Page 18 - ELG1801 Jan Issue 453

FEATURE .

A

language

learning archipelago

The Philippines is becoming a major hub for English learners in East Asia, and
could help China solve its teacher-recruitment problem, says Melanie Butler

he Philippines likes to boast it is the are the second biggest market but the greatest cheap prices. In 2015, Russians made up ten
third largest English speaking country potential lies with the Chinese mainland. per cent of all the students at Japanese-owned
in the world. Alongside Tagalog, The Chinese already have a well-established QQEnglish based in the Cebu region.
TEnglish is one of the state’s two official high school year abroad programme to the A similar number enrolled from Iran and the
languages. American English is spoken by country: in 2011 5,000 Chinese secondary Middle East and 20 per cent from mainland
an estimated 93 per cent of the 103 million school pupils were enrolled in Butuan city China and Taiwan, according to Nikkei Asian
inhabitants spread over its 7,000 islands. alone. There are anecdotal reports of large Review. Russian student, Maria Dobroskokina
It routinely ranks in the top three Asian numbers of Chinese youngsters being sent on summed up the reasons:
countries for English below Singapore and ‘On Cebu, the total cost, including
more or less on a par with Malaysia. Although Asian accommodation and daily expenses, is about
It is also becoming a major English language half that of Malta’, she told the Nikkei reporter.
study destination. The language school market countries remain the ‘I feel I made big progress with my English in
is concentrated in the resort areas. The island largest markets, the Icef four months here.’
of Cebu, best known for its white sand beaches For QQEnglish, however, language travel
and its deep sea diving, is the most popular report found students is just one small part of their business. They
destination with 18 of the 82 schools listed on specialise in using Filipinos to teach English
the ESL base website. from Brazil, Libya and online and employ 600 teachers, working in
By contrast, the capital, Metropolitan two shifts, to teach 10,000 on-line students,
Manila, has just 11. Most teachers at the Russia are attracted by according to ICEF monitor.
schools are Filipinos who have English Medium the warm weather, the The owners hope to grow the market to
degrees, mostly undergraduate degrees. Indeed, employ up to 100,000 teachers. The Chinese
most high school programmes are taught in great beaches and the are also moving into the online market. Online
English. learning giant Hu Jiang EdTech, runs a number
Native speaker teachers are few and far cheap prices of teaching centres in the Philippines attracted
between and tend to work on courses for not only by the relatively low cost and plentiful
exams such as Ielts or Toefl taken by locals holiday programmes but actual numbers of supply of teachers but also the convenient
wishing to study or work abroad. students are unknown. location in a similar time zone. Native
Some schools do offer native speakers for Overall, the actual numbers of students speakers may still command a premium online
language travellers however. choosing to study English in the Philippines is but the demand from China is so enormous
At the Clarke Institute of the Philippines hard to establish. that there are simply not enough native
in Angeles City, for example, young learners In 2014, 24,000 Koreans obtained a visa to speakers to go round. VIP Kids, recently valued
programmes are taught by a mix of native and study there, up from under 6,000 in 2004 while at US$1billion according to the Financial
non-native speaker teachers but work permits 35,00 Japanese travelled there to learn English, Times, employs 20,000 online teachers to
can be hard to come by in a country where according to Icef Monitor. give 20 million lessons a year to its 200,000
everyone speaks English. Koreans were the Although Asian countries remain the largest students. Part of the answer to the Chinese
first to discover the delights of the Philippines, markets, the Icef report found students from lack of native speaker teachers may lie in the
with a Korean agent believed to have set up a Brazil, Libya and Russia are attracted by the 100 million English speakers in the nearby
school there over a decade ago. The Japanese warm weather, the great beaches and the Philippines.
36 December / January 2018