Philippine President wants Japan to accept more workers (including English teachers)
President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo wants to send Filipino English teachers to work in Japan:
In an interview with Japanese public broadcaster NHK, Arroyo hailed Tokyo’s acceptance of Philippine nurses and care workers in line with the economic partnership pact signed between the two countries in 2006.
“This is a milestone because it is the first visible impact on the benefit” of the pact, said Arroyo, who is on a visit to Japan.
Seeking an increase in the number Japan would accept, Arroyo said Manila was ready to send more Philippine workers such as English teachers and information technology engineers to Japan.
There are, of course, already some Philippine citizens teaching English in Japan. I’ve encountered a few Filipinos who teach English as ALT’s at Japanese junior high schools. They were far better at speaking English than the Japanese English teachers they were assisting, but their English was not at a native level. They worked for private dispatch companies that paid them less than 160,000 yen a month, far below the typical wage native English speakers earned doing the same job. A few of them had impressive teaching qualifications and had taught for years back in their country, but they still were paid less than native English speakers straight out of college with no training or work experience.
If Arroyo’s desired opening of the Japanese market to Filipino English teachers became a reality, would companies across the industry fire their native English speakers and replace them with cheaper Philippine citizens? It is possible that the hiring of lower cost English teachers could attract customers with cheaper English lessons, but many Japanese customers would probably willing to pay more to have a native English speaker as a teacher (regardless of the actual teaching qualifications of each teacher).
- Akihabara News – Gadgetry from Japan (Subscribe)
- dannychoo.com – Your portal to Japan (Subscribe)
- Kirainet.com – A geek in Japan (Subscribe)
Full RSS Feed
is not about the price is also about the quality. No offense, but most of the English teachers (Japanese & native speakers) are terrible teachers more than entertainer than a real teacher, just taking big sums of money for few real teaching work and most them even they don’t have any real preparation for teach.
Rate this comment:
0 
0
On the surface you can see why Japanese people prefer native speakers as teachers, but when 95% of the students out there never get close to approaching a native level that preference seems to lose its rationale somewhat. And EsdrasGrau is right about the average quality of teachers: as far as I can see, a lot of teachers teach in the same way that they have been taught, which creates a rather unedifying circle of underchievement. An influx of qualified Filipino teachers would be a good move, hopefully forcing others to raise their game.
Rate this comment:
0 
0
I worked with many Filipino Teachers here in Japan, Very nice and professional.. But they had heavy accents, but the bottom line is most Japanese prefer a caucasian looking person to teach them, I over heard one Mom say to the staff when her daughter went in to the room for her modal lessons and questioned “I thought this is a Native English school with foreign teachers” She seemed dissapointed, But the teacher was Mixed Filipino ans Auzie, born and raised in Australia but looked asian, so the mother did not like that at all even thou she speaks English well….It’s all to do about image and character.
Rate this comment:
0 
0
This is an interesting article that raises a lot of important issues, but what I really want to know is how is that corrupt wench profiting from it? Arroyo wouldn’t do anything of this magnitude unless she was going to get a cut somehow. Perhaps these agencies that are prepared to send more workers to Japan will be giving her a kickback.
Also, I thought the wording was interesting. “Arroyo said Manila was ready to send more Philippine workers”. Are they people or are they a new batch of drones from the mother-ship?
Rate this comment:
0 
0
She benefits when all the workers sent their hard-earned money back to the Philippines. There is a big industry in producing nurses and nannies over there, so why not do the same for English teachers that appear to be in high demand in Japan, Korea, and China?
Rate this comment:
0 
0
“It is possible that the hiring of lower cost English teachers could attract customers with cheaper English lessons, but many Japanese customers would probably willing to pay more to have a native English speaker as a teacher (regardless of the actual teaching qualifications of each teacher).”
ditto. moreover:
http://www.economist.com/world/asia/displaystory.cfm?story_id=13794772
Rate this comment:
0 
0
Oh please please keep them out.
We don’t need another pseudo-American sponsored invasion from one of America’s territories.
Rate this comment:
0 
0
Agreed, what a fantastic way to drive down wages in the ALT field!
Rate this comment:
0 
0
i don`t think it`s not a good idea to give this corrupt president a loan considering she`ll be replaced in next years presidential election. What a way to leave, steal money and leave a huge loan for the next president. What a shame!
Rate this comment:
0 
0
What are you talking about?
Interac has been doing this for years!
Rate this comment:
0 
0
don’t let this thing be a ground for another interracial subject.
japan just happened to be one of the top economic partner of the philippines, and japan is not only the country where arroyo sends its call.
Rate this comment:
0 
0
Right you are
Rate this comment:
0 
0
“many Japanese customers would probably willing to pay more to have a native English speaker as a teacher (regardless of the actual teaching qualifications of each teacher)”
I think I’ll never understand why people seem to care enough to spend huge amounts of money on something but then are ignorant enough to not get enough information about the thing that they are going to spend their money on first.
In this case, why not demand some proof of ability instead of basing the decision on the looks or cultural background of the teacher? That’s just plain stupid.
Rate this comment:
0 
0