Japan has been instrumental in the Philippines’ plan to boost infrastructure in its cities, but it turns out that the Philippines has, in a way, been contributing to Japan’s development too.
According to a report by Kyodo News Agency this week, more and more Japanese people have started to visit the Philippines to learn English. 584,180 Japanese people visited the Philippines last year, a 9 percent increase from 2016.
“The number of travelers aiming to study English [in the Philippines] is surging. About 100 Japanese junior high and high schools implemented study abroad programs in 2017,” an official at the Tokyo office of the Philippines Department of Tourism told the news agency in a telephone interview.
In the EF English Proficiency Index, the Philippines is ranked #3 in the region, higher than Japan’s #9. English is also an official language in the Philippines and is spoken throughout the country.
According to the report, the Philippines is preferred by some because it is close to Japan and is much cheaper than studying in countries like the United States and the United Kingdom.
Japanese students are now being sent to the Philippines to immerse themselves in the English language because of an upcoming change in standardized university entrance exams. Incoming students for the school year 2021 will have to take an exam that will put more importance on speaking and writing ability.
Service-oriented industries have also started sending their employees to the Philippines to learn English as preparation for the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics.
But the Philippines’ may lose its edge as a destination for English learning if Filipinos’ proficiency in the language continues to decline.
According to a survey by Hopkins International Partners, a local organization part of the Test of English for International Communication group, the English proficiency of college students in the Philippines is lower than the target proficiency of high school students in Thailand.
While Filipinos are arguably still above Singaporeans and Malaysians when it comes to conversational English, the two countries are ranked above the Philippines in the EF English Proficiency Index.
Last month, Senator Grace Poe filed a resolution to look into this problem more. She said that the current school curriculum should be reviewed and that the government should “adopt global English standards to improve citizens’ communication skills.”
