An Honest Word About Our Filipino Teachers

This is the question that comes up most often in consultations. Even when nobody asks it out loud, you can read it on their face.

"Filipino teachers... is the pronunciation alright?"

We will answer without dancing around it.

Why the Philippines

The Philippines is a country where English is an official language. School lessons are conducted in English, and a large share of government, media and business runs in English. These are not people who learned English as a foreign language. They were educated and have worked in it.

There is one more practical reason. Price. Online lessons with a native speaker from the US or the UK typically cost several times as much per session, and at that price not many people can keep going twice a week for a year. What mattered to us was never one flawless lesson. It was the total volume of conversation you can sustain without breaks. The Philippines was the option that met that condition.

To be honest about it, cost is what shaped this structure. What we have put our effort into is making sure it does not become a compromise.

About the accent

There is an accent. We are not going to claim otherwise.

But consider this. Most people who use English are neither American nor British. In India, Singapore, Europe and Southeast Asia, people use English in their own accents. The English you actually meet at work and while travelling is not textbook pronunciation. It is that whole range of accents.

And at this stage, what is holding you back is usually not pronunciation. It is that nothing comes out. Setting native-speaker pronunciation as your goal before you have built up any practice at forming sentences and saying them out loud is doing things in the wrong order.

How we select and manage teachers

We are not going to quote selection ratios or any numbers like that. We do not want to put figures we cannot verify into our marketing. Instead, here is what we actually do.

Selection. We verify each applicant's education and work history, and we watch them teach a real demo lesson. What we are looking at is not only their English. We watch how they react when a learner goes quiet, and what attitude they take towards an incorrect sentence.

Grading. Teachers hold a grade, and it is adjusted according to their teaching record and student ratings. It is not a fixed position.

Post-class review. Every class comes with a comment written by the teacher. We read through these comments every week. Careless comments that keep recurring trigger a warning, and if nothing improves, the teacher stops being assigned classes.

Absences and lateness. No-shows and late starts by teachers are recorded, and penalties follow once they accumulate. We also keep a channel open for students to report them.

What we can and cannot promise

What we cannot promise: that every teacher will be perfect. People are involved, and some pairings simply do not fit.

What we can promise: if it does not fit, we will change your teacher. There is no need to put up with it. Tell your manager and we will find you someone else, and we will not make you feel awkward about it.

A good class does not come from a perfect teacher. It comes from meeting a teacher who suits you and from that relationship lasting a long time. What we manage is the odds of that happening.