The Ministry of Education would spend NT$360 million (US$12.66 million) annually to hire an additional 300 foreign teachers to meet the government’s goal of widespread English fluency by 2030, the ministry said yesterday.
There are 81 foreign teachers of English working in the nation’s public schools, and the government hopes to hire 300 more such teachers starting in August, K-12 Education Administration division head Wu Hsiao-hsia (武曉霞) said.
The ministry has begun accepting applications and invites candidates to apply before May 15, she said, adding that applications can be made online at https://tfetp.epa.ntnu.edu.tw.
The ministry in 2004 began assisting counties and municipalities with hiring foreign teachers of English, prioritizing schools in rural communities, Wu said.
The additional funding for the new hires would bring the total subsidies it provides for English-language education to NT$460 million annually, she said.
The ministry has cooperated with National Taiwan Normal University and National Chung Cheng University to establish separate hiring centers for northern and southern Taiwan respectively, she said.
The centers have collaborated to create the online application system, and are handling the administrative work associated with the international hiring process, training and guidance for arriving teachers, she said.
The ministry would also seek to improve cooperation between schools and nearby universities and language-resource centers, to make the process smoother for foreign teachers and the schools that employ them, Wu said.
The universities and centers could help foreign teachers overcome cultural differences, she added.
“We hope that bringing in more foreign teachers can give students more opportunities to speak English, while also helping Taiwanese teachers improve their ability to teach in English,” the ministry said.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
CHINA REACTS: The patrol and reconnaissance plane ‘transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,’ the 7th Fleet said, while Taipei said it saw nothing unusual The US 7th Fleet yesterday said that a US Navy P-8A Poseidon flew through the Taiwan Strait, a day after US and Chinese defense heads held their first talks since November 2022 in an effort to reduce regional tensions. The patrol and reconnaissance plane “transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,” the 7th Fleet said in a news release. “By operating within the Taiwan Strait in accordance with international law, the United States upholds the navigational rights and freedoms of all nations.” In a separate statement, the Ministry of National Defense said that it monitored nearby waters and airspace as the aircraft
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique