An online English learning platform serving Chinese children is seeking to hire 100,000 home-based online teachers in the Philippines in the next five years.

Jennifer Que, country head of 51Talk, said English as a Foreign Language (EFL) is a new industry where Filipinos are qualified and have been the preferred teachers because they speak the language in a neutral accent.

She said Filipinos are also tech-savvy, naturally happy, and have a good grasp of both the Western and Chinese cultures.

She said that in the last two years 51Talk grew by 62 percent. For now, 51Talk has 18,000 home-based Filipino teachers, some 2,000 of whom are based in Davao City.

An online teacher can earn as much as PHP80,000 depending on the tenure. The more bookings mean more earnings and more rewards, Que said.

51Talk, which is listed in the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) as the first Chinese online platform and the leading online English platform in the People’s Republic in China, has been in the Philippines since 2011.

Que said 51Talk is gearing towards professionalizing the industry, adding that 51Talk prefers applicants with education-related courses, friendly, hospitable, and with maternal disposition “because they deal with children.”

She said classes start from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. because it is the time when children go online.

“Student traffic happens in the evening and weekends,” Que said, adding 51Talk also offers training for the teachers as part of their development. Source (PNA)