I do see the benefit but we need to be realistic and look at this as a process. We can’t immediately start teaching every Taiwanese student, even the hill folk, in English. If they tried they would just be throwing money away.
It has to start with having knowledgeable and capable teachers. Right now, Taiwan doesn’t have that. The call towards bilingualism will attract English speakers into teaching. I am sure there are quite a few near native level speakers that grew up in Taiwan. These are the teachers that Taiwan needs. IMHO the teachers need to be bilingual themselves to be effective.
They would obviously have levels. On my years here in private schools I’ve taught students of all levels. Many Taiwanese natives I teach/taught are on par with native speakers. It can be done.
They just need to make the pay comparable with these private schools.
IMO the only thing these private schools have over the public system is the ability to offer higher salary. Good teachers differentiate and are able to teach students at all levels.
I’m not sure why you think private schools are a better option. To me most know nothing about education and their boards make decision only based on increasing revenue for their investors.
I disagree. The students I teach rarely speak Chinese, even native Taiwanese. They simply have a Chinese class in Chinese and other subjects in English. Bilingual systems have separate teachers for each language. Like half day etc.
It’s not that everyone has to be fluent. I’m not sure what the plan is here. But I took the bilingual French program in Canada. The government offers it. It’s not required. I took half day French, half English. And yes they just threw us into it. No one in my town could speak French. They brought French teachers in from Quebec and it worked well. Those who didn’t want to participate could opt for core French which means they just had to meet a basic level before they graduate… Much like the GEPT is here. That basic French was really easy and they only took it like one core course.
Again, my point is that no one is forced into a full bilingual program. It’s about the government offering it. If they do offer a bilingual program at public schools I bet it’ll be popular.
The difference between EFL and ESL are the objectives.
ESL is for English language learners who are learning to speak English
in an English speaking country with the objective of fluency in English.
EFL is only learning English as a foreign language with the objective
of knowing some vocabulary words and common phrases, but not
fluency.
I don’t see. Not so many people need to communicate Math and Science concepts in English. When they can learn those concepts in their language, why should they learn in English?
‘Cause it’s teaching to the test here
I’ve got parents complaining my teaching is too “American” and they don’t want their kids to speak English ‘cause there’s no test for it and its no use
I gotta say
Parents in the northern area seldom have this kind of request
But I’ve got a lot of this bs here in Tainan
Students form another class said their school teacher told them will = be going to
There r teachers pronouncing horse as whorse, beach as bitch…
No wonder few of them could speak English
I don’t even understand most professors English when I was in college
The education bureau is actually improving tho
You can tell it from the newest guide to college entrance exam
Sooner or later teachers r gonna adjust their way of teaching
But I just don’t understand why would the government rather spend so much money on a failing system than just use foreign teachers instead
If it’s up to me I’d rather spend 3 years on a more expensive yet better class than to spend 10 years on a cheep bs English class learning nothing
“I don’t see. Not so many people need to communicate Math and Science concepts in English.” - please go a higher education university and see for yourself. I’ve had colleagues from China and Taiwan asking me to check grammar, spelling etc. in their manuscripts, or even simple emails to their own professors. Don’t you think this should be a basic expectation that they can do it themselves?
“why should they learn in English?” - 'coz we live in a connected world. You won’t be able to communicate your ideas if the other side doesn’t understand. And unfortunately, in the world of math and science, it’s only english as the language.
they will learn it soon if they really need. I ask my colleagues to check my English when I should write something in descent English. When they can do it easily for me, why I should do it by myself. I don’t see any problem here.
if they need better language skills to be in a specific field and they want to be in the field, they will get better language skills eventually. I don’t see why everyone should learn math and science in English for those few people.
If they are hired and not fired despite of their poor English skills, they have some value to compensate their language shortcomings to their employers. If they are fired due to the poor language skills, just they are lazy or not that strongly wanting to stay in the field. When you already understand some concepts, it is not so hard to learn corresponding terms of a foreign language to describe the concepts as an adult if you need and are willing to do so.
“Car hit wall no go” ~ one of my zero level ESL students in the US after less than a month of English in their life.
that, my friends should be what Taiwanese schools should focus on. Communication! Anyone with an ounce of patience and a bit of context can figure out what that sentence means. No, it won’t work in a PhD thesis, but we’re not there yet.
If this was a Taiwanese EFL class or bilingual classroom as I have seen many run here, the kids would have been expected to memorize “an object at rest tends to stay at rest, and an object in motion tends to stay in motion, with the same direction and speed unless acted upon by an outside force.” There would probably be a lot of spelling errors and the students would get points docked for not having commas in the right places. There would also be 99% chance the kids have no idea what the sentence means unless accompanied by a similar but not directly translatable Chinese version. Their understanding of Newton’s laws would be nonexistent unless they had the sense to look up a video on YouTube that explained it.
What needs to happen is a simplification of English to get the meaning across. Students need to have confidence built up that they can make mistakes in their speaking. What happens instead is a focus on trying to sound like complex native speakers from the start, loosing any sense of comprehension.
No need for Billy Shakes please. Any native English speaker with half an ounce of sense knows to buy side-by-side translations of those plays. Sure, we can talk about how Shakespearean English has impacted modern English slang, but no one needs to be reciting “MY Miſtres eyes are nothing like the Sunne, Currall is farre more red, then her lips red…” unless you’re Catherine Tate having a showdown against David Tennant. Or you just really like Shakespeare. It’s like Chinese poetry or Journey to the West. Cover what needs to be known to survive in modern society.
And pay for FETs would pretty much need to double if the government wants anyone from developed English speaking countries to stick around in public schools. Even as a teacher in a lower paying district in the US, I could support a much better standard of living than I have here (sufficient cooking space, nicer bathroom, safety from being run over by a maniac driver when I open my door. Not to mention running water that doesn’t come out in a freezing cold trickle at school, which we’ve discussed at length isn’t helpful for disease prevention).
Why do I stay? Well mom, I’m stubbornly trying to bring about change in these schools. I’ve become attached to my students who do try. I get an extreme amount of satisfaction from seeing improvement in my students. I have been nearly brought to tears by students I haven’t seen in weeks who run around the room reciting/singing everything they learned from me. You know, the whole reason teachers become teachers in the first place? But if I ever want to retire to anywhere but Asia, I’m gunna need to move on. Money shouldn’t be everything, but it certainly plays a role.
While this is a commendable endeavour, I would recommend chilling out a bit. Most societies do not like change, and this one is not an exception. This is a society that rationalises using a 2500 year old philosophy (Confucianism). I think some old post on this forum characterised the society’s stance as
try to change it, you will break it; try to take it and you will lose it.
When issues like bilingual education are raised, the politicians and their constituents know their play and place, and life goes on.
On the other hand, you need to take care of your self. Mellow out a bit, and relax. Its the tropics
Taiwan also had one of the most intense transformations in the past 50 years and no one has any problems with that. Not all change is bad. If it helps the economy people won’t object.
