For Vietnamese Cebu gaining ground as ESL destination

CEBU, Philippines – Cebu is gaining ground as a preferred destination for Vietnamese who aim to learn English as a second language.

This according to Ambassador of Vietnam to the Philippines Truong Trieu Duong, who proposed for a stronger partnership between Vietnam and Cebu to maximize the growing opportunity in the particular aspect.

Compared to Metro Manila, Duong said that Cebu offers conducive and affordable environment for learning.

At present, he said there are over 200 Filipinos teaching English in Vietnam, a few of them are from Cebu.

He hopes that there will be more Cebuanos to come to Vietnam to teach English, as well as for Cebu to develop more ESL schools for Vietnamese to get attracted to travel to Cebu primarily to learn English.

Part of the Ambassador's proposal is for Cebu and his government through the Embassy to ink a formal deal in this particular service.

He encouraged Cebu's educational institutions, specifically those that offer ESL to link with the Embassy for proper bridging between Vietnamese ESL students and the ESL schools in Cebu.

Moreover, the Ambassador added that for those Filipino teachers who may want to come to Vietnam and teach English, competitive salary packages are designed for expatriates.

In an earlier interview with economist Bernardo Villegas, he said that Filipinos could take advantage of the fast growing ESL money-making opportunity, not just by attracting non-English speaking nationalities to study in the country, but utilizing the Internet as channel to teach English.

Villegas said that there are a lot of ways to seize the opportunity in making money through ESL. In fact, some innovative Filipinos are now making money out of teaching English—virtually.

The Philippines is one of the top ESL destinations specifically for Koreans. In fact, there are over 100 thousand Koreans who are living in the Philippines.

This opportunity should be taken advantage by the Filipinos who are known for its English fluency, Bernardo said.

According to Villegas, Filipinos should start to make the Internet as an effective tool to teach English to Koreans, by charging minimal rate, and be competitive with other ESL destinations.

Record showed that at present, Cebu registered around 10 thousand tourists, who are taking up ESL in Cebu a year. Most of them are Koreans.

According to Duong, if a bridge between the ESL institutions in Cebu and interested Vietnamese who want to learn English will be developed, Cebu will see more Vietnamese visitors who will come for ESL, at the same time explore Cebu and other parts of the country as tourists.