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INTERVIEW: Lee Pei-hua sets goals for French-language teaching

Tuesday, Aug 19, 2008, Page 2

Tamkang University Department of French associate professor Lee Pei-hua, who was elected chief vice chairwoman of the Federation Internationale des Professeurs de Francais, poses during an interview with the Taipei Times last Wednesday. PHOTO: FLORA WANG, TAIPEI TIMES

Taipei Times: You were the only non-European member of the federation to be elected as a core member of the organization this year. Does this mean that Taiwan has reached a milestone in terms of its promotion of French teaching and learning?

Lee Pei-hua (李佩華): L’Association des Professeurs de Francais de Taiwan (APFT), where I serve as chairwoman, is an association member of the FIPF, which has some 180 association members and involves about 80,000 French teachers worldwide. There are eight commissions under the FIPF and I acted as chief vice-chairwoman of its Asia-Pacific commission between 2001 and 2004. Last year, the FIPF hoped I would register as a candidate for the position of chief vice-chairperson of the federation. Five candidates from Belgium, Latin America, France, Greece and Taiwan competed for the position. I felt very thrilled and honored to be able to stand out in such keen competition by winning an absolute majority or 144 votes, even though Taiwan is not a French-speaking country.

I think part of the reason why I won was because the APFT has been very active in recent years, which did not go unnoticed at the FIPF. What’s more, the first regional meeting of the federation’s Asia-Pacific commission was held in Taipei in 2006, which attracted some 240 French teachers from more than 20 countries. Taiwan left a very deep impression with them. [My being elected] means that the FIPF recognizes the APFT’s efforts [in promoting French teaching and learning in Taiwan]. Every one of the 250 to 300 French teachers in Taiwan is devoted to French teaching and learning because of their passion for the language and the culture of French-speaking countries.

TT: What will your obligations and plans be in your term as chief vice chairwoman of the federation?

Lee: We [the core members of the federation] will carry out many reforms in the next four years. I personally have two immediate goals. First, I will supervise the Asia-Pacific commission in its preparations for the second Asia-Pacific regional meeting, which will be held in Sydney in September 2010.

Second, I have proposed using Taiwan’s technological know-how to create a virtual platform that would enhance ties between federation members.

TT: Generally speaking, what advantages does French have in foreign language learning in Taiwan compared with other languages?

Lee: English has always been predominant in terms of the number of learners in Taiwan, while Japanese comes second and French third. Judging from Ministry of Education (MOE) statistics, 23,292 high school students learned Japanese as their second language in the last academic year while 3,724 students took French. The predominance of Japanese [over French] is the result of history, geography and what is deemed fashionable. The popularity of French over other foreign languages like German in high school language classes was the result of hard work by the French Institute in Taipei and the French government, which considers promotion of the French language and culture overseas a very important responsibility of its foreign ministry.

TT: Do you see a competition between French learning and English learning in Taiwan?

Lee: It is not necessarily a competition because it is difficult for French to outpace English in terms of the number of learners in Taiwan. The popularity of French learning in high schools or in the second foreign language learning market in general has more to do with the rich French culture in art and cinematography and with the beauty of the language.

TT: Do you think language learners in Taiwan receive fewer incentives to learn French?

Lee: Yes, compared with English and Japanese, because we have so many English TV programs and Japanese radio programs here. Nevertheless, French learners enjoy more online resources than they did in the past.

TT: You have endeavored to push French teaching and learning in primary and high schools in Taiwan. Why do you focus your efforts on these two stages of education?

Lee: Promoting French as a second foreign language in high schools is a project of the ministry, to whom I have offered my assistance. I have also recently launched another project for the ministry, in which high school students who have taken basic second foreign language lessons in their freshman and junior years can take four-hour advanced lessons every Saturday. These students would receive a certificate, which could give them an advantage when they apply for college.

As for [why I have been] promoting French learning in primary schools, I believe [it is necessary] to introduce the “musicality” and culture of different languages to children when they are little. If we can show children different cultures and open a window [to those cultures], their world will be all the richer. [The languages they know] will no longer be limited to Mandarin and English. They will understand that there are different languages and cultures [in the world]. This is very important. We know it’s very difficult to push French learning as a regular class [in primary schools], so we offer schools that are interested in teaching French as a second foreign language free training and teaching materials for teachers. We offered 11 classes nationwide last year, most of which were in Taipei. The APFT is running the project and we hope to cooperate with the ministry at some point in time. The French Institute in Taipei has been of great help, too.

TT: Does the APFT hope the ministry will work as hard promoting teaching French as a second foreign language in elementary schools as it does in high schools?

Lee: We hope so. What we are trying to do is to “plant seeds” and offer the students a chance to acquaint themselves with [French]. Some of the phonological “seeds” will stay with children [for years]. Some children who are interested in the language will be motivated to find out more on their own.

TT: What difficulties have you encountered in pushing teaching French as a second foreign language in elementary and high schools?

Lee: What we are concerned about is that so far there is only one full-time high school French teacher. The rest [in the ministry’s project] are part-time. Some teachers compare themselves to taxi drivers because they constantly have to be on the move if they want to make a living doing this. Some teachers quit teaching after finding other jobs. This is a big loss to schools because it is not easy to train a foreign language teacher.

Some high school administrators also complain about pressure from parents, who urge schools not to offer second foreign language lessons and rather focus on major academic subjects [such as Mandarin, English and math]. Fortunately, this is not widespread and some parents understand that their children may be more competitive if they speak another foreign language.
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