Is this regulation only being enforced to prohibit the teaching of English or does it apply to other languages as well.
I can just see the thousands of Icelandic-language pre-school teachers running for the hills as we type. 
Damn Basque kindergartens…no one ever harrasses them.
If it’s illegal for foreigners to teach Taiwanese tykes, then for the same argument, shouldn’t there be a problem with foreign children attending Chinese kindergartens? And what about children of mixed races? Or Taiwanese children born abroad, ergo having foreign passports? Personally, I think the whole kindergarten policy stinks worse than partially-digested chou doufu lying in the hot August sun. I won’t say it can’t happen, but for a country to say it wants its people to be fluent in English (and going as far as promoting English-speaking government workers faster than their non-English-speaking colleagues) it’s pretty hypocritical of them to turn around and say they don’t want their kids to learn it. Especially if they look at where research shows that the earlier a person learns a foreign language, the more native-like their language will be later. Of course, ifmany English buxibans/kindergartens that claim to be English immersion but are really language schools were correctly classified, then they might make a better policy on this. If their reasoning is what I think it is, the problem is that young children are not having their other needs met by attending these language schools claiming to be preschools and kindergartens.
You can’t teach a kid to count to ten in English if they haven’t learned the concept of counting.
An English immersion school teaches kids learning concepts in English. A typical English kindergarten in Taiwan teaches them English. There’s a big difference between the two, but the MOE doesn’t seem to know this.
There are numerous Japanese immersion kindergartens in Taiwan. I have contacted two of them in Tien Mue both of which stated they have not heard of any arbitrary directives being made by the Ministry of Education that affects them in any way.
Links please. Are these schools for Taiwanese or Japanese children? I know there are such schools for the kids of Japanese businessmen who will later attend the Japanese International School, but I wasn’t aware that they’re open to locals.
One of my employers also has a kindergarten which is essentially immersion English, passing itself off as bilingual to the MOE, but also has daily Japanese classes. By the time the kids get to 1st grade, where I take over, they speak fluent English and Japanese. So, not Japanese immersion, but they are probably out there (although i don’t see Taiwanese parents sending their kids to immersion Japanese - probably just half-English, half-Japanese).
Brian
I don’t see what the fuss is about. Lots of Taiwanese kids these days are immersed in a foreign language all day at home…it’s Vietnamese…
(btw, need to correct that typo in the thread title)
The letters “a” and “e” are too far from each other to be mere typos as were the “d” and “t” in kindergarten. Problems fixed in any case.
The fact that they are only going after English schools either says something about MOE discriminating against only English speakers or it says something about how English schools are being run.
If you already know how I feel about the way many so-called English kindergartens here are run, then I won’t waste your time letting you know which one I think it is.
Breaking News: Apparently an immersion kindergarten in Taichung named Marshall was raided on Wednesday. Marshall is a full day immersion kindergarten with about 100 students.
No word on arrests or anything else. Marshall has always been a target for the police here.
Erm…ya…it’s called Quebec. That government has even allocating massive amounts of funding to change names of street signs that are still in English. Example: Upper Lachine Road is now Chemin Upper Lachine. To the tune of $50K Cdn for that one street. But off topic…
This is about schools right? Bassman, you are a Kiwi, correct? If you and your family, for some ungodly reason, decided to move to Quebec, you would have no choice but to enrol the Bassettes into French school. So, no, parents don’t make the decision.
Erm…ya…it’s called Quebec. That government has even allocating massive amounts of funding to change names of street signs that are still in English. Example: Upper Lachine Road is now Chemin Upper Lachine. To the tune of $50K Cdn for that one street. But off topic…
This is about schools right? Bassman, you are a Kiwi, correct? If you and your family, for some ungodly reason, decided to move to Quebec, you would have no choice but to enrol the Bassettes into French school. So, no, parents don’t make the decision.[/quote]
This is about Private schools, right? Kindergarten’s and pre-schools. It’s not about what you have to learn, is it? Ok, let’s say you have to learn Chinese, that is a good thing, but when you say that you can’t have the choice to learn another language at all until a certain age, 
. It’s like putting English in the same category as booze and cigarettes, you need to be a certain age before you can have it.
