The Overseas Youth English Teaching Volunteer Service Program is hosting 594 foreigners of Taiwanese descent who are to teach at 81 elementary and junior-high schools in 16 counties this summer.
President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) had instructed that this year’s program — which is to run from Saturday to July 28 — be expanded, after it received favorable responses from overseas compatriot groups, Overseas Community Affairs Council Minister Wu Hsin-hsing (吳新興) said at a news conference yesterday.
The number of volunteers this year increased by nearly a third from about 400 last year, Wu said.
Photo: Lu Yi-hsuan, Taipei Times
The dedication of these volunteers to teaching Taiwanese students is touching, Wu said, adding that the program allows them to “bring the world to Taiwan and Taiwan to their home countries.”
“We want to thank these individuals for their dedication in laying a good foundation for the children of rural Taiwan in learning the English language,” Wu told the volunteers.
Chinese Nationalist Party Legislator Lin Li-chan (林麗蟬) said she was moved by the project.
A descendant of a migrant family, Lin said she was selected as one of the nation’s “Ten Outstanding Young Individuals” for her dedication to social service.
“It was from this distinction that I eventually worked my way into becoming a legislator,” Lin said, adding that the volunteers could one day become lawmakers in their home countries.
“To serve others is an honor; you give some, but you also learn,” Lin said.
Lin said she would like to encourage the volunteers to continue to dedicate themselves to such activities and hopes that similar camps could be set up for Mandarin Chinese and Southeast Asian languages.
The volunteers hail from the US, Canada, the UK, Australia and New Zealand, among other countries. They range in age from 17 to 25, are native English speakers and have a basic command of Mandarin.
The program started in 2004 as an event sponsored by the King Car Cultural & Educational Foundation and the council. With the involvement of the Ministry of Education in 2006, and the Hakka Affairs Council and various other non-governmental organizations in 2014, it has rapidly expanded.
To date, the program has hosted 4,820 people and has benefited more than 4,300 students in 213 schools in rural areas, the Overseas Community Affairs Council said.
Kenting National Park service technician Yang Jien-fon (楊政峰) won a silver award in World Grand Prix Photography Awards Spring Season for his photograph of two male rat snakes intertwined in combat. Yang’s colleagues at Kenting National Park said he is a master of nature photography who has been held back by his job in civil service. The awards accept entries in all four seasons across six categories: architectural and urban photography, black-and-white and fine art photography, commercial and fashion photography, documentary and people photography, nature and experimental photography, and mobile photography. Awards are ranked according to scores and divided into platinum, gold and
SPACE VETERAN: Kjell N. Lindgren, who helps lead NASA’s human spaceflight missions, has been on two expeditions on the ISS and has spent 311 days in space Taiwan-born US astronaut Kjell N. Lindgren is to visit Taiwan to promote technological partnerships through one of the programs organized by the US for its 250th national anniversary. Lindgren would be in Taiwan from Tuesday to Saturday next week as part of the US Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs’ US Speaker Program, organized to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) said in a statement yesterday. Lindgren plans to engage with key leaders across the nation “to advance cutting-edge technological partnerships and inspire the next generation of scientists and engineers,”
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus yesterday said it opposes the introduction of migrant workers from India until a mechanism is in place to prevent workers from absconding. Minister of Labor Hung Sun-han (洪申翰) on Thursday told the Legislative Yuan that the first group of migrant workers from India could be introduced as early as this year, as part of a government program. The caucus’ opposition to the policy is based on the assessment that “the risk is too high,” KMT caucus secretary-general Lin Pei-hsiang (林沛祥) said. Taiwan has a serious and long-standing problem of migrant workers absconding from their contracts, indicating that
TRADE-OFF: Beijing seeks to trade a bowl of tempura for a Chinese delicacy, an official said, while another said its promises were attempts to interfere in the polls The government must carefully consider the national security implications of building a bridge connecting Kinmen County and Xiamen, China, the Public Construction Commission (PCC) said yesterday. PCC Commissioner Derek Chen (陳金德), who is also a minister without portfolio, made the remarks in a meeting of the legislature’s Transportation Committee, after Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Hsu Fu-kuei (徐富癸) asked about China’s proposal of new infrastructure projects to further connect Kinmen and Lienchiang (Matsu) counties with Xiamen. China unveiled the bridge plan, along with nine other policies for Taiwan, on Sunday, the last day of Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun’s (鄭麗文) visit
RSS