Ditch Tongyong, US English
Like many foreigners living in Taiwan, I support the government’s decision to adopt Hanyu Pinyin as the official Romanization system for place names, addresses, etc. It has often been pointed out that Hanyu Pinyin is the system used by the UN and the system most familiar to those who have studied Chinese in Western countries.
I look forward to the same logic being applied to the form of English taught in Taiwan’s schools. American English should be ditched in favor of British English and Oxford spelling, not only because the latter is the standard used by the UN, as well as many other international organizations, but also because India, whose political and business leaders use British English, is likely to be one of the world’s three most powerful countries by 2050.
STEVEN CROOK
Sinhua, Tainan County
Improving English in Taiwan
It’s no wonder that Taiwan’s international ranking in terms of TOEFL and IELTS scores has dropped (“Taiwan’s mediocre results in English tests raise concerns,” Sept. 21, page 2). This trend will continue unless certain policies and standard educational practices are put in motion. The problems with learning English are multifaceted and systemic. Take the process for hiring teachers, for example.
It seems any Westerner with the gumption to hop on a plane can snatch up a job here, whereas qualified Filipinos and local teachers who have extensive experience and degrees in the education field are discriminated against, regardless of the fact that they are willing to work for much less than the average North American.
I’ve heard the argument that a thick accent is a problem, but that doesn’t fly when thousands of South Africans and Europeans are teaching English, some of whom even claim to be learning English as they teach it. If Taiwan is to succeed, we need to attract qualified individuals with experience and backgrounds in education and put an end to eye-candy and discriminatory hiring practices.
Then there’s the problem of most cram schools for adults and children arranging teaching schedules so that students have English classes only once or twice a week for a total of one to three hours. I’ve been in Taiwan for nine years and require daily practice to keep up my Chinese; learning English is no different.
A general level of apathy in teaching exists where the teacher simply shrugs and says: “What miracles can I perform in only one or two classes a week?” Most teachers who teach children give in to simply playing silly games and handing out treats because an instructor’s popularity is more important than the test results of his or her students.
Furthermore, the way English is taught is a joke when compared with our Asian neighbors. Rather than focus on a sound pedagogical curriculum such as the IELTS and TOEIC systems, a hodgepodge of EFL resources are used with no coherent focus on improving skills that can be applied to standardized testing. How are we to compete internationally when we don’t use the same methods or materials or have qualified educators who know how to teach?
As a teacher and manager of the first pilot program set up to bring foreign teachers into the elementary school system in Hsinchu back in 2001, I’ve been exposed to the ugly world of Taiwanese politics, seen contracts awarded due to political affiliation and witnessed greedy, unscrupulous headhunters fill teaching positions with unqualified, and in some cases unbalanced, individuals.
The materials used to teach the students were inadequate and in most cases created by the teachers themselves, with no thought to any recognized methodology.
A word of caution to the government that now wants to establish a comprehensive English-language education policy and extend the frequency of lessons in elementary schools from one per week to four, five or six per week: It takes more than shoving a foreign face in the classroom. It takes more than getting a hold of a few English texts and finding a recruiting agency to fill teacher positions.
It takes an overhaul of the system, which is not working. It takes research into the successes of the other Asian tigers, adapting and innovating based on what works. Most of all, it will require patient, dedicated and qualified teachers, diligent students and a government that is willing to change. Only then can we ascend the ranks of global English-language competitiveness.
PAUL OLIVER
Kaohsiung
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