Chaim Melamed (Letters, Aug. 5, page 8) approves of English villages but thinks Super English High Schools would be more effective in improving English in Taiwan, especially in improving the quality of teachers' English. Both of these approaches are very expensive. Also, there is no evidence that English villages have any measurable effect on English competence.
There are less expensive options that provide students with the essential ingredient they need: comprehensible English and English input they can understand. In addition, these options are supported by a considerable amount of scientific research.
The first option is to increase the amount of interesting and comprehensible English reading available to students, and provide some time for students to do self-selected reading in school. In addition, discussion of reading and read-alouds are powerful means of increasing interest in reading. The increased availability of books will also improve the quality of teachers' English.
For a fraction of the amount of money it takes to set up a series of English villages and Super English High Schools, which will involve only a tiny percentage of the student population, the Ministry of Education could easily provide adequate reading material for every student in Taiwan.
The second option is to increase the amount of English aural input. Fortunately, this can be done for free, through www.eslpod.com, which provides a wide variety of listening experiences for intermediate students of English as a foreign language.
These are not the only steps to take, but they are inexpensive and obvious ones that might be considered before plunging ahead toward more exotic and costly proposals.
Stephen Krashen
Los Angeles, California
Saudi Arabian largesse is flooding Egypt’s cultural scene, but the reception is mixed. Some welcome new “cooperation” between two regional powerhouses, while others fear a hostile takeover by Riyadh. In Cairo, historically the cultural capital of the Arab world, Egyptian Minister of Culture Nevine al-Kilany recently hosted Saudi Arabian General Entertainment Authority chairman Turki al-Sheikh. The deep-pocketed al-Sheikh has emerged as a Medici-like patron for Egypt’s cultural elite, courted by Cairo’s top talent to produce a slew of forthcoming films. A new three-way agreement between al-Sheikh, Kilany and United Media Services — a multi-media conglomerate linked to state intelligence that owns much of
The US and other countries should take concrete steps to confront the threats from Beijing to avoid war, US Representative Mario Diaz-Balart said in an interview with Voice of America on March 13. The US should use “every diplomatic economic tool at our disposal to treat China as what it is... to avoid war,” Diaz-Balart said. Giving an example of what the US could do, he said that it has to be more aggressive in its military sales to Taiwan. Actions by cross-party US lawmakers in the past few years such as meeting with Taiwanese officials in Washington and Taipei, and
Denmark’s “one China” policy more and more resembles Beijing’s “one China” principle. At least, this is how things appear. In recent interactions with the Danish state, such as applying for residency permits, a Taiwanese’s nationality would be listed as “China.” That designation occurs for a Taiwanese student coming to Denmark or a Danish citizen arriving in Denmark with, for example, their Taiwanese partner. Details of this were published on Sunday in an article in the Danish daily Berlingske written by Alexander Sjoberg and Tobias Reinwald. The pretext for this new practice is that Denmark does not recognize Taiwan as a state under
The Republic of China (ROC) on Taiwan has no official diplomatic allies in the EU. With the exception of the Vatican, it has no official allies in Europe at all. This does not prevent the ROC — Taiwan — from having close relations with EU member states and other European countries. The exact nature of the relationship does bear revisiting, if only to clarify what is a very complicated and sensitive idea, the details of which leave considerable room for misunderstanding, misrepresentation and disagreement. Only this week, President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) received members of the European Parliament’s Delegation for Relations