching very basic English.

The fun reality of English "teaching" in Asian countries is that, many times, it is indeed the colour of your skin that makes the grade. There are many schools who are very open about their need to attract business via the 'look' of the teacher, and having a Filipino just doesn't cut it in many asian places. Do not doubt that caucasian (or rather, 'white') people are regarded much differently in asian countries; to deny that fact is to suggest complete ignorance of how your experience in these countries is coloured by your colour.

To the poster, I would also point out that, while you may be surprised that our 'asian brothers' are not helping Filipinos out, I recommend you visit Taiwan or Hong Kong or many other large, Asian cities. Filipinos are a wonderful people who, after interviewing many of them, simply do not know the meaning of discrimination (except against their own kind). Other countries, however, (pretty well every country in the world, I'd say) have their own hierarchies of race and, sadly, Filipinos get close to the bottom on most Asian scales. It was interesting discovering these things first hand as a Canadian whose parents are Filipino.

A couple of questions for you Jemon / Jamon.

1. How many errors are there in your message?
a) 1 - 5
b) 6 - 10
c) 11 - 15
d) 15+

2. What number of errors is acceptable in a 150 word message written by an 'English teacher'?