He made the children smell garbage bins when teaching about the five senses. Sometimes toilets were used. He was gruff and loud, and sometimes the children were scared of what he might make them do next.
To the kindergarten class, the foreign English teacher was the "big bad wolf."
To an education major from Shihchien University (實踐大學), who worked with him on a placement at the Kaohsiung kindergarten, he was extremely unorthodox and perhaps less experienced than she. Although he was not representative of the majority of native English-speaking teachers in Taiwan, to her his case illustrated the problem of unqualified and inexperienced foreign kindergarten teachers.
It also revealed the flaws in the laws that govern kindergartens or, more precisely, the lack of enforcement of those laws, which allows unqualified teachers into the schools.
Nearly all foreign teachers who work in kindergartens across the country are working illegally, whether they are qualified or not. This is a surprising fact to most because there are so many English as a Second Language (ESL) teachers working in the nation's kindergartens. Though there are no official figures, estimates suggest there could be up to 8,000 such workers currently employed in the country, part-time and full-time.
Many of these foreign teachers themselves are not aware of the law, because they are rarely told and sometimes deliberately misinformed by kindergarten owners, who would struggle to attract and retain applicants if the law was well-known or enforced.
But the rules are quite clear.
The Employment Service Act (ESA), which protects the rights of Taiwanese nationals, allows some foreign teachers to be employed, but only in the following specific areas: universities, short-term supplementary schools or buhsibans (補習班), or at a registered school for foreign residents, such as the Taipei American School.
Recently, legislators revised the ESA to allow foreigners to teach in private elementary schools and junior high schools. The reason given for the change was that the law had become "outdated," according to lawmakers: it did not reflect the fact that foreigners were teaching, that it was beneficial to students, that there are not enough Taiwanese teachers of English, or that native speakers have an obvious advantage when instructing in conversational English or idiom.
But there are no immediate plans for any further changes to the system and it is likely that ESL teaching in kindergartens will remain prohibited for some time.
Senior Ministry of Education (MOE) officials say the system is being opened up "step by step" and explain that this is why a "blind eye" is being turned to the evidence of foreigners teaching in kindergartens.
There is a reason for this cautious attitude toward liberalizing laws for foreign teachers in kindergartens, ministry officials say, and it stems from the belief that a second language shouldn't be taught too early because it may retard the learning of Mandarin.
"Learning English can negatively impact children's understanding of the Bopomofo [the phoneticization of Chinese used in Taiwan] and not give children enough time to play and this is why it has not been encouraged," says Chen Chwun-li (陳淳麗), director of Shihchien University's Education Center.
Even so, handled correctly, she believes bilingual kindergartens can provide a positive learning environment and acknowledges that parents want foreign teachers and are prepared to pay for them.
So, despite the law, private kindergarten owners are supplying what the market demands. Foreign language teaching is big business because many parents want their children to get an early start in learning English, because success at school is heavily dependent on learning the language.
"Parents don't know the theories so they will just follow. Businessmen will take advantage of the situation as they do in any other commercial area, says Regina Wang, a bilingual kindergarten teacher. Parents are told there is a sensitive period for learning a language and this is at an early age, as young as two years old. Also, there is a certain cachet to be had from sending your child to a bilingual kindergarten.
The rush to meet demand in the burgeoning market of kindergarten bilingual education has led to less than ideal conditions for recruiting teachers. There are "teachers" who have had little or no training, do not speak the language and have no assistants, a situation that some Chinese-speaking teachers say makes the children go quiet or wild.
"Some of these teachers do not know how to communicate, and of course the children cannot communicate with them, says Teng Yin-ping (鄧蔭萍), a language teaching expert. "The poor children, some of them are just trying to survive.
Teng suggests that with legalization, documentation procedures could be improved so that qualification, health and police checks could be properly completed before a teacher starts work.
"The question is what kind of educational quality do we want our kids to have? There is a lot that can be done to ensure foreigners are responsible teachers," Teng says.
As it stands, just about any native speaker regardless of his or her education and background can work with the nation's youngsters. "You don't need qualifications, they [kindergarten bosses] don't care about the quality, they are putting on a show. All they want is a ... teacher who speaks English, and preferably a young woman," says Ben Thompson, who taught kindergarten in Tienmu for a year.
As a result of the law, parental demand and a "step by step" approach to liberalizing English teaching, the authorities at present are in a corner when it comes to kindergartens: Enforcing the law would be unpopular, and encouraging or monitoring foreign-language education is difficult because it is officially not happening.
As a consequence, anecdotal evidence suggests some pre-school inspectors pretend not to notice foreigners in the classroom during routine checks of the schools.
There are also loopholes that kindergartens use to employ teachers and to provide them with an Alien Resident Certificate (ARC), which is needed to stay in the country, Teng says.
"Most kindergarten owners usually have some way to prepare data for the government. They will not call them teachers, but will call them part-time employees of some other kind," she says.
In some cases it is claimed the authorities are bribed. "Sure, if you have enough money you can pay people off," says Liz Hulme, the managing director of a private kindergarten in Taipei.
"There are friends of mine who have been deported. One woman worked for Hess and had an ARC from a buhsiban. She was thrown out for three weeks but the [boss] paid them off.
"Every time the cop car drives by we are ducking. Or the police come in and the teachers run out the back door. And the kids are asking why? It is not an ideal learning situation. I mean what does this teach the children?
"We are here to make things better and we can only do this to a certain extent. We could definitely do more if teaching were legal," Hulme says.
Some parents do know that foreigners are teaching illegally, but still send their children to a bilingual kindergarten because they want their children to learn English and trust the kindergarten bosses will properly screen applicants. Even so they worry about bad teachers and argue that legalization would make it easier to control the quality of foreign teachers.
"Parents should be demanding that it is legalized," says Yeen Lee-wun (顏麗玟), a parent who is also a kindergarten teacher. "Even if the [children] do not learn to speak like a foreigner, they will learn not to be afraid of speaking another language or talking to foreigners."
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