Young Taiwanese expatriates from the US and Canada are encouraged to volunteer to teach English in rural parts of Taiwan, the Overseas Compatriots Affairs Committee (OCAC) said yesterday.
This is the fourth year that the OCAC has joined hands with an alliance of Chinese schools in southern California and the Ministry of Education to recruit young Taiwanese expatriates to volunteer to teach English in Taiwan.
Alliance president Yang Hsien-yi (楊賢怡) said the goal was to recruit 275 volunteers this year. Applicants must be between the ages of 16 and 27 and residing in either the US or Canada.
Yang said the project has generated much interest since its inception four years ago, when only 25 volunteers signed up to teach English to disadvantaged children in remote parts of the nation.
Last year, he said, more than 270 English teaching volunteers were dispatched to 44 different junior high and elementary schools throughout the nation, benefiting nearly 2,000 students.
Applications are being accepted from now until Feb. 29.
Applicants can obtain their applications in person at any Taiwan Economic and Cultural Representative Office. The application is also available for download at the OCAC Web site at www.ocac.gov.tw, or at the North American Expatriate Youth English Teaching Volunteer Service Program's Web site at www.aidsummer.org.
Participants are responsible for their own travel from their country of residence to Taiwan, as well as expenses for accommodation and travel fees if they choose to arrive before or depart after the program dates.
Twenty-four Republican members of the US House of Representatives yesterday introduced a concurrent resolution calling on the US government to abolish the “one China” policy and restore formal diplomatic relations with Taiwan. Led by US representatives Tom Tiffany and Scott Perry, the resolution calls for not only re-establishing formal relations, but also urges the US Trade Representative to negotiate a free-trade agreement (FTA) with Taiwan and for US officials to advocate for Taiwan’s full membership in the UN and other international organizations. In a news release announcing the resolution, Tiffany, who represents a Wisconsin district, called the “one China” policy “outdated, counterproductive
Actress Barbie Hsu (徐熙媛) has “returned home” to Taiwan, and there are no plans to hold a funeral for the TV star who died in Japan from influenza- induced pneumonia, her family said in a statement Wednesday night. The statement was released after local media outlets reported that Barbie Hsu’s ashes were brought back Taiwan on board a private jet, which arrived at Taipei Songshan Airport around 3 p.m. on Wednesday. To the reporters waiting at the airport, the statement issued by the family read “(we) appreciate friends working in the media for waiting in the cold weather.” “She has safely returned home.
TRUMP ERA: The change has sparked speculation on whether it was related to the new US president’s plan to dismiss more than 1,000 Joe Biden-era appointees The US government has declined to comment on a post that indicated the departure of Laura Rosenberger as chair of the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT). Neither the US Department of State nor the AIT has responded to the Central News Agency’s questions on the matter, after Rosenberger was listed as a former chair on the AIT’s official Web site, with her tenure marked as 2023 to this year. US officials have said previously that they usually do not comment on personnel changes within the government. Rosenberger was appointed head of the AIT in 2023, during the administration of former US president Joe
MUST REMAIN FREE: A Chinese takeover of Taiwan would lead to a global conflict, and if the nation blows up, the world’s factories would fall in a week, a minister said Taiwan is like Prague in 1938 facing Adolf Hitler; only if Taiwan remains free and democratic would the world be safe, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Francois Wu (吳志中) said in an interview with Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera. The ministry on Saturday said Corriere della Sera is one of Italy’s oldest and most read newspapers, frequently covers European economic and political issues, and that Wu agreed to an interview with the paper’s senior political analyst Massimo Franco in Taipei on Jan. 3. The interview was published on Jan. 26 with the title “Taiwan like Prague in 1938 with Hitler,” the ministry