Beijing-based 51Talk recruiting more online English teachers in Philippines

ONLINE English education platform 51Talk is aiming to increase its number of Filipino teachers from 16,000 to 100,000 within the next five years, as demand for online foreign teachers in China continues to grow.

“Our plan is to recruit about 100,000 online Filipino teachers in the next five years… We already have 16,000 teachers…” said Jack Huang, founder and chief executive officer of 51Talk, during a press conference at Shangri-La at the Fort on Tuesday.

“We are going to recruit more Filipino teachers. We believe that Filipino teachers are the best online English teachers in the world,” he added, noting the company needs 1,000 to 2,000 new teachers every month.

51Talk is planning to add more training centers in the Philippines. There are training centers in Baguio City, Angeles City, Quezon City, Pasig City, Cebu City, Bacolod City, Imus City, and Davao City.

Jennifer Que, vice-president for 51Talk’s Philippine operations, said they have partnerships with PLDT, Inc. Globe Telecom, Inc., and Converge ICT Solutions, Inc. to establish centers in areas where the telecommunications firms can provide fiber connection.

51Talk officials said they want to develop the internet infrastructure in the Philippines to improve the online teachers’ connection with online English learners in China.

Last May 2018, 51Talk signed a manifestation of commitment and support with the Department of Information and Communication Technology (DICT) to use their facilities for training and other programs for teachers.

“We will also provide some trainings to the people who use the centers… So, online English teaching training or language specific or, in this case, we can support the teachers that are using the center,” Ms. Que told BusinessWorld.

Established 2011 and was launched in the Philippines in 2012, 51Talk is an online English education platform in China. It is the first Chinese online education company listed in the New York Stock Exchange.

The Beijing-based company is also present in Shanghai, Wuhan, Guangzhou, Jinan, and Suzhou in China. It currently has ten million students in China, and is seen to further increase as more Chinese households invest in education and the English requirements for students rise. —