The Ministry of Education yesterday officially introduced the College Board, a US non-profit educational organization, as its collaborative partner in advancing the professional development of the nation's English teachers.
Robert DiYanni, director of International Services of the College Board, yesterday said, "Our specific purpose here is to begin collaboration with domestic teachers through our teachers' professional- development training."
DiYanni said Taiwan is in need of improving and reforming the quality of teaching and learning English.
"My role and that of other fellow professional English educators are to bring ideas and experiences to those confronting issues of learning and teaching English in Taiwan throughout your school system," he said.
The College Board will provide a series of professional development projects with local middle and high-school teachers including holding English-teaching workshops, and sending Taiwanese teachers abroad to attend workshops and seminars at College Board Advanced Placement Institutes in Hawaii, London and Heidelberg,.
Vice Minister of Education Fan Sun-lu (
Fan said the total demand for foreign English teachers, a figure arrived at by tallying local government requests, stands at 1,700 teachers, but the ministry will reduce the number to less than 1,000.
"Because not every teacher will teach in the classrooms. Most will only assist the teaching of local teachers, while a large proportion of them will serve as consultants," Fan said.
Commenting on the ministry's plan to recruit foreign English teachers to teach in primary and middle schools, DiYanni said, "It is just one part of the larger initiatives of ... the long-term project to improve the English teaching and learning of Taiwan."
"That's not going to be the solution by bringing in lots of foreign teachers; but rather, that can help kick things off in the long-term aspects to help local teachers to be better trained and prepared. Because the work has to be done by the Taiwanese teachers," DiYanni said.
Having held workshops for Taiwanese teachers, DiYanni said the teachers are very concerned about getting additional resources from the ministry.
DiYanni also reported that Taiwanese teachers are also concerned about teaching speaking and writing skills and the kinds of exams their students will have to take.
DiYanni and his colleague, Theresa Chang-whei Jen (
"Writing has become a more and more important aspect for American students in the Scholastic Aptitude Test [SAT] in order to get into college. In 2007, the SAT will include writing as a required component ... in addition to tests of mathematics and reading," Jen said.
"I believe the same situation applies in Taiwan where the importance of writing is not stressed," she said.
The College Board is a New York-based non-profit membership association in the US. It is responsible for assisting students with college opportunities. It has helped design a series of important educational policies in the US over the past century. It was founded in 1900 and was the creator of the SAT and the Advanced Placement Program.
RSS