To expand market base IELTS review center goes online

CEBU, Philippines - One of Cebu’s leading International English Language Testing System (IELTS) Review Centers now expands its services to providing online English tutorials to students around the world.

Seeing the growing demand for IELTS review and language services worldwide, ACE Review Center and Language Services now capitalizes on the internet to capture a wider market for its services.

IELTS is a global English language proficiency test for higher education and global migration. It assesses the English skills in reading, writing, listening and speaking and how you will apply it if in case given the chance to work or live abroad.

Developed by the world’s experts in language assessment, it is acknowledged by over 8,000 organizations worldwide, including schools, universities, employers, immigration authorities and professional bodies.

In an interview with ACE IELTS Review Center proprietors Jurine and Jim Ruperto, they said although the local demand for IELTS review is on the upswing, they have to take advantage of the growing ESL market worldwide.

“There are still a lot of people/Filipinos taking review for IELTS, not only those that are getting medical employment abroad, but also Filipina fiancées and those that are applying for migration to other countries. But, we have to take advantage of the growing ESL market worldwide. Online technology helps us capture a broader market base, without having to set up a physical structure,” said ACE Review Center general manager Jurine Ruperto.

The Ruperto couple, who started as call center agents, saw the opportunity to start their own business by capitalizing on their English speaking skills.

The young entrepreneur-couple pooled their savings to come up with the needed capital to take over the management and ownership of ACE IELTs Review Center, where they also worked as part-time teachers. Now, the couple operates two review centers located in Mandaue City and at 4J Arcade in General Maxilom Avenue.

In 2012, the review center was chosen as a partner of IDP-Australia and awarded as number two IELTS review center in the Philippines. Jurine said that embarking into online ESL is their next move to expand their business that would also employ more good English-speaking Cebuanos to teach ESL online.

The couple said that while conversational ESL is also profitable, the center will leverage on the growing demand for Business English coaching for professionals from non-English speaking countries.

By next month, ACE IELTS Service Center and Language Services will start to roll out its online ESL offer.

Meanwhile, in an earlier interview with economist Bernardo Villegas, he said that there are lots of ways to seize the opportunity in making money through ESL. In fact, some innovative Filipinos are now making money out of teaching English—virtually.

While there are thousands of Koreans currently living in the Philippines who are potential ESL students, there are also a thousand others who want to learn the English language but cannot stay or travel to the Philippines, thus the demand for online ESL coaching.

Villegas said Filipinos should start taking advantage of the internet as a tool in offering their teaching services to Koreans and other non-English speaking countries and be at par with other ESL providers. He added that a virtual ESL portal is a good entrepreneurial concept that Filipinos should invest in.

Record showed that at present, Cebu registered 10 thousand tourists, who are taking up ESL in Cebu a year. Most of them are Koreans.