Job Discussion Forums

jason68sydney · Joined: 10 May 2003 Posts: 3

Does anyone have any info on teaching English in the Philippines?

Nosaj.

Cobra · Joined: 28 Jul 2003 Posts: 436

Dumb, dumber and dummest!

Dirty, dirtier and dirtiest!

But if you are looking for a sex vacation, everone is doable for a price.

I hate the place.

Roger · Joined: 19 Jan 2003 Posts: 9138

Former Philippines president Estrada, now in jail, is often derided for not being able to communicate in English.
So much for the Philippine idea of education.
English is widely known and widfely spoken, not perfectly, and not universally, but so commonly that there is no need for that country to import expats.

In fact, some Filippinas have been recruited to China, and in my opinion, they cut a competent enough figure, compared to many "native speakers"!
Laugh about their accent, but so do many about yours!

scot47 · Joined: 10 Jan 2003 Posts: 15343

The Philippines export labour, including teachers to other countries.
It is unlikely that you will find anything UNLESS you are well-qualified and find something in one of the "international" schools, catering for the children of foreigners living there.

Dave Kessel · Joined: 24 Jan 2003 Posts: 49

Please go to:Job Information Journal click on Asia and then Philippines. There is some info. on jobs there.

Capergirl · Posted: Fri Aug 29, 2003 8:58 pm Post subject:

"Nice place to visit but I wouldn't want to live there." I only spent a week in the Phillippines but that was long enough for me to know I wasn't staying. Laughing

Micro67 · Joined: 29 May 2003 Posts: 297 Location: HCMC, Vietnam

I've been to the Philippines once and had a good time. Manilla is very big, but I got to see a professional basketball game (the San Miguel Beermen v. the Hot Dogs, if I recall correctly) and did a couple of very good dives.
Check www.oanda.com as the peso is very weak at the moment which makes it a good time to travel.

Dave Kessel · Joined: 24 Jan 2003 Posts: 49

Manila is not the best place in the Philippines. If you want to live there longer, you need to go to Cebu. Or Davao. Or Angeles City. Cleaner, more organized and more prosperous places. The people that know the Philippines well, avoid manila like the plague.

Micro67 · Joined: 29 May 2003 Posts: 297 Location: HCMC, Vietnam

misteradventure · Joined: 18 Aug 2003 Posts: 246

The PI is definitely CHEAP and INTERESTING, but a bad place to be if you have a BIG MOUTH as the talk of MUSLIM EXTREMISTS has hit the Intl news in a big way....

Think of it as a BIG HINT that if someone thinks you might be from the US that you may be kidnapped, murdered, etc.

Lots of US types over there. Read: CIA, Spec OPs, Mil. Intel....

I mean, we have over 1,200 'advisors' in the area already.

I lived there 3 years. Enjoyed it. NOT going back any time soon without a rifle.

Kai6854 · Joined: 09 Sep 2003 Posts: 53 Location: USA

Alas, I spent three years in the Philippines stationed at the now defunct Subic Bay Naval Base outside of Olangapo City (you must cross the S**t River when leaving through the main gate on Magsaysay Drive and yes the smell could bring tears to your eyes (scenes of this section are at beginning of the movie 'Officer and a Gentleman'). After passing the checkpoint, the S**t River "Queens", as I dubbed them, would hold up wire mesh nets and yell for pesos. But, I digress! I found that overall the Filipinos spoke understandable English per se and I know that there is definitely not a market for ESL. It was a cheap place to live and your money went far. I definitely grew a thick skin and a strong stomache in no time flat.

The political climate has changed immensely since my tour as was mentioned earlier in this thread and Manila, though a nice change of pace from Olangapo or Angeles City (outside of the now defunct Clark Air Base) to the north, left a lot to be desired. Bagio City was awesome as it was 10,000 feet above sea level (Victory Liner takes 10 hrs and one bottle of JWalker scotch later) with a cool climate and pine trees!

