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Foreign teacher plan is unveiled

The Ministry of Education yesterday announced details of its program for attracting foreign English teachers.

The first group of 400 teachers -- 150 from the USA, 70 from the UK, 100 from Canada and 80 from Australia -- are set to arrive this summer.

After their arrival, they will participate in a program arranged by the ministry called "Learn to know Taiwanese culture" before being given teaching assignments according to requests by county and municipal bureaus of education. Priority will, however, be given to remote areas with a shortage of teachers.

According to the ministry's plan, teachers must meet four basic requirements. First, they should be native speakers from the above four countries with a four-year university education in a ministry-accredited university, and have experience teaching English or hold an English language degree. Second, they should have no criminal record. Third, they should be healthy and not use drugs. Fourth, they should be enthusiastic and of an outstanding character.

Local governments can further refine these criteria. For example, Taoyuan County specifies that teachers must have "North American" accents.

Salaries will range between NT$51,115 and NT$86,170 per month. If accommodation is not provided by local authorities, they will be given a further subsidy of NT$5,000. Teachers and their family members will also be given a round-trip ticket ticket to their home country annually.

Minister of Education Huang Jong-tsun (黃榮村) stressed that the main purpose of inviting foreign teachers is to improve the level of local English teachers, not to take their jobs.

He also said that local authorities have requested a total of 1,700 foreign teachers. The reason only 400 teachers will be hired during the first stage is that they will have to take courses in Taiwanese current affairs, educational psychology and local laws and regulations. They will then gradually begin to teach together with local teachers, instead of directly beginning to teach on their own.

The ministry is also planning to pick 1,500 local teachers to participate in training programs in the US.

In addition, the ministry will also accept teachers of Indian and Philippine origin with outstanding qualifications from the four countries named above.

Local media had previously reported that the ministry had said it would not accept teachers from these countries, and that it objected to recruiting from countries in which English was not the native language and residents of which have "non-native" accents.

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