English is Cool—What it’s all about
by Paul Catiang

A joint advocacy of the European Chamber of Commerce, Eon, Inc., and Promoting English Proficiency (PEP), English is Cool is the latest endeavor to encourage Filipinos to communicate in English with better fluency, clarity and confidence.

With the high levels of poverty and unemployment in the Philippines—unemployment above 10% and underemployment at around 20%—and the more than one million new entrants to the workforce yearly, the remaining viable sources of employment, for the most part, are local jobs with the BPO industry—call centers, customer service and technical support, medical transcription, software development, and so on—and jobs overseas, where Filipinos make a living as allied health professionals, IT specialists, engineers, and maritime workers. The one prominent fact, however, is that in both fields, English fluency is a crucial skill for Filipino workers to have.

The current situation is not heartening. As an example, a large call center with 67,000 employees yielded annual revenue of US$ 70 million. That same call center could grow to employ 235,000 workers in 2009, and would produce annual revenues amounting to US$ 3 billion. To sustain this growth, however, over 1.4 million applicants will have to be interviewed, assuming a 4.5% acceptance rate. But acceptance rates are falling with the lack of qualified applicants. Current hit rates range from one to two job offers made per 100 applicants interviewed.

Overseas Filipino Workers face the same problem. Philippine nurses have a high failure rate (84%) in the spoken English portion of their exams.

An opportunity exists for more Filipinos to become gainfully employed. English proficiency has proven to be a high-return investment for the Philippines and gives the country a competitive advantage. The more Filipinos are fluent in English, the more qualified people join the workforce, at home or abroad.

This advantage, however, is under threat with the declining English proficiency. The language is disadvantaged at several points. It is not spoken outside the workplace, and therefore is not practiced often enough. Most Filipinos see it as an elitist, snobbish language, given its colonial origins. The widespread use of Taglish, a mix of Tagalog and English, also muddles the standards for fluency in either language. In addition, most Filipinos are shy when it comes to speaking English, which prevents them from recognizing the blind spots in their proficiency. Public schools lack government funding to hire qualified teachers to train elementary and high school students. Even qualified teachers lack training in up-to-date methods for teaching conversational English. Over 250,000 jobs for college graduates can be provided over the course of 5 years, but this opportunity can be lost if candidates don’t have a sufficient level of English proficiency.

Thus the English is Cool campaign was born. The program targets Filipinos 30 years old and younger, which amounts to over 55 million people. English is Cool aims to tap into youth organizations, the media, advertising, entertainment, and Overseas Filipino Workers, as well as the business sector—especially call centers and the BPO industry—and government agencies and the academe to launch a campaign that will show Filipinos the widespread benefits of using English in order to reach high level of proficiency.

The campaign is designed to create a sense of urgency yet hope among the youth, and convince them that English is their ticket to the future. If English is perceived to be fun, a language they can aspire to learn, then their shyness can be overcome, leading to more practice on a daily basis. The proponents of English is Cool also hope to show both the government and the academe of the necessity to benchmark their English proficiency standards against internationally-recognized and industry-accepted standards.

Under the umbrella message, “English is Cool,” the drive for greater proficiency will have several approaches depending on the target audience. Young professionals will receive a barrage of information as to how English can open more and better job opportunities and improve their employability. The campaign for the youth sector involves showing them how the language connects them to the rest of the world, giving them global content and making them part of a global culture. They will also be encouraged to practice their English skills and not to be afraid to make mistakes. On a national level, a nationwide initiative will create a community of Filipino Global Knowledge Workers, which will raise the bar of Filipino workers’ competitiveness.

This project is set to be launched by February 2006. For inquiries, please contact the European Chamber of Commerce at 845-1324.