The Ministry of Education yesterday proposed a four-year plan to improve English proficiency among Taiwanese elementary and junior high school students, encouraging schools to test students on their listening and speaking abilities in monthly examinations.
Yang Chang-yu (楊昌裕), director of the ministry’s Department of Elementary Education, told reporters that between 50 and 60 percent of English teachers at elementary and junior high schools had introduced listening, writing and oral tests in midterms or finals.
“This is something we should encourage [every English teacher] to do,” Yang said.
Yang said the ministry would also put added focus on contextual learning in English education at the primary and junior-high levels, as education at those stages is meant to help students develop an interest in the language.
Yang said the plan also includes a proposal for students writing high school entrance examinations to undergo listening and writing tests.
At present, exam-takers are only required to answer multiple-choice questions.
Yang said the ministry also proposed giving junior high school graduates extra credits if they pass the General English Proficiency Test.
The four-year plan is expected to come into force at the beginning of next year’s academic year.
However, Minister of Education Wu Ching-chi (吳清基) later said the ministry had yet to decide whether to add listening and writing tests to high school entrance exams.
Wu said the ministry would first ask teachers to emphasize listening and speaking proficiency.
In related news, the ministry said that one out of five elementary school students in Taiwan could be an Internet addict.
A ministry study, conducted by National Chiao Tung University, National Yunlin University of Science and Technology and Shih Hsin University, among 53,636 elementary and junior high school students between November last year and April showed about 20 percent of respondents between fourth and sixth grades had Internet addictions.
The study found that users spent an average of 22 hours per week during the school year surfing the Internet, which rose to 42 hours during the summer and winter vacations. Most of that time was spent playing online games.
UPGRADE: The Kang Ding-class frigate is replacing its Chaparall missiles with Tien Chien II and Hua Yang VLS, which would provide it with long-range, 360° air defense Taiwan plans to produce 1,200 to 1,376 Hai Chien II missiles (海劍二, Sea Sword II) — also known as TC-2N — to serve as the standard air defense system of the navy’s surface combatant fleet, a source said yesterday. Last week, the Hai Chien II, the naval version of the Tien Kung II missile (天劍二, Sky Sword II), completed a live-fire test in waters off the National Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology’s Jiupeng facility (九鵬) in Pingtung County’s Manjhou Township (滿州). The MIM72 Chaparral and other dated air defense missiles that currently arm Taiwanese ships have inadequate range to combat Chinese
REASONS FOR TRAVEL: An assistant professor said that proposed amendments to penalize drivers if they used drugs overseas would not deter people from traveling People who operate a motor vehicle under the influence of marijuana would have their driver’s license revoked, even if they used the substance while overseas, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications said yesterday, citing proposed amendments to the Road Traffic Management and Penalty Act (道路交通管理處罰條例). The amendments would also authorize the government to revoke the licenses of people determined to have used Category 1 or Category 2 narcotics, even if they were not operating a vehicle while under the influence of drugs, as well as ban them from taking the license test for three years, the ministry said. People aged 18 or
GLOBALGIVING: ‘ Caving to external pressure is not acceptable for an organization that has cultivated justice reform and human rights for 30 years,’ one NGO said A slew of non-government organizations (NGOs) have withdrawn from the GlobalGiving fundraising platform after it announced it would use “Chinese Taipei” instead of “Taiwan” from next month. The Taiwan Good Rice Association wrote on Facebook on Friday that it was informed on April 28 via a teleconference call of the change, which was made because the platform wanted to operate in China. Taiwan Good Rice is to terminate all cooperative relationships with GlobalGiving in response to the platform’s “unilateral and non-negotiable” decision to remove references to Taiwan, the NGO said. “Taiwan is in the official name of Taiwan Good Rice Association and the
HEAVY WEATHER: Typhoon Jangmi is due to crash straight into the Ryukyus as airlines look to shift flights to larger aircraft or cancel flights to Okinawa entirely Taiwan’s international air carriers announced flight adjustments over the weekend as Typhoon Jangmi is forecast to hit the Ryukyu Islands today and tomorrow. The Central Weather Administration (CWA) upgraded Jangmi from a tropical storm to a typhoon at 8am yesterday, with the eye located 580km south of Naha city. It was moving north at 19kph. Today, China Airlines’ CI-120, CI-121, CI-122 and CI-123 flights between Taoyuan and Naha, Okinawa, have been canceled as well as CI-132 and CI-133 between Kaohsiung and Naha. EVA Air’s BR-112, BR-113, BR-186 and BR-185 flights between Taoyuan and Naha are also canceled. Low-cost carrier Tigerair Taiwan canceled IT-230,
RSS