BACOLEÑOS are known for their sweetest smiles, a symbol of their good disposition in life amid the challenges hounding them. These smiles are colorful representation of their resilience, passion and optimism, a few salient attributes of the world’s leading online English education platform, 51Talk, continues to bank on and bring online.
In May 2017, 51Talk started to build a stronger presence in Negros Occidental and its capital Bacolod City. For almost three years now, it has constantly provided Bacoleños and Negrenses livelihood opportunities, help sustain the needs of their families, as well as stir economic growth in the province.
51Talk country head Jennifer Que, who is here in the city for the ongoing 40th MassKara Festival, said the New York Stock Exchange - listed platform already has over 2,000 home-based online English teachers in the province.
Of the figure, at least 1,000 are in Bacolod City while the rest are in other localities in Negros Occidental. They form part of almost 20,000 home-based online English teachers in the country under 51Talk which started operations in the Philippines seven years ago.
Que said they are on-track to their road to 100,000 teachers in the Philippines in the next five years. For Negros Occidental and Bacolod City alone, they are eyeing even beyond 10 percent of the target.
“There’s really a huge room for expansion here, that’s what we really want,” she said, adding that 51Talk is seeking for more online English teachers in the country as the platform believes that Filipinos, including Bacoleños and Negrenses, are best teachers for Chinese children.
Why Bacolod City?
Expressing high regard to the local talent pool, the country head said she finds people here as “malambing” or quite pleasant to be teachers.
“I believe Bacolod City is ready, teachers here are ready,” Que said, adding that aside from very high English language proficiency, their accent is very neutral, it is easy to train them.
Also, the city, she said, produces a lot of graduates who love teaching kids. They just have to “go through our free training then come online and teach.”
“We are all over the Philippines but Bacolod is our biggest site in the Visayas,” the 51Talk top official said, sharing that “we have seven accredited centers in the country and we chose the city as one mainly because of the people, the bankable talent pool.”
Filipinos, in general, are chosen because they are naturally happy, passionate, naturally caring and they have good English speaking skills.
“We all learn English ourselves, so we are also very qualified to teach English and mostly our students say that Filipinos are beautiful as well and our culture is also compatible with that of the Chinese,” Que said.
This is on top having the same time zone, so the kids have more opportunities to have more lessons, she added.
Education platform
In this online education platform, teachers are teaching English to Chinese young learners, aging mostly seven to 12 years old, for 25 minutes per session.
Under 51Talk’s model, would-be online teachers are trained on the basics to address the needs of the Chinese audience, how to teach English, and the sensitivity of the pronunciation and accent, among others.
For those who want to earn their way yet still need some time to upgrade their internet or invest in their computer, 51Talk has a training center at the Negros First Cyber Centre where applicants can come for training.
Que said there is an intimate support system including onsite trainers who can help them become successful online teachers. Once they’re ready, they can start to embark on this home-based career.
Que said the platform provides an opportunity for teachers to work even at home. For home-based online teaching, time is very flexible especially for those with kids or have reasons not to leave home.
“Bacoleños and Negrenses no longer need to go out of the province to look for means to earn income, the opportunity is here,” she said, stressing that “for you to be a productive citizen you have to leave Bacolod City, I don’t think so.”
The 51Talk Country Head furthered that Bacolod City will also be enriched because the people don’t have to leave thereby helping boost the locality’s economy and eventually that of the country.
Market opportunity
English as a Second Language (ESL) or English as a Foreign Language (EFL) is a new industry graduates must consider as a career option.
In 51Talk, home-based online English teachers can earn up to P80,000 monthly. They just have to have good internet, computer, headset and webcam, and a home-office setup.
Citing reports from Globe Newswire, Que said the global online language learning market is expected to reach 54.8 billion US dollars by 2025.
“There’s really a big market opportunity waiting for online teachers,” Que said, adding that for Bacolod City and Negros Occidental alone, “we have not yet scratched the surface.”
Partnership
Aimed at immersing teachers, students as well as graduates to the world of home-based online English teaching industry as well as on the sustainable livelihood opportunity it offers, 51Talk has recently launched its EFL campaign at Carlos Hilado Memorial State College (CHMSC) in Talisay City.
Early this year, 51Talk and CHMSC also inked a partnership to boost the knowledge and skills of the school’s faculty and students through innovative learning and training programs.
Also, the platform committed to enhance the school’s speech laboratory by providing software and training materials. It will also share its industry-leading training programs to help introduce and develop training and elective courses focused on equipping students who wish to become online English teachers.
After completing the immersion for teachers, Que said, hopefully, the soon-to-be university can now include that in their curriculum, or they can even come up with an elective course where 51Talk can be a part of.
This partnership is positioned to prepare future talents entering the ESL/EFL industry.
“We believe that they already have the English skills, they just need to consider that there is another industry aside from all the traditional industries that they are familiar with,” she added.
Commitment
For several years of boosting their presence here, 51Talk is upbeat that they are able to spark positive impact in the locality and that “we remain committed to be here to show to the people that we are not just virtual.”
Que said they exist and support the teachers, the city, and the province. What’s more gratifying is not only helping the 2,000 teachers but also their respective families.
“I was told by the people and our teachers here that they are really proud to be part of 51Talk. We are not stopping because we really want to make sure that people join the best,” she added.
Through various activities like holding the Teachers’ Day every September, 51Talk also continues to build a family or create a community of online teachers wherein everyone is supporting each other.
“We hope to spread the word here, that ESL or EFL is a great industry and 51Talk should be your choice,” the official said, noting that “our campaign now is to make everyday a 51Talk day.”
For more information on how to become a home-based online English teacher, visithttp://www.51Talk.ph.