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27     Chapter 2 Narrating One’s Life: Autobiographies of Transnational Teachers from the Expanding Circle How do you define a native speaker of a language? What about a nonnative speaker? Make lists of what you think are pros and cons of being a nativespeaking ESL/EFL teacher and an ESL/EFL teacher who is not a native speaker. Which of the pros and cons are actually stereotypes or generalizations as opposed to legitimate benefits or concerns? This chapter presents the autobiographical narratives of Veneza Angel Pablico, Hee-Jin Kim, and Jessie Chen. Jessie and Hee-Jin were born in South Korea, and Angel was born in the Philippines. These autobiographical narratives reflect the journeys of these teachers as they became multilingual and adapted to life in new cultures (for example, the cultures of the countries to which they immigrated) or to the societal expectations of the countries in which they had been born. The authors also problematize the relationship between race and language status, argue against categorizing and labeling teachers (e.g., “native speaker” and “nonnative speaker”), and challenge employers whose hiring criterion too often relies on the “blond, blueeyed native-speaker myth.” ...

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