Thousands of foreign
nationalities from different parts of Asia come to the Philippines to study English language. Every year
their number increases and will continue to grow in the next few years as more English language schools will arise in
the country. Asian countries like China, Japan, South Korea, Vietnam, Taiwan, Thailand, Russia and some other part of Middle East, they chose to study English language course in the Philippines because it has an English
environment and the fact that Filipinos are known to be proficient English
speakers hence, they are good English teachers.
Philippines is one of the very few
Asian countries that uses English as their primary language in school. Children
started learning the language at a very young age, as young as 3 years old, and
use the language primarily until they finish their college degree. In upper
class Filipino families, wealthy Filipinos to be exact, this dialect is being
used in their daily conversations. They really speak like real Americans even
if their blood descendants are native Filipinos. That is also the reason why
Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) companies are rampantly arising in the
country.
The Philippines has an affordable
education. The standard of living is inexpensive in general. The country is
surrounded by alluring white-sand beaches and has a tropical weather. Above
all, the people are very friendly and hospitable especially to foreign nationalities.
These made the country as the most preferred travel destination by foreigners.
Thus, taking up an English education in the Philippines is usually coupled with
a breathtaking vacation.
South Korean girl taking up English language course. |
Special Student Permits or SSP are
granted to foreign nationalities who want to enrol in Philippine schools with
short-term courses that last for less than a year while student visas are
issued to those who want to take up long-term courses or degree that would last
for more than a year. Based on the data provided, there were 102,134
South Koreans who studied in the Philippines from 2004 to 2008. The student
population only started from 5,877 in 2004.
ESL school is now an increasing
business sector in the Philippines that the government integrated this as part
of their tourism program. According to the Department of Tourism (DOT), South
Koreans are now the largest group of tourist in the Philippines, next are the
Americans, and then comes the Japanese. English education is already assimilated
in the curriculum of South Korean education system since 1990’s. They are more
influenced to further study English as second language as part of the globalization plan administered by their
government. Thus, experts predicted that ESL industry will continue to grow in
the Philippines in the next few years.