Erm…ya…it’s called Quebec. That government has even allocating massive amounts of funding to change names of street signs that are still in English. Example: Upper Lachine Road is now Chemin Upper Lachine. To the tune of $50K Cdn for that one street. But off topic…
This is about schools right? Bassman, you are a Kiwi, correct? If you and your family, for some ungodly reason, decided to move to Quebec, you would have no choice but to enrol the Bassettes into French school. So, no, parents don’t make the decision.[/quote]
This is about Private schools, right? Kindergarten’s and pre-schools. It’s not about what you have to learn, is it? Ok, let’s say you have to learn Chinese, that is a good thing, but when you say that you can’t have the choice to learn another language at all until a certain age, . It’s like putting English in the same category as booze and cigarettes, you need to be a certain age before you can have it.[/quote]
True that.
I did say I was off topic.
ToeBlushes
O but ToeEdits…
Let’s say you made that move to La Belle Province and you wanted to open up an English School…a private one. You would have to name it L’ecole Privee d’Anglais du Basshomme.
Did I save some face?
ToeWaits
Jolly good show, Toe Save my man.
bassman, that’s a pretty good analogy. You have to be 18 to drink alcohol or drive a car, 16 to buy cigarettes (?), and 6 to learn English.
But no one has answered my question about biracial kids with one native English speaking parent, children born to two native English speakers, children with foreign passports, etc. Does this “no English before 6” apply to them or just to Taiwanese children?
[quote]But no one has answered my question about biracial kids with one native English speaking parent, children born to two native English speakers, children with foreign passports, etc. Does this “no English before 6” apply to them or just to Taiwanese children?
[/quote]
Right, I don’t think their position is defensible.
They are basing the ‘No English until you’re 6’ policy, on the theory (that I disagree with), that learning a second laguage before you’ve properly internalised your mother tongue will interfere with development of the mother tongue. One of the MOE officials actually said something like “instruction in the mother tongue” must come first.
Let’s assume for a moment that we accept this argument. Even if we do, it doesn’t work, for the reason that we can’t define the mother tongue. What is the mother tongue of Taiwanese students? Mandarin, Taiwanese, Hakka, or in a few cases something else. So if we buy that children must get a proper grounding in their mother tongue first, then we’d have to segregate children into different kindergartens teaching all these different languages. And if you’re brought up bilingual… ???
:loco:
Brian
Hmmm, you know, maybe it SHOULD be in the same category. After all, it requires logic and an understanding of cause/effect relationships (I say “pig” and the image of a pig comes to mind). We know how bad logic and understanding cause and effect are, the could very well destableize the entire 3000 year old culture 
.
Hmmm, you know, maybe it SHOULD be in the same category. After all, it requires logic and an understanding of cause/effect relationships (I say “pig” and the image of a pig comes to mind). We know how bad logic and understanding cause and effect are, the could very well destableize the entire 3000 year old culture .[/quote]
Too right. Perhaps by putting an official legal age on learning English we can eradicate that pesky “My home have…” thing. Perhaps the whole reason why it occurs is because they begin to learn English before they fully understand that houses cannot have possessions.
[quote]before they fully understand that houses cannot have possessions.
[/quote]
Teaching must be so much fun!
“No Johnny, you cannot say My home has three turtles.' But you CAN say My home has a tiled roof.’ Confused yet? No? Well let’s try again…”
Hmmm, you know, maybe it SHOULD be in the same category. After all, it requires logic and an understanding of cause/effect relationships (I say “pig” and the image of a pig comes to mind). We know how bad logic and understanding cause and effect are, the could very well destableize the entire 3000 year old culture .[/quote]
Too right. Perhaps by putting an official legal age on learning English we can eradicate that pesky “My home have…” thing. Perhaps the whole reason why it occurs is because they begin to learn English before they fully understand that houses cannot have possessions.[/quote]
I just realized how my post could be interpreted (am tired) and I am REALLY glad that most people didn’t misinterpret it , however…I beg to differ, homes CAN posess things…(no, not things can posess homes, Mr. Krueger is out of the building)…my home has ants??? Or is the exhaustion warping my perceptions 
.
errr my HOUSE has ants?
And what is the punishment if you learn English before the legal age? They deport your English Teacher, that’s what they do.