明令幼兒園的學齡前兒童禁止全美語或雙語教學
Not just English…a total ban on bilingual teaching in kindy.
最快七月公告實施
July (I believe it’s this year since the article didn’t say which year) at the latest for this rule to take effect.
Let the bitching begin 
Sorry is this the ban that ends all bans the ban that will be creatively circumvented like all the others because of lax enforcement?
I’m not sure how that’s gonna be enforced but I’m quite sure private kindies are gonna get hit big time (and there are quite a lot of private kindies in Taiwan due to the lottery system in place for public kindies).
Buxiban kindy is more of a toss-up.
EDIT: I should have said “Buxiban kindy/day care” above.
More idiocy from government idiots who don’t understand childhood language acquisition.
However the good news is kids will be forced to take part in 30 minutes exercise every day, said exercise to be energetic enough to raise a sweat. So good news there. 
Oh yeah, I failed to glean over that part:
為強健幼兒健康體魄，教育部另訂，幼兒園每日應提供幼兒三十分鐘以上的出汗性大肌肉活動時間，且在活動前後，應安排暖身及緩和活動。教育部國教司官員強調，研究顯示，長時間有氧的大肌肉活動，能促進幼兒新陳代謝及骨骼肌肉強健，有助健康體能。
Good catch 
Does anyone really understand childhood language acquisition, Chris? It’s all a bit hit and miss if you ask me.
That’s all you had to say. 
Christ, they can’t even enforce the helmet law here in Chiayi…
Lets not get into the English kindy is good/bad debate again.
Mucha Man is correct.
Showed the report to the kindy director before I left.
Direct Quote: No problem. All sorted out. We have a good relationship with the gov inspectors.
Btw, there was a surprise inspection last week at the kindy. As usual it was known about two weeks in advance.
A.k.a = We already paid our hongbao for this semester…
Does anyone really understand childhood language acquisition, Chris? It’s all a bit hit and miss if you ask me.[/quote]
Oh wait for Ironlady to bring her wrath down upon you non-believer :fume:
I don’t really see how it can be made illegal to teach your kid a second language. That’s like making it illegal to learn morris-dancing.
Sure, in state-run daycare they can set the agenda, but as far as private businesses are concerned, I honestly don’t see how you can frame a law like that such that it’s (a) physically enforceable and (b) doesn’t infringe on basic human rights.
What’s to understand? Little kids soak up languages like a sponge, as long as they find those languages to be somehow useful/important for getting what they want/need.
I think the idea is they want children to get more outdoor time and exercise because in this culture anything outside of language, math, or science is a waste of time. So if children learns English all day they won’t have time to go outside and play. That’s a cultural issue and no piece of legislation is going to change that.
Also, a fine of around 30,000nt for violation? That’s a drop in the bucket compared to how much those cram school makes…
What would be REALLY cool is if they did spot tests of little kids to see if they could speak English, and send the teachers and parents to prison if their offspring know the stinky foreign devil tongue. 
I’ve noticed from news reports that most fines (for businesses) are pathetically small compared to the magnitude of the offence, especially those related to health&safety or environmental pollution. I’m pretty sure it’s intentional: the gov’t is saying, sorry guys, we have to make this law so that we can look like a civilised country/appear to be doing something useful/pacify our rabid voters, but we’ll make sure the fines are no more onerous than paying an equivalent bribe. Nudge nudge wink wink.
We foreigners living here for many years are the best prove that this is really not in the kids best interest.
How many of you have achieved Chinese fluency to a degree that won’t make you look silly half of the time?
One out of Ten?
Two out of ten?
Half of you?
And for the ones who really managed to learn Chinese perfectly. How much time and effort did you have to put in to that?
If you are a genius with an IQ of more than 130, then lucky you.
And why was my thread (German government passing law Excluding Turkish from working in Kindergartens) deleted.
Oh yes, it was a ridiculous joke.
Hey guys! This thread isn’t.
It’s Taiwan! 
[quote=“Taiwan Luthiers”]I think the idea is they want children to get more outdoor time and exercise because in this culture anything outside of language, math, or science is a waste of time. So if children learns English all day they won’t have time to go outside and play. That’s a cultural issue and no piece of legislation is going to change that.
Also, a fine of around 30,000nt for violation? That’s a drop in the bucket compared to how much those cram school makes…[/quote]
It’s probably related to the report on high levels of short sightedness due to kids not being exposed to sun light enough.
There’s a lot that’s not well understood, but these facts are well established: children are masters at soaking up multiple languages at an early age, and learning languages is not a zero-sum game: learning language B does not impair their learning of language A. So the whole idea being bandied about that “If they study English, they won’t learn Chinese well (when they are growing up immersed in a Chinese-speaking environment)” is laughable bullshit.
I can see where perhaps (PERHAPS!!) banning all kindy language teaching would benefit kids in the long run – they might not develop a knee-jerk I-hate-English attitude through being forced to fill in worksheet after worksheet at the age of 4.
But just plain exposure to English through age-appropriate activities like shared reading, games, storytelling, and so on? No way that’s a bad thing, no matter what language it is. They should also be handling the Hakka/Taiwanese/aboriginal languages that way instead of academifying them later on.
[quote=“ironlady”]I can see where perhaps (PERHAPS!!) banning all kindy language teaching would benefit kids in the long run – they might not develop a knee-jerk I-hate-English attitude through being forced to fill in worksheet after worksheet at the age of 4.
But just plain exposure to English through age-appropriate activities like shared reading, games, storytelling, and so on? No way that’s a bad thing, no matter what language it is. They should also be handling the Hakka/Taiwanese/aboriginal languages that way instead of academifying them later on.[/quote]
Academification is truly the problem. Good riddance to the Little Scholars English Academy for Four and Five Year Olds and their Chinglish ilk. Let the children play for God’s sake.