A leading Canadian provider of public education will dispatch qualified volunteers to Taiwan later this year to teach English, a Ministry of Education (MOE) official said on Wednesday.
Liu Ching-jen (劉慶仁), director of the ministry’s Bureau of International Cultural and Educational Relations, said the volunteer teacher arrangement was made possible through a memorandum of intent that was signed between Hugh McKeown, executive director of York Region Learning Connections, the international division of the York Region District School Board (YRDSB) in Ontario, and Joyce Tseng (曾清芸), general director of the non-profit King Car Education Foundation, which sponsors the placement of foreign English teachers in rural schools.
Tseng said the Canadian volunteers would serve as English teachers in Taiwan’s remote schools.
“For example, [schools in] Matsu are in urgent need of foreign teachers,” she said.
If the collaboration between the foundation and the division continues, the volunteers may also be dispatched to mountainous areas in Nantou or outlying islands to teach English, Tseng said, adding that the first group of Canadian volunteers may arrive as early as September.
McKeown said that Canadian volunteers usually serve overseas in the fields of medicine, architecture and environmental protection.
“It [the duration of their stay overseas] depends on the projects. The maximum is usually one year,” McKeown said. “We have four teachers in Taiwan. They are here for the second year now, so it can also be extended.”
Information from the bureau showed that approximately 100 volunteers from the York region serve as volunteers abroad each year.
The bureau said the collaboration between the division and the foundation was expected to help attract more Canadian volunteers to Taiwan and help them have a better understanding of Taiwan.
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