ESL school also aims to push Phl as tourism hub

CEBU, Philippines - Aside from teaching foreign students to learn the English language, the country, particularly Cebu, is hitting two birds with one stone by promoting tourism and generating employment through English as a Second Language (ESL) schools.

As it opens a brand new and expanded learning center at Skyrise 4 in Cebu IT Park, Quick and Quality English spends P160 million or around US$ 4 million as an investment for the expansion and transfer from its 700-square meter office at TGU Tower.

QQ English President and Chief Executive Officer Raiko Fujioka said that such amount is worth to accommodate 3000 international enrollees, 20-30 of which are offline students, who are eager to learn the universal language.

Boasting of its 120 classrooms for offline students and another 200 rooms for online classes, he added that 90% of the enrollees are Japanese students while the rest are from Korea, Iran and China.

 With its rooms labeled in accordance to a specific tourist attraction of the country and soon to have experiential trainings in tourist destinations, he also noted that QQ English not only aims to teach English but to promote the Philippines as a tourism hub.

Fujioka further described the Philippines as the most successful country in developing English outside the native English-speaking countries.

“Filipinos are the best English speakers. That’s why other countries like Japan, North Korea, and China visit Philippines. Compared to native English speakers who are slang, Filipinos know how difficult it is to study English,” he stated.

Identifying the great opportunity to teach students from other countries, he added that the country has a greater chance to improve in such field by having licensed Filipino teachers certified in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages, a global association for English language teaching professionals aimed to develop and maintain professional expertise in English language teaching and learning.

Recognizing the significance of learning English as a way to connect and communicate, Fujioka said that most of QQ English students show much eagerness in studying as they get more comfortable with their Filipino teachers.

Prioritizing quality over quantity, he noted that the school is expanding step-by-step, expecting bigger market to cater from Japan, Korea, Russia and Brazil in the near future.

Meanwhile, ALC Corporation President Terumako Hiramoto acknowledged the growth and progress of QQ English as the company has been the latter’s major partner in English education.

Known to largely contribute to the language development in Japan, he then predicted the school to become top English school all over Asia in the future with its strong progression.

Catering to all ages, QQ English is both an online and offline ESL tutorial center utilizing the communicative learning approach as its teaching methodology in which students learn communication based in daily practical situations and given scenarios in English.

Using Skype for their online lessons, the school provides various curricula that can make a flexible lesson plan to match with each student’s level and goal.

All QQ teachers, who are 100% Filipinos numbering over 150, are trained by a Cambridge RCEAL (Research Centre for English and Applied Linguistics) instructor – Lorraine Warne, whose masterful and disciplined training assures QQ’s teaching quality. —(FREEMAN)