Teaching in Hsinchu

Hsinchu offers a unique mix of teaching environments, including both remote mountain schools through the RBI program and more urban school placements. For many grantees, teaching in Hsinchu has been a meaningful and dynamic experience, with students showing strong curiosity, excitement, and engagement, especially when lessons include interactive speaking opportunities and globally focused topics.

At the same time, the RBI program presents a more demanding teaching context that requires a high level of independence, creativity, and strong classroom management skills, particularly when co-planning time and instructional support are limited. RBI grantees also live in school dormitories alongside students, helping create a fully immersive English learning environment for learners in remote communities.

While the workload can feel heavy, the experience is also deeply rewarding. Long-term success depends on clear school expectations, strong instructional support, and culturally responsive teaching.

Currently, there are 2 co-school in Hsinchu, one is the remote one, and another is in urban place. School sizes range from approximately 30 to 1380 students, and English proficiency levels vary, urban school students with some students attend the cram school, so their English levels are quite good. While, some students in mountain school are not familiar with 26 alphabets. Mountain school ETF goes to school on Monday morning with your LET, and live in the school until Friday morning, then take the shuttle bus back to the town.

Do you co-teach or do you teach more independently?What are the pros/cons of this type of teaching?
Overall, Hsinchu ETFs experience a mix of co-teaching and independent teaching. While many classes are designed to be co-taught with a Local English Teacher (LET), in practice ETFs often end up teaching more independently due to busy schedules and limited co-planning time, especially when working with multiple co-teachers across many classes. Over time, this independent teaching can help you build stronger classroom confidence and leadership.

At the same time, when co-teaching is consistent and well-structured, it can be highly supportive. Strong communication, shared planning time, and active participation from LETs during lessons make co-teaching more effective and create a smoother learning experience for students. A major advantage of independent teaching is rapid professional growth. One Hsinchu cohort shared that leading classes on their own strengthened their classroom management skills, improved lesson delivery, and helped her build confidence as teachers. Independent teaching also allows more flexibility and creative freedom, making it easier to implement interactive approaches that encourage student speaking, participation, and meaningful language production.

However, the biggest challenges are workload and sustainability. Planning multiple lessons independently can be exhausting, and without regular co-planning support, it may lead to burnout and limit the time and energy needed to keep lessons fresh and engaging. Classroom management can also be more difficult in an EFL setting, especially when discipline and instructions must be delivered in English. Without a co-teacher present, some classes may become harder to control and take longer to stabilize.

What is the role of Chinese in the English classroom?
Chinese should serve as a strategic support tool in the English classroom, not the default teaching language. One ETF described an effective approach in which instructions are first explained and modeled in English, and Chinese is used only when students still struggle with key directions or essential details. Others also noted that when co-teachers rely on Chinese too frequently, students may become less motivated to process English, remember lesson content, or participate confidently in English-speaking tasks. At the same time, reflections emphasized that students can learn effectively through gestures, visuals, drawing, and contextual clues and skills that mirror real-world language acquisition and reduce dependence on direct translation. Overall, Chinese plays a valuable role in providing clarity and reassurance, but English should remain the primary classroom language to help students build listening stamina and communicative competence.

What can I contribute to the class?
You can contribute most effectively by offering what students and co-teachers cannot easily replace: a consistent English-speaking environment, structured speaking practice, and engaging activities that help students produce language, not just recognize it. You can also support the teaching team through strong lesson design that reduces burnout, such as interactive pair tasks, scaffolded output routines, and games that keep students active and motivated. In RBI mountain schools, you can add even more value by teaching with cultural responsiveness, honoring students’ Indigenous identity and language while helping them use English to access future opportunities and share their culture with the world. Finally, you can bring stability through clear lesson structure, consistent routines, and a classroom tone that balances warmth with authority, especially in situations where classroom management becomes more difficult without a LET present.