＜7 reasons why F2F is chosen by word of mouth＞
“We will definitely improve your English skills.”
Firstly, this is our motto of Face to Face English School, known as F2F.
The reasons and purposes for studying English in the Philippines differ from student to student. However, no matter how many fun memories you will have or how many friends you will make, you cannot say that your time in the Philippines has truly been a success unless you achieve your goal of “improving my English”.
Our school mission is “to provide thorough support for those who are serious about improving their English skills”.
“I want to spend my vacation on the beach by the sea,” or “I want to enjoy a luxurious resort atmosphere in a state-of-the-art accommodation like a 5-star hotel”. If you prefer such a study experience in the Philippines, you should choose another school with a more high-end taste.
We believe that the best advantage of studying the language in the Philippines is;
“Learn English inexpensively, quickly, and efficiently”
No matter how inexpensive the tuition fee is, your English skills will not improve if the quality of the instructors is poor. On the other hand, there is no advantage to studying in the Philippines if the quality of the instructors is superior, but the cost is high.
We’re pursuing to be a school that offers students maximum achievements for the minimum cost.
We would like to introduce 7 points that make Face to Face English School a good choice based on feedback from our students who have studied with us. It is a bit long, but you will find the “history” of our school condensed here!
＜New!＞ Brochure of Face to Face English School（2017） Download here（2MB）
1. We’re a school where students can live together with our English teachers.
A lot of people who have studied in the Philippines often give some feedback like “The one-on-one classes were very effective, but I couldn’t help but speak my mother tongue all the time outside of class.”
Regardless of whether the school is operated by Japanese or Korean, students often encounter such a situation in that they tend to group with others with the same nationality and have a chat in their native language all the time once they leave the classroom.
It would be a waste of your study chance if you cannot find time to “speak English” outside of class time, even though you are eager to study English!
Considering this, we decided to adopt an innovative style, such as students can live communally with our English teachers. This enables students to speak English a lot outside of school hours, even during nighttime and holidays.
One of the main attractions of studying English in Europe and the United States, for example, is the opportunity to “homestay” in a host family’s home.
Here in F2F, we also offer the same opportunity to use English 24 hours a day, 7 days a week by having the instructors and students live communally.
From a managerial point of view, it is honestly an “unbelievable” way to have a large number of instructors live in the dormitories because it would be more profitable to accommodate students with all the rooms. However, F2F’s priority is to provide an environment where “students can improve their English”.
We are dedicated to small class sizes and a comfortable homestay-style atmosphere. Especially, our students and teachers often hang out in malls, cafes, etc. on weekends and holidays or sometimes take on short trips. Such close interaction between them is one of the characteristics of our school.
We call this “interaction with teachers” our COP (Chill-Out Policy) and actively encourage it. While we believe that it is practical to have an EOP (English Only Policy) with other students, we also consider that providing an environment where our students can interact with our teachers anytime and anywhere and have a lot of English conversations with them will lead to better English language skills.
◎Free Night Class (Attendance is optional)
EOP Night
Every Thursday at 7:30 pm
No Japanese or other non-English language use (EOP) gatherings in dormitories
◎Activities (Attendance is optional)
(1) Afternoon tea/Watching movies
Enjoy tea/snacks or watch movies with boarding teachers
(2) Eating out/Going out
Going out with teachers or dining out and having coffee.
(3) Excursion (day trip, one-night trip)
The teachers will host beach trips, mountain climbing, and other activities occasionally.
(4) Study Tour
Visits to churches, charitable institutions, etc.
2. We have a semi-native English teacher.
One of the features of our school is the presence of a semi-native English speaker.
Although she is Filipino, she grew up in the same environment as native speakers. Her pronunciation and intonation are the same as that of native speakers, and our students are able to learn real American English. This is one of F2F’s strengths.
(*The number of native/semi-native instructors varies depending on the timing.)
◎Introducing the semi-native teacher, Amber
She is a mixture of American and Filipino who grew up in an English-only environment. She is good at American slang and speaks with a perfect American accent.
