To promote the native languages of new immigrants, elementary-school students will have to choose one of seven Southeast Asian languages to study, starting in the fall of next year, the Ministry of Education said yesterday.
The languages are Vietnamese, Indonesian, Thai, Burmese, Cambodian, Bahasa Malaysia and Filipino, and students would be required to take one class per week, the ministry said.
The K-12 Education Administration is creating four textbooks for each of the three language levels elementary school students are expected to study, it said.
The language classes would also be offered as elective subjects for junior-high students, with six books for the fourth level, the ministry said.
The textbooks would be created based on the ministry’s guidelines and, to ensure that students learn the authentic language and culture, the contents would be based situations that take place in each respective nation, it said.
The textbooks would respect cultural differences and are designed to promote cultural diversity, it said.
The textbooks for level one are finished and approved, it said.
The books teach different ways to address people at school, exchange greetings and other useful phrases, and include six to eight nursery songs and lessons about differences between the respective nation and Taiwan, it said.
In level one, students would be expected to learn 50 words, but would also be introduced to 50 more that they would not be expected to memorize, it said.
The seven languages have been offered in 21 cities and counties under a trial program that began in August last year, the ministry said.
Improvements would be made to the textbooks based on feedback from the 110 classes conducted since then.
The National Central University and the Institute for Information Industry have been working to digitalize the textbooks for level one so the public can access them online, and the project is expected to be completed by August, it said.
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