The Ministry of Education recently decided to cut the number of foreign English teachers it had planned to employ and use the savings to hire teacher-trainers.
The ministry said after a recent forum that it hopes to hire between 400 and 600 foreign teachers for elementary schools instead of the original 1,000 and proposed a remuneration scale for teachers of NT$60,000 to NT$90,000 per month. Vice Minister of Education Fan Sun-lu (范巽綠) has said the salaries of the teacher-training specialists should exceed NT$90,000 per month.
At the forum, members of the ministry's English Education Advisory Committee unanimously disagreed with the plan to hire so many foreign teachers, saying the move would do more harm than good for primary-level education.
Lin Wen-chi (林文淇), an associate professor at National Central University, said the plan to hire foreign English teachers looked like a short cut for improving English-language education. He said the proposal brought with it too many problems and would ultimately fail.
"If the purpose of hiring foreign English teachers is simply to have teachers with native-English accents, I believe that local teachers could do the job if they were properly trained [with programs that] use the money [intended for hiring] foreign teachers," he said.
Sebastian Liao (廖咸浩), chairman of the Department of Foreign Languages and Literature at National Taiwan University (NTU), warned the ministry that hiring foreign teachers would not serve as a panacea for problems associated with the provision of successful English-language education or with globalization.
"Some schools in the remote Hualien and Taitung areas have applied to hire foreign English teachers to enhance their students' English skills. Can't our own teachers do the job?" Liao asked.
"These students in remote areas enjoy fewer educational and cultural resources than children in cities. If we expose them directly to a foreign culture, how will they adjust to the cultural differences which might interfere with the process by which they begin to identify with their mother culture?" he said.
Shih Yu-hwei (施玉惠), a professor in the English Department at National Taiwan Normal University, cited problems with Japan's and South Korea's experiences with hiring foreign teachers for primary schools.
"Both Japan and South Korea have reduced the number of foreign English teachers. The problem was that the foreign teachers usually had difficulty in coordinating with the domestic teachers, and were often treated as simply `living recorders' who did nothing but regurgitate native-English pronunciation," Shih said.
"This was a waste of educational resources," Shih said.
She added that local teachers in these countries often ended up being treated as second-rate instructors.
Cheung Hin-tat (張顯達), an associate professor at NTU's Graduate Institute of Linguistics and an expert in child language-acquisition, said the teaching methods of Western instructors and their Asian counterparts can be very different.
"We know from Hong Kong's experience that foreign teachers cannot meet the students' needs in terms of dealing with tests -- a very important means of evaluation in Chinese society," Cheung said.
"Like students in Taiwan, Hong Kong students are under pressure to pass tests in order to get in to senior high schools or colleges. The foreign teachers' schedules and methods prevent them from meeting the students' needs for coaching to pass the tests. Much of the work required to make up for that deficiency then falls to local teachers," Cheung said.
It was on the basis of the advisory committee's deliberations that the ministry decided to reduce the number of foreign teachers to be recruited and to instead hire foreign teacher-trainers.
Minister of Education Huang Jong-tsun (黃榮村) said in the Legislative Yuan early last month that the foreign teachers are only intended to complement the work of their domestic counterparts, rather than to replace them.
Most of the foreign teachers will be sent to elementary schools or junior high schools in small cities or remote areas where English teachers are in short supply, Huang added.
The director-general of the ministry's Department of Elementary and Junior High School Education, Wu Tsai-shung (吳財順), said that the foreign teachers should be qualified in teaching English as a second language and have a rudimentary command of Chinese.
The ministry also proposed to discuss the recruiting of teacher trainers with universities in the US and the UK.
The Ministry of Education's plan forms part of the Cabinet's Six Year National Development Plan for 2002 to 2008. The plan cites nationwide improvements in English as a key goal.
The plan to hire 1,000 teachers sparked protest from local tea-chers, who said the proposal was poorly thought out and rushed.
Many also said that the proposal, which fueled fears of job losses among local teachers, came at a bad time, with the economy in the doldrums and unemployment still high.
LOOKING NORTH: The base would enhance the military’s awareness of activities in the Bashi Channel, which China Coast Guard ships have been frequenting, an expert said The Philippine Navy on Thursday last week inaugurated a forward operating base in the country’s northern most province of Batanes, which at 185km from Taiwan would be strategically important in a military conflict in the Taiwan Strait. The Philippine Daily Inquirer quoted Northern Luzon Command Commander Lieutenant General Fernyl Buca as saying that the base in Mahatao would bolster the country’s northern defenses and response capabilities. The base is also a response to the “irregular presence this month of armed” of China Coast Guard vessels frequenting the Bashi Channel in the Luzon Strait just south of Taiwan, the paper reported, citing a
A total lunar eclipse, an astronomical event often referred to as a “blood moon,” would be visible to sky watchers in Taiwan starting just before midnight on Sunday night, the Taipei Astronomical Museum said. The phenomenon is also called “blood moon” due to the reddish-orange hue it takes on as the Earth passes directly between the sun and the moon, completely blocking direct sunlight from reaching the lunar surface. The only light is refracted by the Earth’s atmosphere, and its red wavelengths are bent toward the moon, illuminating it in a dramatic crimson light. Describing the event as the most important astronomical phenomenon
Three batches of banana sauce imported from the Philippines were intercepted at the border after they were found to contain the banned industrial dye Orange G, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said yesterday. From today through Sept. 2 next year, all seasoning sauces from the Philippines are to be subject to the FDA’s strictest border inspection, meaning 100 percent testing for illegal dyes before entry is allowed, it said in a statement. Orange G is an industrial coloring agent that is not permitted for food use in Taiwan or internationally, said Cheng Wei-chih (鄭維智), head of the FDA’s Northern Center for
UNDER PRESSURE: The report cited numerous events that have happened this year to show increased coercion from China, such as military drills and legal threats The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) aims to reinforce its “one China” principle and the idea that Taiwan belongs to the People’s Republic of China by hosting celebratory events this year for the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II, the “retrocession” of Taiwan and the establishment of the UN, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said in its latest report to the Legislative Yuan. Taking advantage of the significant anniversaries, Chinese officials are attempting to assert China’s sovereignty over Taiwan through interviews with international news media and cross-strait exchange events, the report said. Beijing intends to reinforce its “one China” principle
RSS