Nicole Hsieh (謝彧凌) recalled her earliest memories of English class taught by a local teacher in Taipei. She was eight-years-old and one of 45 students. "We just wrote vocabulary into our notebooks and learned some rules about grammar, it was boring," she said.
Recently, the Ministry of Education (MOE) undertook measures, on the suggestion of the premier Yu Shyi-kun, to improve the quality of English in Taiwan by recruiting native speakers to teach in elementary and junior high schools. They won't be targeting Taipei or Kaohsiung because, according to the MOE, these are wealthy cities with a surplus of foreign teachers and English
programs.
"Our project is to extend English learning to students in remote areas of Taiwan. We would like to improve our students' English learning environment there, especially for listening and speaking," said Lee Yu-mei (李鈺美), a representative with the MOE, and officer working on the new project.
Many local and foreign English teachers agree with the MOE that, given the level of development and access to education in Taiwan, the general standard of English falls below expectations. Bringing in foreign English teachers, however, is a band-aid solution that does not address the root of the problem, they said. Class size, curriculum and methods of instruction are issues that need to be addressed before there can be any long-term development.
Hsieh said it wasn't until junior high that her English ability improved. Now in her last year of high school, she speaks with a confidence of someone who has spent a year studying abroad. The reason she claimed is determination on her part to attend a university in the UK, paired with small English classes that focus on conversation taught by native speakers.
She attends one of Taipei's many private schools that offered English classes taught by native speakers long before such teachers were allowed to teach in the public school system last year.
The Canadian Trade Office and the British Council (BC) in Taipei signed a service contract with the MOE to aid in the recruiting process of foreign teachers this year. The MOE said they hope to expand their search for teachers to include Australia, New Zealand and US nationals. But, at present, teaching vacancies are only being advertised in Canada, to which the response has been dismal.
There is a small group scheduled to arrive in the next week or two, but it's a small fraction of the 100 Canadian teachers the ministry hoped to employ before Sept. 1.
"Not many people are attracted to this project. We don't know why. Maybe because it is in a remote area or maybe we are not paying enough," Lee said.
The Canadian Trade Office official responsible for the service contract with the MOE is on maternity leave in Canada and could not be reached for comment. It should be noted however, that neither the Canadian Trade Office nor the British Council is responsible for the recruiting or the induction of foreign teachers; their role is simply advertising the positions in Canada and the UK.
The job description posted on-line by the MOE specifies 40 hours a week, 32.5 of which are in-class teaching hours and the rest administrative work. The teaching will take place in both elementary and junior high schools, with a class size of 42 students. Their salaries range from NT$55,000, for persons with Teaching English as a Second Language certification (TESL) and university degree, to NT$86,000 per month, for persons with 12 years TESL experience and a doctorate. Housing is provided at school dormitories and teachers will be given round-trip airfare compensation upon completion of a one-year contract.
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