Anyway, call me crazy but I have researched the market over a year ago as I wanted to go back to P.I. (made lots of friends) but once the US "occupation" ended the Muslim extremists slipped in, I know to stand clear. Well, thanks for the memories!

Tiger Beer · Joined: 08 Feb 2003 Posts: 778 Location: Hong Kong

I've seen several schools come up from time-to-time that actually recruit on the Internet. Do a search for them online, and you'll probably find them again. Several were international schools and one I believe was an institute. Average pay seemed to be around $600/month.

In addition, most of these schools are not so much for Filipinos, but generally for the large amounts of Koreans (in particular) as well as Japanese and Taiwanese that go to the Philippines either working or to study English.

Also, the name 'Angeles City' came up a few times on here for cities to go. Actually thats not really a city. Its basically a little tiny whorehouse town with ALOT of prostitutes and not much else.

If you are considering teaching, then Manila, Davao and Cebu are the three main cities. That being said, other places, sometimes on beaches, have an institute specifically for Koreans or other non-Filipino Asians. They aren't common, but they are in exist and the best way to find them would be to know a Korean (best bet as they are most common in Philippines), and have them research in Korean regarding studying English in the Philippines for Koreans.

For the most part though, general assumption is correct in that there isn't much work available. But as with anything, if you really want to do it, you'll find something there. But it is common knowlege however that you definetely won't be teaching the Filipinos, as even if they don't all know English, they don't have the money and they have the pride NOT to pay a foreign white guy to teach them.

That being said, while alot of northeast Asians (Koreans, Japanese, etc) go to Philippines to learn English, they seem to be super-obsessed about how horrible it might be if they speak filipino-English which makes them desire so much to find a native-speaker even there.

Okay, I don't know your reasoning for Philippines. But if its just because you like Filipinos, then you can easily find them in just about every city in the world. Maybe Taiwan would be best as you'd be closest, and there are quite a few Filipinos working in Taiwan (as well as just about anywhere). You'd also make alot more money.

If you are intent on Philippines, you can find a way.. but its defintely not a common destination for teaching, and while there are a few jobs, I think the requirements are going to be a bit higher and more competitive than most other jobs. Think more like teaching ESL to foreigners in an English-speaking country kind of way.

Cleopatra · Posted: Sat Sep 20, 2003 8:00 am Post subject:

Just a question:

Is English recognized as an official language in the Phillippines?

I ask because I recently saw their awful president, Gloria Arroyo, on TV, speaking to a domiestic audience in English, not Tagalo. I've also seen Philippino magazines and newspapers written in English.

Or do the Philippinos, like other nationalities, have a bit of an inferiority complex about their native tongue?

Tiger Beer · Joined: 08 Feb 2003 Posts: 778 Location: Hong Kong

Both Tagalog and English are the two official languages.

I spent some time in the Philippines, and its quite common to see English.. it seems almost interchangeable in signs and notices and such. Also, many fairly thick newspapers are completely written in English, and its quite common for Filipinos to be speaking in one native language and just slip in an entire sentence or two in English. Also, its quite common for them to be speaking Tagalog (or another Filipino language), and use English for numbers even to each other.

The other thing is that Tagalog is an official language, but it doesn't mean its the only language. There are quite a few other languages in the Philippines, and they just nationalized it because of Manila being the largest city with the most people speaking the most common language.

There are also large numbers of people speaking Cebuano (Visayas), Ilongo (Iloilo), Ilocano (Baguio), and on and on and on.. generally though, almost everyone is at least familiar with both Tagalog and English (even if they may only speak Cebuano (in Cebu) the majority of the time. In fact if you speak Tagalog in Cebu, people will just laugh at you. They'd think its the funniest thing in the world.

So I think because of this sometimes Arroyo may choose to make a speech in English.. I'm really not sure the reason. But they don't have hangups about it polluting their language or however other countries might feel about something like that.