Demand for ESL teachers seen to rise

CEBU, Philippines —  Demand for online teachers in ESL (English as Second Language) is expected to rise further, as non-English speaking nationals continue to learn the language while staying at home.

This will also provide opportunities for Filipinos, particularly Cebuanos to find side line jobs while on enhance community quarantine (ECQ), said Colliers International Philippines head for research Joey Roi H. Bondoc.

“The demand from ESL is likely to expand especially with the travel restrictions. Previously, students from China and Korea go to Cebu to undergo an intensive ESL training. Now, the online training is likely to be expanded, hence more ESL tutors are likely to be hired and this should result in a greater tae up of office space,” he said.

According to Department of Tourism (DOT-7) there are roughly 100 ESL online and offline schools operating in Cebu, making the province the capital for ESL in the Philippines.

Aside from the usual Korean and Japanese ESL markets, Cebu is also gaining popularity among Taiwanese, Chinese as their ESL destination.

Bondoc reiterated that even after the ECQ, more online ESL companies will expand or new will open.

Aside from the WFH option on ESL, office set up is also seen to expand post COVID-19, and this will aid the expected weak office occupancy for the rest of the year, or perhaps by early next year, depending on the recovery.

Early this year, Colliers projected that Cebu’s office space demand for 2020 is seen be driven by the strong demand from ESL companies.

According to Colliers pre-COVID-19 forecast more ESL companies will open in Cebu this year, or those existing operations will expand further.

Thus, Colliers encouraged developers to assess the office space requirements of these firms.

Most ESLs initially require smaller office cuts then occupy larger space as they expand.

According to Colliers, aside from the sustained expansion of outsourcing sector, which may continually need office spaces, the tutorial (both online and offline) services here will continue to push the demand for office spaces.

“Colliers sees greater office space take up from this segment over the next 12 to 24 months,” it said in its Cebu forecast in 2020.

Aside from ESL, Colliers believes that the continued demand from offshore gaming, outsourcing, should sustain an annual net take up of about 140,600 sq m through 2021.

Colliers expects the delivery of about 279,000 sq m of new supply from 2020 to 2021, more than half is likely to be in the city’s main business districts.