Entrepreneurs urged to offer ESL in China

Besides tourism, ESL (English as Second Language) is another opportunity that Filipino entrepreneurs can offer to China as the country experiences a shortage of bilingual workers.

Glenn Penaranda, commercial counsellor at the Philippine Trade and Investment Center-Beijing, said that as China opens up trade to the world, it would need to master the English language to better communicate with non-Chinese speaking business partners.

“With the opening up policy of China, more and more enterprises are going global. This is an opportunity where Filipinos could come in and offer ESL to this market, especially that they have shortage of talent of bilingual people with international experience,” said Penaranda.

He is confident that the Philippines will be successful in this venture, citing the progress it has made and achievements it reached in the IT-BPM sphere.

“We have been a support system to many global companies through our contact centers, among others. I think with the same experience, we can also offer the same to Chinese companies as they go global,” said Penaranda.

Many Chinese families have enrolled their children in ESL at an early age through online courses and in schools.

Penaranda said companies in Manila and some industry associations have started looking at China as a new market for ESL and even IT services as a result of renewed Chinese-Philippine relations under the Duterte administration.

According to Philippine Ambassador to China Jose Santiago Sta. Romana, there are already Filipinos teaching the English language in China but most of them only teach in nursery, primary and elementary levels. /