The New Taipei City Government is launching a program aimed at making the English language a part of everyday life by 2030.
The project, named “Make New Taipei City a Bilingual Municipality,” seeks to merge education with everyday life, digitize education, meld unique local characteristics with education, diversify education methods and ensure that it hires professional and well-trained teachers, New Taipei City Mayor Hou You-yi (侯友宜) told the first meeting of the school year on Friday, which was attended by 340 deans from high schools, vocational-high schools and junior-high schools.
The city has 300 public primary and secondary schools, of which 119, or nearly 40 percent, are promoting classes taught in English or setting up experimental English-language classes, the New Taipei City Department of Education said.
Photo: Chou Hsiang-yun, Taipei Times
Each English-language class — typically art or music, and others — is to have a Taiwanese teacher and a foreign teacher, it said.
The city government has 90 foreign teachers and expects to hire 10 more during the school year, it said, adding that schools in rural areas would have priority.
The project hopes to fine-tune all aspects of the curriculum, the teachers and the integration of English into everyday life, Education Department Commissioner Chang Ming-wen (張明文) said.
Regarding an “English Day” program, the department encourages all schools to foster an environment conducive to the learning of English, with broadcasts, classes and events, as well as activities such as encouraging students to greet each other in English, Chang added.
Every school should endeavor to have at least one bilingual class, but schools would not be mandated to have a certain number per week, Primary Education Division head Lin Yi-cheng (林奕成) said.
A lack of bilingual materials hampers teachers’ efforts to plan their courses, Guangfu Elementary School administrator Chang Kuei-chen (張桂珍) said, adding that the varying vocabulary levels of students could affect their learning.
The greatest challenge is how to stimulate students’ desire to learn when teaching in English, said a foreign teacher at the elementary school, who only identified himself as “Dennis.”
“If we could encourage more students to speak in English, it could, perhaps, help expedite the city government’s goal of making the English language a part of everyday life,” Dennis added.
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