Tens of thousands more Filipinos are needed to teach English online, according to the Chinese Embassy in Manila. One single teaching platform, 51talk, is looking to hire 30,000 Filipinos by the end of 2020, according to Jack Huang, founder and chief executive of the Beijing-based company.
The company already has 20,000 online teachers in the country, according to the Embassy statement.
“The Philippines is one of the best English-speaking countries in Asia,” Huang is quoted as saying. “Filipino Teachers have standard American accents”, he added, claiming that 51talk teachers could expect to earn up to 60,000 pesos (US$1200) per month.
The top English-speaking country in Asia, based on international exam results, is Singapore, with Malaysia and the Philippines vying for second place. Only the Philippines, however, uses American English.
Singapore’s teachers, however, earn around US$50,000 a year, and so mainland Chinese language schools are reluctant to use them. “Their English is very good,” one Chinese recruiter told us, “but they don’t speak good Mandarin.”
