English teacher acting inappropriately in a foreign country.

[ohyesohno]

I've lived in the UK for most of my adult live but I am still very much involved with my home country, which is in Asia. I have recently come across a social media account of an English guy teaching English to kids in my home town. Putting aside that the guy should not be teaching grammar to anyone as he can barely write himself, in many photos he is very close to children, mainly young girls, touching and hugging them, which would be considered completely inappropriate in the local culture. A recent photo made it to the social media account of an activist working with victims of sexual violence. The picture was too upsetting to post it, but suffice to say it would raise more than a few eyebrows here in the UK. In response, the 'teacher' has recorded a defiant message calling out 'disgusting behaviour of disgusting people' and threatened the activist with his lawyers - the video and the photo have since been deleted.
There is no way he would behave like this here in the UK. He is taking advantage of the fact that in my country people are more trusting, less aware of sexual predators and the regulations are not as strict. The role of a 'cool foreigner' allows him to do things that they would not accept from a local man of the same age. Being British he must be aware that what he is doing is inappropriate - and this is only judging from photos he posted online, god knows what happens in the classroom. Even giving him the full benefit of doubt, what he does is dangerous as he is teaching children not to respect boundaries or value their personal space etc.
We have already alerted the authorities back home and he will be investigated. I am slightly worried that they may not be able to do much in the absence of 'actual' crime and that parents are unlikely to complain in order to avoid unnecessary publicity for the kids. In any case, we are doing what we can.
AIBU to think that I should be able to do more? is there anything I can do in the UK to stop him from working with children in the future? Presumably, he can always move to another country and start again even if we succeed back home?

Reputable schools ask for a degree, a teflq qualification and obviously, good English.
This guy has clearly gone out there and opened a school. Nobody has checked him and he probably has no teflQ.

Just from teaching English whilst being illiterate he's ripping poor people off who assume he must know his stuff. It's a disgrace. Throw in the public flaunting of extremely tasteless photos - this guy needs some ghetto justice.

But is there any minimal standard of grammar required to get TEFL?

Someone somewhere on the internet will sell anyone a TEFL certificate. Albeit one that has little to no meaning. This person may or may not have something similar.

Whether the sub-literate are capable of passing the more reputable TEFL qualifications I don't know. I sincerely hope not however nothing surprises me in relation to education nowadays.

he owns the school, which consists of him and young local girl, who he calls 'cupcake', 'hot' etc.

This sort of language, particularly towards a 'young local girl', is completely inappropriate in any educational establishment. It's even worse in a place where there are children.

I have the screen shot. I will send it to UK police.

From what you have written there are at least 2 photos that suggest child abuse may be taking place. Anything you have that can possibly be of evidence could be useful to the police. Also any information, even if you don't have screenshots to prove it. I would also mention the following:

when faced with criticism, the individual took a very aggressive position and threatened all commenters with legal action

"But is there any minimal standard of grammar required to get TEFL? This guy mixes 'f' and 'th', uses words like 'beautifulest" without irony, mixes 'there is' and 'there are', 'does' and 'do' etc etc. Basically he is illiterate and shouldn't be teaching anyone anywhere. I doubt he has GCSE in English."

I live in a country with a lot of EFL teachers. Not only are many of them dodgy as fuck, but they are also frequently terrible at English.

Contact The British Council OP. Growing up back home in my schooldays I can't work out who was worse, English priests or English teachers🙄 forever trying to waylay us but smart parents warned us in no uncertain terms to give them a wide berth. Too many of them go abroad under the guise of "good works" to help community, but really looking for sex. I'm glad you're aware and aiming to shine a light on deviant predatory behaviour.

OP, you sound lovely. You are completely right to be concerned so take no notice of the poster that’s trying to ridicule you for mentioning it. It does seem dodgy and someone’s got to stand up for them children.

OP, to reply to your comment about the minimum grammar requirements.

It is perfectly reasonable for a native English speaker to go through British state schooling never having learnt grammar explicitly. Meaning they may not know how to identify a quantifier, clause etc. And if they have not studied an essay based subject at university, there may have been no reason for them to learn how to write correctly.

Secondly, the standard TEFL exam itself amounts to little more than online multiple choice quizzes which you can retake as many times as you need. There are good providers, but schools don't mind where you get it, and many courses can be done online for as little as £100.

Theere are other EFL exams: Trinity certificate and Cambridge CELTA. These are 10x more expensive than your average TEFL but also 10x as thorough.