CEBU, Philippines--The owner of an emerging English conversation school here for foreigners, including many Japanese, has high hopes for his business ahead of its expansion with an additional campus located in a former resort hotel on the beach.
"My dream is to make QQ English the largest and highest-quality English conversation school in the world, employing 100,000 Filipinos," said Raiko Fujioka, 49.
Renovations are under way at a coastal resort hotel on Cebu province's Mactan Island that will house the new location. When work on the eight-story building is completed, it will become the school's second location. The main school is located in an office building in central Cebu city, about an hour away by car.
Together, the two campuses will accommodate 550 students, making the school one of the largest among about 150 such schools in the province.
ONLINE AND CAMPUS COMPONENTS
With English as one of its official languages, and large population of young people, the Philippines has been gaining attention for its increasing number of businesses that require English.
The two pillars of such businesses are call centers to handle clients in the United States and other English-speaking countries and English conversation schools for foreigners.
South Korea was the first to establish English schools in the country. Soon after that, Japanese companies started opening online English conversation schools linking the Philippines and other countries using free communications software such as Skype.
QQ English combined the online programs with classes held at campuses in the country. This has allowed students who take the online programs to come to the Philippines and take classes in intensive courses when they have vacation time of one week or longer.
For the most part, the classes are one-on-one, making it more convenient for students than studying in the United States or other countries. Tuition is also lower.
About 600 Filipino instructors work in two shifts at the school, teaching classes during the day and online programs in early morning and late night.
A total of about 10,000 foreigners are currently registered in the online program. Of these, 80 percent are Japanese. The remaining 20 percent include Chinese, South Koreans, Russians and Iranians. Fujioka plans to start similar services in Brazil and Italy in the near future.
He is also expanding the school's teaching methods in cooperation with people and organizations in Japan. At the new Mactan Island campus, which will house dormitories and classrooms, he wants to emphasize education for children by working with Hideo Kageyama, a professor of education at Kyoto-based Ritsumeikan University. Kageyama is well known for his practice of “Hyakumasu Keisan” (100 boxes calculation), a method for improving math calculation abilities.
"I was attracted by the ideas of Fujioka, who had no fixed idea of teaching methods," he said.
Kageyama is now developing a new English education method that features not only repetition, characteristic of Hyakumasu Keisan, but also “learning by heart” and “reading aloud.”
Fujioka also sent three Filipino instructors to Meiji University in Tokyo to help raise the TOEIC (Test of English for International Communication) scores of its students.
QQ English is currently working with 10 universities, some of which recognize its instructor classes as credit courses. It also dispatches teachers to training sessions held by companies for their employees and English camps held by local governments for children and their parents.
EUREKA MOMENT
Fujioka used to operate a company that delivers packages by motorbike. At the time, he also imported motorcycles from Europe. However, as it was difficult for him to communicate with the president of the motorbike company, he decided to go to Cebu to study English.
While learning English there, he noticed that Filipinos, whose mother tongue is not English, had a knack for learning the language. It then occurred to him that if Japanese people learned English conversation from Filipinos, they would be able to obtain better results than by studying at conversation schools in the United States or other English-speaking countries. His intuition told him that it would be a good business.
Against the wishes of people around him, he sold all of his real-estate properties, including his condominium in Tokyo, and put together 400 million yen (about $3.32 million), including investments from his friends.
In 2009, he opened the online English conversation program in the Philippines. Annual sales of QQ English reached about 700 million yen in 2013 and are expected to break the 1 billion-yen mark in 2014. Fujioka says his goal is 100 billion yen.
“Japanese people can change themselves by learning English," Fujioka said. "And Filipinos will also be able to change themselves by teaching English."
Conversation school owner aims to change Japan, Philippines with English - AJW by The Asahi Shimbun
@Cossack25A1 , @Ayan81 , @Zero_wing , @Pinoy , @Filipino , @Bob Ong
"My dream is to make QQ English the largest and highest-quality English conversation school in the world, employing 100,000 Filipinos," said Raiko Fujioka, 49.
Renovations are under way at a coastal resort hotel on Cebu province's Mactan Island that will house the new location. When work on the eight-story building is completed, it will become the school's second location. The main school is located in an office building in central Cebu city, about an hour away by car.
Together, the two campuses will accommodate 550 students, making the school one of the largest among about 150 such schools in the province.
ONLINE AND CAMPUS COMPONENTS
With English as one of its official languages, and large population of young people, the Philippines has been gaining attention for its increasing number of businesses that require English.
The two pillars of such businesses are call centers to handle clients in the United States and other English-speaking countries and English conversation schools for foreigners.
South Korea was the first to establish English schools in the country. Soon after that, Japanese companies started opening online English conversation schools linking the Philippines and other countries using free communications software such as Skype.
QQ English combined the online programs with classes held at campuses in the country. This has allowed students who take the online programs to come to the Philippines and take classes in intensive courses when they have vacation time of one week or longer.
For the most part, the classes are one-on-one, making it more convenient for students than studying in the United States or other countries. Tuition is also lower.
About 600 Filipino instructors work in two shifts at the school, teaching classes during the day and online programs in early morning and late night.
A total of about 10,000 foreigners are currently registered in the online program. Of these, 80 percent are Japanese. The remaining 20 percent include Chinese, South Koreans, Russians and Iranians. Fujioka plans to start similar services in Brazil and Italy in the near future.
He is also expanding the school's teaching methods in cooperation with people and organizations in Japan. At the new Mactan Island campus, which will house dormitories and classrooms, he wants to emphasize education for children by working with Hideo Kageyama, a professor of education at Kyoto-based Ritsumeikan University. Kageyama is well known for his practice of “Hyakumasu Keisan” (100 boxes calculation), a method for improving math calculation abilities.
"I was attracted by the ideas of Fujioka, who had no fixed idea of teaching methods," he said.
Kageyama is now developing a new English education method that features not only repetition, characteristic of Hyakumasu Keisan, but also “learning by heart” and “reading aloud.”
Fujioka also sent three Filipino instructors to Meiji University in Tokyo to help raise the TOEIC (Test of English for International Communication) scores of its students.
QQ English is currently working with 10 universities, some of which recognize its instructor classes as credit courses. It also dispatches teachers to training sessions held by companies for their employees and English camps held by local governments for children and their parents.
EUREKA MOMENT
Fujioka used to operate a company that delivers packages by motorbike. At the time, he also imported motorcycles from Europe. However, as it was difficult for him to communicate with the president of the motorbike company, he decided to go to Cebu to study English.
While learning English there, he noticed that Filipinos, whose mother tongue is not English, had a knack for learning the language. It then occurred to him that if Japanese people learned English conversation from Filipinos, they would be able to obtain better results than by studying at conversation schools in the United States or other English-speaking countries. His intuition told him that it would be a good business.
Against the wishes of people around him, he sold all of his real-estate properties, including his condominium in Tokyo, and put together 400 million yen (about $3.32 million), including investments from his friends.
In 2009, he opened the online English conversation program in the Philippines. Annual sales of QQ English reached about 700 million yen in 2013 and are expected to break the 1 billion-yen mark in 2014. Fujioka says his goal is 100 billion yen.
“Japanese people can change themselves by learning English," Fujioka said. "And Filipinos will also be able to change themselves by teaching English."
Conversation school owner aims to change Japan, Philippines with English - AJW by The Asahi Shimbun
@Cossack25A1 , @Ayan81 , @Zero_wing , @Pinoy , @Filipino , @Bob Ong
