Jack Huang, founder and CEO of online English education platform 51Talk, speaks at the 2021 Strategic Meeting and Visioning Conference on March 10, 2021. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]
To mark its 10th anniversary, 51Talk, China's leading online English education platform, recently held its 2021 Strategic Meeting and Visioning Conference on Wednesday to update its stakeholders about its future plans in China and in the Philippines.
In his keynote address, Founder and CEO Jack Huang underscored the important role of Filipino teachers in delivering high-quality online English lessons to students.
"During the past decade, Filipino teachers have risen to become one of the most popular foreign teachers in China. As the online Education industry matures, Filipino teachers are expected to play a bigger role in the future, both for 51Talk and bilateral exchanges," said Huang.
Bridging the gap between people
This past year, the COVID-19 pandemic has posed a grave challenge to the economic activity of the international community, and the Philippines is no exception. Against the backdrop of high unemployment rates and sluggish economy, 51Talk announced last May that it would provide livelihood opportunity for 30,000 Filipino online English teachers.
Zeeryl Vivi, a home-based teacher with the company, shared her story during the event attended by international and Chinese media and education stakeholders. According to her, she considered 51Talk as a blessing.
"Living in a small city, there are a few opportunities available to me. 51Talk allowed me to live my life to the fullest while also enjoying a few niceties once in a while," the 24-year-old teacher said, adding that "through online English education between Filipino teachers and Chinese students, a deep connection and a digital bridge of friendship is being built."
Zeeryl is one of thousands of 51Talk teachers who have shared how grateful they are about their home-based livelihood throughout the pandemic by sharing their accomplishments and experiences in social media.
"When the pandemic happened, I was thankful and blessed to have a home-based job. It became not just my bread and butter but my stress reliever also. Now, I'm a student by day and an online teacher by night and weekends," said Pinky Narrazo Barata.
"In the era of pandemic, 51Talk is a big blessing for me and my family. We survived a lot of challenges in life because of this," said KC Trinidad, another home-based teacher.
Poster of the 2021 Strategic Meeting and Visioning Conference. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]
"These are just a few examples of how our teachers' lives are changed one online English lesson at a time. And on top of providing quality English language education to Chinese students, our teachers go beyond their duties to ensure our students grow and develop as successful individuals," Huang added.
At the height of the pandemic in 2020, 51Talk donated 5.25 million Philippine Peso worth of personal protective equipment from China as a way to help out local hospitals facing supply challenges.
It has also fostered partnerships with the academe, industry, and the government to achieve its goal of empowering qualified Filipinos through online teaching opportunities. According to Huang, the Philippines is actually not short of talents who can speak fluent English, but it lags in terms of infrastructure and connectivity that will allow more Filipinos access to teach online.
Chinese Ambassador to the Philippines Huang Xilian also highlighted the fact that online education and other booming digital industries in China have cultivated a win-win cooperation between the two countries, which have not only accelerated the development of online education in China, but also provided a large number of job opportunities for Filipinos.
"I'm very pleased that 51Talk is providing an opportunity to competent Filipino educators to take part in nurturing the eagerness of young Chinese people to learn the English language. This educational exchange, albeit virtual, provides an enabling environment for cultural exchange between Filipinos and the Chinese," said Philippine Ambassador to China Jose Santiago Sta. Romana.
Jack Huang, founder and CEO of online English education platform 51Talk, speaks at the 2021 Strategic Meeting and Visioning Conference on March 10, 2021. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]
Holistic English language learning system for the digital era
In learning the English language starting at a young age, it is important to address and build upon the four foundations of language learning: listening, speaking, reading and writing.
In response to users' expanding needs, 51Talk announced the launch of a comprehensive English learning system for K12 learners.
Through innovations using artificial intelligence technology, students will be able to interact with virtual teachers who will guide students with warm-up activities before hopping in the live classes. The role of AI tutors is to help introvert children better adapt to one-on-one courses.
In addition, the company introduced a wide variety of book resources for kids through an academic cooperation with Highlights Press from the US. Through this initiative, students will be provided highly-quality reading materials after finishing their one-on-one course using the platform.
In China, the market scale of online English teaching targeting children ages 4 to 12 has exceed 26 billion yuan ($40.20 billion) in 2020, according to iMedia Research. As online consumption continued to grow as part of China's national consumption program and the study-from-home is now part of the new normal, these figures are expected to rise in 2021 and in the years to come.
Another report released by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences in March 2020 about China's online English-tutoring platforms targeting children showed that 51Talk ranks first in the industry with a market share of up to 46 percent, followed by other brands such as VIPKid, DaDa and Qkids.
