You're outsourced! Teaching English in Japan moving offshore

[Taro Toporific]

Online lessons feature Philippine teachersMay 14 / Daily Yomiuri
....Fourhalf, an e-learning venture firm in Yodogawa Ward, Osaka, runs a program named "english channel" (http://www.english-ch.com) for a monthly rate of 4,000 yen with no enrollment fee. The company has kept costs down by hiring teachers who live and work in the Philippines.
"As (such teachers') personnel costs are less than that for native English-speaking teachers in Japan, our tuition is much less than that charged by major language schools," said Michitake Saito, a spokesman for Fourhalf.

[String]

Damn, guess I'll have to pick up the 'ol mop again.

[Big Booger]

Students self-evaluate their abilities--beginner, intermediate or advanced--when they enroll.

That's reassuring...

the program does not have textbooks and does not give specific courses such as preparation for the Test of English for International Communication. Students also need to have at least a basic grasp of spoken English to begin with as teachers do not understand Japanese.

Sounds like the Top Valu only without the valu...

Some students may insist on the authenticity of native-speaking teachers. Such programs usually cost 2,500-6,000 yen per private lesson (30-60 minutes) or 1,500-2,600 yen per group lesson, plus enrollment fees of 10,000-20,000 yen.

There's the kicker.. the price escalates quite a bit.. from the stripped down non-native speaker program..

I personally wouldn't do something like this basically for the fact that if I want to voice chat there's plenty of freebies on the WWW.

LOL