3. Friendly and highly-quality Filipino teachers
We have very high-quality Filipino teachers. A large number of Filipino teachers come to our school for employment interviews every month, but only about 1 or 2 out of every 20 to 30 pass the application screening and interview process. After they pass the interview, they are subjected to a hands-on trial test to thoroughly check their teaching skills, attitude, and personality. Our Filipino teachers selected through this process are truly high-level.
It is common for large schools to hire a large number of temporary teachers during the busy season and then terminate their contracts and release them during the off-peak season.
Since English is the official language in the Philippines, any university student can speak English, but there is a clear difference in level between these part-time/temporary teachers and experienced+full-time teachers whose main job is teaching. Unfortunately, we can’t say the level of English spoken by these temporary teachers is very high. I myself remember feeling very disappointed when I was assigned to a low-quality temporary instructor while studying at a large school.
Based on my past experiences, we generally hire only permanent or registered teachers who have already worked at F2F. In addition, we pay them more than 1.5 times the salary at the local level and provide them with an excellent welfare program, including free housing, meals, WiFi, etc. This is such an investment to have “high-quality instructors”.
The reason why we are so particular about the “quality of Filipino instructors” is because we know that “the improvement of English proficiency depends greatly on the ability of the instructor who teaches you. Of course, it goes without saying that the learners themselves need to give their best efforts, but the presence of teachers who motivate and support students at all times is indispensable in improving their English.
As our motto is to “definitely improve your English”, we have the best teachers who can help students develop their English skills to the maximum extent possible.
In other words, Face to Face English School is unique in that you can “take classes” from Filipino teachers who are of a truly high level and “live together with such teachers”.
4. Flexible curriculum (Fully personalized)
We don’t have a fixed curriculum. We listen carefully to our students’ needs/goals at the beginning.
“I want to strengthen my listening skills.”
“I want to get 300 points up on the TOEIC.”
“I want to find a job overseas.”
Each student has a different goal in learning. We believe that it is inefficient to impose a single standard curriculum and textbooks on students while ignoring their individual goals.
Therefore, we listen carefully to each student’s expectations and then create an original curriculum to achieve those goals. For example, a student’s class schedule for a five-hour class is as follows;
◎ Situation (Speaking) × 1 hour
※ Scene-based conversation classes such as hotels, hospitals, restaurants, etc.
◎ Q & A (Speaking) × 1 hour
※ Answer a lot of questions from a teacher to increase response speed
◎ Topic (Speaking) × 1 hour
※ Express your opinions on a certain topic
◎ Writing × 1 hour
※ Learn how to write an essay, diary, e-mail etc.
◎ Grammar × 1 hour
◎ Pronunciation × 1 hour
※ Learn how to pronounce a word correctly, and know American Accent etc.
◎ Vocabulary class × 1 hour
※ Learn vocabulary commonly used in daily life
◎ Group class × 1 hour
This is how we create a personalized curriculum for each student. Of course, for beginners, we will build a curriculum based on everyday English conversation. For those who need textbooks, we will choose appropriate ones from among a number of textbooks. We may also use other original teaching materials in our classes.
5. Delicious meals made by our exclusive chef
Meals provided at F2F are basically Filipino food. The cuisine uses a lot of chicken, pork, eggs, etc., and many of our students enjoy the delicious taste of that.
We understand that students have various tastes, such as “I don’t like spicy food,” “I don’t like vegetables (meat),” “I love noodles,” etc. We try to avoid extreme spices/seasonings (too spicy, too sweet, etc.) to cater to the tastes of as many students as possible and also try to provide a good balance of meat, vegetables, and fruits.
Our chef has worked in a number of hotels over the years and is familiar with the cuisines of many countries.
*For celebrations and other occasions, he will put his skills to full use to create special dishes such as the following;
The advantage of having a house as our dormitory is that there are some shared spaces such as a living room, dining room, and kitchen.
In the case of a typical study abroad, most of the student’s time will be spent in “their room”. At F2F, you can sometimes cook with other students and boarding teachers. Our students also appreciated this.
6. Very attentive service
We value the satisfaction of our students.
