The Ministry of Education will start recruiting foreign teachers from English-speaking countries next month to teach English in Taiwan's public elementary and secondary schools, Deputy Minister of Education Fan Sun-lu (范巽綠) said yesterday.
Under the ministry's plan, the goal is to have at least 1,000 foreign teachers ready for the school year starting in August.
"The teaching program is being introduced in accordance with the implementation of the government's six-year national development plan -- Challenge 2008," said Fan. "Through this program, we wish to build a bridge from Taiwan to the world and boost Taiwan's competitiveness as Taiwan youngsters boost their English proficiency."
Under the Employment Services Act (就業服務法), public schools are prohibited from hiring foreign nationals as teachers. However, as consensus among legislators builds with regard to allowing foreign nationals to teach at public schools, recruitment will be able to start as early as next month, once the law is amended.
Aside from teaching students at schools, another function of foreign teachers will be to help train Taiwan's English teachers.
Fan added that, in a long run, the ministry wishes to hire 1,000 foreign teachers every year and to realize Premier Yu Shyi-kun's expectation to have at least one foreign English teacher in each of Taiwan's 3,300 elementary and secondary schools.
Yu suggested last year that English should become Taiwan's second official language.
Fan said that the ministry has notified foreign representative offices in Taiwan, including those of Britain, the US, Canada and Australia, of the ministry's plan and has asked them to help in recruiting teachers from their countries.
According to the ministry's plan, prospective foreign teachers must be under 45 and come from an English-speaking country with English as their mother tongue.
They must have a college degree in a linguistics-related fields, be proficient in basic Mandarin Chinese and have no record of drug abuse. Previous teaching experience is recommended.
Each foreign teacher will be paid NT$60,000 to NT$90,000 (US$1,800 to US$2,700) a month, which is about double the wage of Taiwan's English teachers.
Fan said a comparatively higher salary will be offered in order to attract competent teachers.
Prior to starting formal teaching in August, qualified teachers will have to undertake two weeks of training after arriving Taiwan to familiarize themselves with Taiwan's culture and educational arena.
"This teaching program holds multiple purposes," said Fan. "Aside from helping to upgrade English teaching quality, materials and curriculums in Taiwanese schools and make up for Taiwan's teacher shortage, these foreign teachers can also help broaden students' global view."
According to Fan, Japan started a similar program in 1978, South Korea in 1995 and Hong Kong in 1997. "Taiwan must do so too in order to catch up with the trend and to remain competitive with our neighboring countries," she said.
Despite the ministry's assurance that the program will not jeopardize the teaching opportunities of Taiwan-born English teachers, the program, however, has not been well-received by some Taiwanese English teachers.
Ho Hsin-yu (
Chang Hsiao-tzu (
"Just because English is their first language, it does not necessarily mean that they know how to teach English," she said.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫), spokeswoman Yang Chih-yu (楊智伃) and Legislator Hsieh Lung-chieh (謝龍介) would be summoned by police for questioning for leading an illegal assembly on Thursday evening last week, Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) said today. The three KMT officials led an assembly outside the Taipei City Prosecutors’ Office, a restricted area where public assembly is not allowed, protesting the questioning of several KMT staff and searches of KMT headquarters and offices in a recall petition forgery case. Chu, Yang and Hsieh are all suspected of contravening the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法) by holding
PRAISE: Japanese visitor Takashi Kubota said the Taiwanese temple architecture images showcased in the AI Art Gallery were the most impressive displays he saw Taiwan does not have an official pavilion at the World Expo in Osaka, Japan, because of its diplomatic predicament, but the government-backed Tech World pavilion is drawing interest with its unique recreations of works by Taiwanese artists. The pavilion features an artificial intelligence (AI)-based art gallery showcasing works of famous Taiwanese artists from the Japanese colonial period using innovative technologies. Among its main simulated displays are Eastern gouache paintings by Chen Chin (陳進), Lin Yu-shan (林玉山) and Kuo Hsueh-hu (郭雪湖), who were the three young Taiwanese painters selected for the East Asian Painting exhibition in 1927. Gouache is a water-based
Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if its next president decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. “Of course, we would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, when asked to comment on statements made by two of the three Honduran presidential candidates during the presidential campaign in the Central American country. Taiwan is paying close attention to the region as a whole in the wake of a
OFF-TARGET: More than 30,000 participants were expected to take part in the Games next month, but only 6,550 foreign and 19,400 Taiwanese athletes have registered Taipei city councilors yesterday blasted the organizers of next month’s World Masters Games over sudden timetable and venue changes, which they said have caused thousands of participants to back out of the international sporting event, among other organizational issues. They also cited visa delays and political interference by China as reasons many foreign athletes are requesting refunds for the event, to be held from May 17 to 30. Jointly organized by the Taipei and New Taipei City governments, the games have been rocked by numerous controversies since preparations began in 2020. Taipei City Councilor Lin Yen-feng (林延鳳) said yesterday that new measures by