12 Questions to Ask an ESL School in the Philippines Before You Book
Most ESL schools in the Philippines answer enquiries within a day, in good English, with a price list attached. That is the easy part. What the price list leaves out is where a good month and a bad month diverge. Ask these twelve questions before you pay a deposit. We have added Paradise English's own answers so you can see what a straight answer looks like.
1. How many lessons a week, and how many are one-to-one?
Two schools can both say "full-time" and mean fifteen lessons or fifty. Ask for the exact timetable: group classes, one-to-one lessons, and whether "self-study" hours are being counted as lessons. Paradise English: General is 25 lessons a week, four group classes and one one-to-one lesson a day; Intensive is 35, five group and two one-to-one.
2. How big is a group class?
"Small group" means different things. Ask for the maximum, not the average, and ask what happens when a class is full. International schools often cap groups at six to eight; some large academies run bigger classes.
3. Who teaches the group classes?
Ask whether group classes are led by native-speaker teachers, Filipino teachers, or a mix, and what qualifications the teachers hold. At Paradise English the group classes are taught by Canadian, British, American and Filipino teachers, and the one-to-one teachers are licensed Filipino teachers with education degrees. Our post on teacher qualifications explains what the titles mean.
4. Is this a Sparta school?
The single most important question about your daily life. A Sparta academy means eight to ten hours a day, compulsory self-study, a weekday curfew and penalties for speaking your own language. Many students want that; many book it by accident. Read Sparta, semi-Sparta or balanced before you ask. Paradise English is a balanced school: four to seven classes a day, no curfew.
5. Which nationalities are at the school right now?
A school that is ninety per cent one nationality is a school where everyone speaks that language at lunch. Ask for the current mix, not the brochure's. Paradise English has taught students from over 80 countries, and the mix tends to change with the season: Europeans in the northern winter, Japanese and Koreans in their university holidays.
6. What exactly is included in the price?
Tuition is rarely the whole bill. Ask about the registration fee, the Special Study Permit, textbooks, airport pickup and meals, and whether the quoted room price is per person or per room. At Paradise English the extras are published: registration $130, Special Study Permit $200, textbook $16, airport pickup $48, and you can build an estimate on the course page before you write to us.
7. Who files my Special Study Permit, and when?
Every foreign student needs the SSP, and the school must be accredited by the Bureau of Immigration to apply for it. Ask the school to confirm its accreditation and to say in writing that it files the permit for you. If the answer is vague, see how to check a school is accredited. There is an immigration office on Boracay, so Paradise English students never leave the island for it.
8. Where will I sleep, and how far is it from the classrooms?
"Campus dormitory" can mean a room upstairs or a building across town with a shuttle. Ask the walking time, whether rooms are shared and with how many, and whether there is air conditioning and hot water. Then ask for photos of the actual room category you are paying for.
9. What happens if my level is wrong?
You take a placement test on day one. Ask whether you can change group in the first week if the class is too easy or too hard, and whether that costs anything. A school that says "you can move any time" is a school that has done this before.
10. What are the cancellation and refund terms?
Ask for them in writing before paying. Clear terms are a sign of a school that expects to be around next year. Paradise English asks for a 20% non-refundable deposit four weeks before your start date, with the balance on arrival.
11. What happens on weekends and in the evenings?
At a Sparta school the answer is "study". At a balanced school it should be a real list: trips, sports, a lounge, and a town you can walk into. On Boracay the answer is the island itself; our post on things to do after class is the list.
12. Can I talk to a recent student?
The best question of all. A confident school will connect you with a former student from your country, or at least point you to recent reviews it does not control. Paradise English has a 4.9 rating from 65 Google reviews, and we are happy to put you in touch with alumni.
And one to ask yourself
Which region? Baguio, Cebu, Clark, Manila and the islands each attract a different kind of student, and the ESL schools in the Philippines guide compares them side by side, with a list of schools in each.
