What China is to the world — a source of affordable goods — is the Filipino to English language teaching in China. The Chinese are turning to Filipino teachers to learn English at a low cost, with online English teaching centres connecting the two countries.
Filipino teachers are becoming increasingly popular among Chinese language learners as they are less expensive than others. Native English teachers from the US, UK, and Australia would be the first choice, if not for the higher fees they charge.
Several Chinese online teaching platforms have enticed Filipino teachers with better pay offers. These include 51 Talk, First Future, SinceWin, and Acadsoc.
The main target learners are kindergarteners to 12th graders (K-12). Busy hours for Filipino online teachers are usually before and after school hours. The teachers work on a contract basis and are paid per course. Teachers need to open up classes so that students can book with their classes.
“Online education is a hundred-billion-yuan market,” said Wu Jing, CEO of online teaching company Koudai Kids. “Chinese parents especially those from first- and second-tier cities have demanding requirements for their children’s education.”
“Many of the parents resort to online education resources. English and mathematical logic are most popular classes,” he said.
According to 51Talk, there will be a shortage of 500,000 foreign English teachers in China. The company boasts of its 10 million registered students.
There is no doubting the importance of the Filipino to English language teaching in China.
The plan is to increase the number of Filipino teachers from 16,000 to 100,000 in the next five years to meet the growing demand.
According to 51Talk founder and CEO Jack Huang, “We believe that Filipino teachers are the best teachers, best online English teachers in the world to teach Chinese kids.”
“Naturally happy and friendly” Filipinos are a perfect fit to educate children ages 5 to 12 years, who make up about 80 per cent of 51Talk’s students, he said.
Even so, there are still Chinese parents who prefer Western teachers. But the thing is, Chinese parents are not good at English so they can’t distinguish a native English teacher from a Filipino teacher.
To attract more students, Chinese online teaching platforms try to hire foreign teachers who have a good accent, are fluent in English and have good educational backgrounds.
Filipinos are a good fit because of the exposure of the average Filipino to English language and culture.
English is an official language in the Philippines. A lot of Filipinos sound like native speakers, having a clear American accent. Well-educated Filipinos are relatively fluent speakers and have better pronunciation.
A Chinese student wanting to learn English from a Filipino English teacher would only pay 40 yuan (US$5.93) for a 25-minute online course. An American teacher, on the other hand, would cost more than 120 yuan (US$17.60).
“The cost of teachers and technical maintenance in the Philippines is much lower. Managing the team is also more convenient because the country is in the same time zone as China,” said Wu Jing.
During the Boao Forum for Asia in 2018, Duterte personally started a “promotion” for Filipino English teachers in China.
The two governments signed an agreement under which about 2,000 Chinese universities will start hiring about 2,000 Filipino English teachers, according to Philippine Ambassador to China Chito Sta Romana.
“That shows the Chinese government’s recognition of Filipino English teachers which will convince more Chinese people that Filipinos can be good English teachers,” said Huang of 51Talk.
Online teaching pay depends on the length of work time, experience and their popularity. An online teacher gets an average earning of 3,000 yuan (US$445) per month; while the most popular teacher gets as much as 10,000 yuan (US$1,483) per month.
It could be an opportunity for online teachers too. Teaching English online is considered a relatively high-income job in the Philippines.
However, a lot of Filipino online teachers aspire to teach English in China. The reason for the attraction of the Filipino to English language teaching in China? The higher salary they would be getting.
The exodus of Filipino teachers to China would increase the number of Overseas Filipino Workers (OFW). As of 2017, there were 2.3 million Filipino working abroad.