Overview

In December of 2018, the Executive Yuan approved a blueprint drafted by the National Development Council to develop Taiwan into a bilingual nation by 2030, with the aim of raising the level of English proficiency among the public and improving the country’s overall national competitiveness. The literacy-oriented teaching in New Taipei City’s 108 syllabus emphasizes linking the actual context to make learning meaningful.

In 2013, New Taipei City Elementary School started bilingual experiment courses that deploys foreign teachers and strengthens the teaching profession of Chinese English teachers. Adopting the form of collaborative teaching and co-preparation between Chinese and foreign teachers. 

In 2016, the New Taipei City Education Bureau has positioned the New Taipei City Elementary School Bilingual Experimental Course with "Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL)" as the core concept. The idea is to use English to learn new knowledge in other fields, subjects or courses, hoping to use bilingual learning to improve the learning effectiveness of students’ English and knowledge in other fields at the same time. The school integrates English into courses in other fields, and establishes the English curriculum structure of each school. The number of pilot schools for bilingual experimental courses in the 2018-2020 reached 28, and another 4 pilot schools were conducting interdisciplinary English teaching in collaboration with normal teachers. It is expected that the pilot schools for bilingual experimental courses will continue to be expanded.

Teaching in New Taipei

In order to comply with the 2030 bilingual national policy, the New Taipei City Education Bureau cooperated with the Fulbright ELTP Program to balance the regional English learning gap.

  • Object: Schools with a lack of English resources. Most are elementary schools in remote areas and 2 ETF schools in junior high. 

  • Grade/Class Size: Grade 1 to grade 9. Usually 1 class per grade with around 7-15 students

  • Transportation: Mostly by bus

  • Subjects: 

    • English class (Official English class starts from grade 3, storytelling is brought into lower grades)

    • CLIL (Art, music, PE, etc.)

    • School’s local features (tea, ecology, and culture, etc.)

  • General English Level: Relatively low and great differences in English proficiency

  • Goals:

    • Balance the regional English learning gap

    • Enhance the effectiveness of learning English

    • Create English learning environments on campus

    • Increase students' opportunities to contact and apply English

    • Develop and integrate English into various fields or into school-based cultural courses

  • Usually one ETA/ETF per school. 2 schools share 1 ETA/ETF is minority.

New Taipei ETA Schools (Map)

What is the role of Chinese in the English classroom?

The use of Chinese varies and typically depends on the LET.  Usually, in New Taipei, most LETs encourage students to speak only English in the classroom. To know Chinese is of course a plus for you to get to know your students more, but as an ETA you do not necessarily need to know Chinese or use it in class.

Do you teach the curriculum that is being used at the school or do you have the flexibility to design your own curriculum?

When it comes to curriculum, the city has a set of standards and books that each school needs to teach from. However, within that set curriculum, you are given a degree of freedom to create your own lessons and activities to teach the materials and are free to bring in a few additional topics if there is enough time in the calendar. 

To echo a persistent theme in the co-teaching environment, your room to maneuver will depend largely on how amenable your co-teacher is to new ideas. The relationship with LETs and your LETs relationship with administration will both influence how much scope you have to introduce new ideas and run with them.

Do you co-teach or do you teach more independently? What are the pros/cons of this type of teaching?

All of the ETAs are required to co-teach.  This means that lesson planning with your co-teacher (a local English teacher, LET) and teaching are collaborative.  Co-teaching requires cooperation and compromise between both the ETA and LET.  Co-teaching allows there to be a better student-to-teacher ratio; and, since most ETAs have had limited previous teaching experience, working with an LET is a great introduction to teaching EFL (English as a Foreign Language) in Taiwan.  Your co-teacher has more familiarity with the course materials and with students’ needs.  On the other hand, as an ETA you will bring American cultural knowledge and native fluency to help foster a more authentic language learning environment.

As mentioned above, compromise is a huge component of co-teaching.  You may not always be able to accomplish everything you would like to; your LET may believe that there isn’t enough time for every activity that you want to try; and, it takes time to build rapport with your co-teacher and your students.  However, when conflicts, misunderstandings, and miscommunications arise, you should not take it personally.  It is not necessarily a reflection of your own or your LET’s teaching ability.  Co-teaching requires patience and practice and is part of the cultural exchange you'll experience during your time in Taiwan.

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Resources
A Different, Inspired New Taipei City
Taiwan’s 2030 goal to become a bilingual nation
Blueprint for Developing Taiwan into a Bilingual Nation by 2030

Other English Project

English Table with New Friends 友化想說

It is a cultural sharing event with the university students. Usually it is held on Wednesday afternoons from 3-5pm. 2-4 participants will be in a group to do cultural sharing with a maximum of 20 university students. The topics we did before included “ Identity and Intersectionality”, “Study Abroad” and etc.