Taipei County offers new multilingual service
A multiple-service counter to help new immigrants was launched by the Taipei County Government last Tuesday. The counter, located on the first floor of the Taipei County Government building, will provide translation, legal counseling and referral services in six languages — Mandarin, English, Vietnamese, Burmese, Indonesian and Thai. The Pearl S. Buck Foundation was commissioned by the county government to manage the counter. Mo Kai-fang, an Indonesian woman married to a Taiwanese, spoke at the launching ceremony, recounting her experience when she came to Taiwan. “I love Taiwan, but when I first arrived I had difficulty with the language, which caused communication problems whenever I had to go to government offices,” she said. Mo played herself in a TV drama depicting her story and won the coveted Golden Bell Award. A staffer from Vietnam said that she was happy to have the opportunity to serve her people, saying that new immigrants will now be able to avoid having to use gestures when trying to communicate with government agencies.
Friends of Obama hold dinner
Supporters of Senator Barack Obama are welcome to attend a fundraising dinner in Taipei on Sept. 27, a group called Friends of Obama in Taiwan says. All may bring their family or friends to El Gallo at No. 42, Zhongshan N Road, Sec. 7 in Tianmu for dinner from 7pm to 9pm to hear from the Obama campaign and celebrate the upcoming election. The giving levels vary from underwriter at NT$25,000 per couple to individual tickets at NT$2,500 per person.
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The government is aiming to recruit 1,096 foreign English teachers and teaching assistants this year, the Ministry of Education said yesterday. The foreign teachers would work closely with elementary and junior-high instructors to create and teach courses, ministry official Tsai Yi-ching (蔡宜靜) said. Together, they would create an immersive language environment, helping to motivate students while enhancing the skills of local teachers, she said. The ministry has since 2021 been recruiting foreign teachers through the Taiwan Foreign English Teacher Program, which offers placement, salary, housing and other benefits to eligible foreign teachers. Two centers serving northern and southern Taiwan assist in recruiting and training
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