MANILA, Philippines--A unit of an international recruitment firm has made available an online tool to help Filipinos speak better English.
Drake Training Systems Limited (DTSL), a unit of Drake International, has tapped local Internet café chain Netopia to deliver its web-based Englishlink training course.
The online course takes about 240 hours and is divided into several lessons at different proficiency levels. It also has video support.
Lesley Rogan, DTSL vice president for Asia Pacific and creator of Englishlink, said her company partnered with Netopia to make its software accessible to non-credit card users.
Each unit comprises 10 lessons and costs $35 or about P1,600.
A user can pay over the counter and access the courseware at any Netopia branch., Rogan said.
DTSL sees a good market in the Philippines due to the high demand for English skills in the call center industry.
Citing industry estimates, Rogan said the call center industry will require some 800,000 more workers by 2010.
That contrasts with the low hiring rate (less than 3 percent) the industry is struggling with due to declining English proficiency among college graduates.
Englishlink, Rogan said, is meant as a "supplemental" tool for language students. The style of teaching is patterned after that of Cambridge University, she added. A student is awarded a certification upon passing the course.
"Studies show that e-learners have high retention rate because they learn at their own pace," Rogan said.
She added her company is in talks with several call center operators in the Philippines to endorse Englishlink.
Aside from would-be call center agents, Drake is also targeting foreign exchange students who study English in the country as well as departing overseas Filipino workers.
Ron LongStaff, director for Drake International, noted stringent language fluency requirements not only for nurses but even for blue-collar workers in countries like Australia and Singapore.
"Increasingly, it has become the case in countries that source a lot of workers from abroad," he said.