Since a school is a “place of education”, we consider our guests to be “Students”. On the other hand, we also remember that they are “Customers” and are committed to providing a pleasant service to our students.
(1) Internet
Many language schools here in the Philippines have very slow-speed internet connections. Even in large schools, there are many complaints such as “the speed is totally different depending on the rooms” or “the connection is too busy during the night time to connect at all”.
The internet connection is essential for learning English, so we are very particular about the speed of it in our school and dormitories. We have installed several high-speed WiFi routers which are normally used for business.
While general connection speeds are still not fast enough here in the Philippines, the business lines we have installed basically perform well enough to use the internet comfortably (you can search for something on the web as well as browse videos on youtube, etc.)
*Please note that the speed may be slow due to weather conditions or problems with the network provider.
(2) Multiple Japanese staff residing in the dormitories
Multiple Japanese interns reside in the dormitories as well as our students and boarding teachers, and it is quite uncommon for small schools. The interns are always available to help/support you if you have any troubles or need advice.
They are also willing to assist our students with non-class related matters such as “I need to go to the post office” or “I need help booking a flight”.
(3) On-site nurses/Weekly doctor’s visit service
We have some English teachers who are certified nurses because of our medical English courses. Among the boarding teachers, one is a certified nurse. Furthermore, the Japanese owner is a licensed psychologist, social worker, and nurse in Japan and has worked in the medical industry for a long time. When you get sick, these qualified professionals are available to support you. There is a large general hospital (Tagaytay Medical Center) near the school, and we will accompany you to the hospital.
In addition, a doctor from Medical City South Luzon Hospital, which is affiliated with our school, makes a dormitory visit once a week. It is the core hospital in the area, and you can receive medical treatment there in case of a severe illness.
Feel free to consult with him if you are feeling a little sick or have an upset stomach.
7. Focus on affordable costs
As we have mentioned, we’re a small school but pursue the quality of our instructors, meals, curriculum, and services. Also, Tagaytay City itself is a very safe, cool, quiet, and definitely attractive location.
We are committed to semi-native instructors and high-quality services. At the same time, we offer reasonable study costs, for example, from 45,000 yen (around USD 330) for 1 week to 150,000 yen (around USD 1,100) for 4 weeks (excluding enrollment fee, etc.).
We will support you in enhancing your English level “inexpensively, quickly, and effectively” while offering long-term stay discounts and various campaigns as needed.
It would be impossible to offer stylish accommodations, the highest quality instructors, meals prepared by our private chef, and other services for such a reasonable price. However, we are able to do this because we spend very little on advertising (agencies and online ads), and all the money we spend is devoted to the learning environment for our students.
＜Summary＞
The recent boom in English study in the Philippines has led to the establishment of numerous schools (the majority of which is Korean-managed).
However, on the other hand,
“I came to study in the Philippines but was not satisfied with the teachers because they had little experience in teaching English”.
“The meals were not good at all. They were too spicy and I barely could eat them”.
“I wanted to do some research and contact my family in Japan, but the poor internet connection always disturbed me”.
It is true that we are hearing more and more about such experiences.
The owner of our school has visited and observed many schools in the Philippines and is always trying to improve and refine his school to become unique by actively learning from the “good points” of other schools and eliminating the “bad points”.
“I am happy to choose Face to Face English School!”
We aim to be a school where you can say so, and it is a great encouragement to us that so many of our students have returned as “repeaters”.
Our school attracts many unique and attractive people, such as those who want to learn daily English conversation, those who are preparing to go on a working holiday, those who are about to leave for a round-the-world trip, and those who are aiming for overseas employment or admission to an overseas university. The opportunity to experience such “wonderful encounters” is one of the reasons why we have so many “repeaters”.
Not only individuals but also companies are also welcome if they want to improve their English skills for in-house training, or if they want their employees to learn business English because they have many jobs where English is required.
Please reach out to us anytime!
If this is your first time studying in the Philippines, you may have some “anxiety and worry,” but we are sure that you will surely gain a “great asset” from it if you take the first step with courage.
We look forward to meeting you all!
Why don’t you become one of our F2F members?
Face to Face English School is the best choice for studying English in the Philippines!
