I have lived and worked almost continuously in Taiwan since 1994, and during that time, I have seen many articles written by concerned Taiwanese and foreign educators critiquing the educational system in this country. They have covered a lot of ground. I earnestly believe that each contributor was sincere in their desire to identify and rectify areas of weakness. At the start of a new academic year, I too would like to offer my small contribution on the topic with the hope of improving ESL/EFL teaching in Taiwan.
In this article, I'd like to offer some possible solutions to the problems that I outlined in a previous article ("What can Taiwan do about its education," Sept. 12, page 8) relating to the decrease in the level of English language acquisition in Taiwan during the past decade. It is imperative from the outset to understand that while no educational system is perfect, constant review and assessment of the existing models must take place in order to make objective and positive improvements.
A powerful and prevailing belief among many Taiwanese is that in order to properly learn English, students must attend a cram school. While this might be necessary in some special circumstances such as when studying for exams such as TOEFL, IELTS, SAT, etc, should it really be necessary for general EFL/ESL learning? This may be an old Chinese approach, but why not improve the existing public school system with tax dollars already allotted for this very purpose instead of placing a greater financial burden on families?
I believe there needs to be a centralized and coordinated team of qualified Taiwanese educators selected and properly funded by the government and assigned with the sole task of either choosing a pedagogically sound existing K-12 EFL/ESL curriculum or developing one that will meet the needs of students for the next half century. This team should be supported by a small cadre of qualified and experienced foreign curriculum experts to keep the process objective.
After the program is implemented, succeeding government administrations must have the resolve and vision to ensure that it is correctly implemented throughout the entire K-12 system, with regular progress reviews every two or three years. Educators must of course be properly trained and given the tools and support to ensure that the aforementioned program is effectively taught. Effective Taiwanese teaching methods such as drills should be incorporated to maximize language acquisition. Student attendance must be compulsory K-12, and the government must have the determination to follow through on this new approach from start to finish.
Meanwhile, parents should exercise their right to demand to see teaching credentials for their children's teachers.
Unlike the present situation in which most foreign "teachers" have little or no proper qualifications or experience to teach EFL/ESL, qualified and experienced foreign teachers should be effectively employed to assist in this process throughout Taiwan, not just in urban settings.
Most parents around the world emphatically state that their child comes first in their lives. If this were truly the case, then I contend that parents must become more involved and accountable for their child's learning.
This does not mean idly meddling in the education of their children by offering half-baked ideas and incessantly complaining to teachers. Nor does it mean blaming teachers or society when their child does not learn, or chalking their child's failures up to the fact that the parent is divorced or works too hard.
All too often parents in industrialized societies such as the US and Taiwan erroneously consider the teacher's role as all-encompassing -- nearly to the point of becoming a surrogate parent. Instead, just let teachers do the task that they were hired to do: teach.
Regardless of their country of origin, parents need to stop spoiling their children because they feel guilty that they haven't done their parental duty or spent enough time with them. My advice to mothers and fathers everywhere is to spend quality time with your child. Learn who they really are, what matters to them and what concerns them. This implies taking an active and sincere part in their lives.
Simply assuming that because they have paid the school fees, their child will learn through osmosis is a popular fallacy that needs to be rectified.
Parents need to do much more. They need to sit down and review with their child, supervise what they are doing, monitor their computer and free time so as to maximize learning. Finally, parents need to apply the dictum of "everything in moderation" so as to include a healthy amount of leisure activities, not just studying.
Equally germane, parents need to take the helm in the educational direction of their child's life. Too many parents mistakenly believe that they are doing the right thing by allowing their child to decide what classes to take or drop in the public school system or at cram schools that teach art, languages, music and so on.
This is an extreme and negative feature of the North American ideal of respecting the child to the point of neglecting one's parental duties. Parents need to stop letting their child make life-influencing choices when they are too young, intellectually immature and lacking in life experiences to make these critical and well-informed decisions. Parents need to do their job too.
Dan Ritco is a certified teacher from British Columbia, Canada.
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