The National Federation of Teachers Unions (NFTU) yesterday urged the government to thoroughly review its Bilingual 2030 policy, saying it has caused problems in elementary and high schools, and might affect the quality of education in other subjects.
The government on March 28 changed its original “Bilingual Nation 2030” plan to the “Bilingual 2030” plan, no longer aiming to turn Taiwan into a Mandarin-English bilingual nation by 2030, NFTU president Hou Chun-liang (侯俊良) told a news conference in Taipei.
Despite the change, the policy’s budget, resources and most of its content remain the same, causing unusual scenes on campuses, he said.
Cheng Chi-yi (鄭祺怡), a teacher at Gong Jheng Elementary School in Yilan County who has taught bilingual courses for two years, said the policy was adopted too quickly despite clearly insufficient preparation, including a lack of specific execution plans, evaluation criteria and clear teaching guidelines.
The policy does not consider difficulties in execution, such as many bilingual teachers finding it difficult to teach different subjects in English, Cheng said.
It also neglects the urban-rural education gap, as well as the negative effect on students who cannot understand courses presented in English and give up, she said.
In addition, the government’s Foreign English Teacher recruitment plan has deviated from its original purpose, Cheng said.
Teachers of bilingual courses who are most in need of assistance from foreign teachers lack such aid, while local English-language teachers who are capable of teaching English on their own are accompanied by foreign teachers, she said.
Taipei Municipal Ming Lun High School English teacher Chen Chian-chou (陳建州) said the policy has resulted in teachers of mathematics, music and physical education having to teach in a language they are not fluent in, sacrificing the quality of education.
Students’ English skills also fall in a bimodal distribution, meaning the policy affects the overall education of students who are not fluent in English, as they are required to learn unfamiliar subjects in an unfamiliar language, he said, adding that schools need more professional English-language teachers to offer better English education.
National Taiwan University Institute for Advanced Studies in the Humanities and Social Science Dean Liao Hsien-hao (廖咸浩) said people often link English skills with better competitive ability, but competitiveness should be based on having deep knowledge, decent thinking ability and creativity.
People need “native proficiency” to have the three abilities, so if Mandarin and English become equally important, students might not be proficient in either of the languages, which would impair their learning, he said.
Hou said the union urges the government to conduct a comprehensive review of the policy to solve the problems in classroom settings, and provide quality basic education and English learning.
Separately, the Ministry of Education yesterday said that it plans to recruit 77 US teaching assistants through the Foundation for Scholarly Exchanges next month to help with English-language education at elementary and junior-high schools.
The assistants are to facilitate spoken English instruction by helping create an environment that encourages English communication in the classroom and during extracurricular activities, the ministry said, adding that 70 US teachers were recruited last year through the foundation, also known as Fulbright Taiwan.
Additional reporting by Rachel Lin
FINAL COUNTDOWN: About 50,000 attended a pro-recall rally yesterday, while the KMT and the TPP plan to rally against the recall votes today Democracy activists, together with arts and education representatives, yesterday organized a motorcade, while thousands gathered on Ketagalan Boulevard in Taipei in the evening in support of tomorrow’s recall votes. Recall votes for 24 Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers and suspended Hsinchu City mayor Ann Kao (高虹安) are to be held tomorrow, while recall votes for seven other KMT lawmakers are scheduled for Aug. 23. The afternoon motorcade was led by the Spring Breeze Culture and Arts Foundation, the Tyzen Hsiao Foundation and the Friends of Lee Teng-hui Association, and was joined by delegates from the Taiwan Statebuilding Party and the Taiwan Solidarity
‘NON-RED’: Taiwan and Ireland should work together to foster a values-driven, democratic economic system, leveraging their complementary industries, Lai said President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday expressed hopes for closer ties between Taiwan and Ireland, and that both countries could collaborate to create a values-driven, democracy-centered economic system. He made the remarks while meeting with an Irish cross-party parliamentary delegation visiting Taiwan. The delegation, led by John McGuinness, deputy speaker of the Irish house of representatives, known as the Dail, includes Irish lawmakers Malcolm Byrne, Barry Ward, Ken O’Flynn and Teresa Costello. McGuinness, who chairs the Ireland-Taiwan Parliamentary Friendship Association, is a friend of Taiwan, and under his leadership, the association’s influence has grown over the past few years, Lai said. Ireland is
Instead of threatening tariffs on Taiwan-made chips, the US should try to reinforce cooperation with Taiwan on semiconductor development to take on challenges from the People’s Republic of China (PRC), a Taiwanese think tank said. The administration of US President Donald Trump has threatened to impose across-the-board import duties of 32 percent on Taiwan-made goods and levy a separate tariff on semiconductors, which Taiwan is hoping to avoid. The Research Institute for Democracy, Society, and Emerging Technology (DSET), a National Science and Technology Council think tank, said that US efforts should focus on containing China’s semiconductor rise rather than impairing Taiwan. “Without
An SOS message in a bottle has been found in Ireland that is believed to have come from the Taiwanese captain of fishing vessel Yong Yu Sing No. 18 (永裕興18號), who has been missing without a trace for over four years, along with nine Indonesian crew members. The vessel, registered to Suao (蘇澳), went missing near Hawaii on Dec. 30, 2020. The ship has since been recovered, but the 10 crew members have never been found. The captain, surnamed Lee (李), is believed to have signed the note with his name. A post appeared on Reddit on Tuesday after a man