A significant increase in the number of native English speakers teaching in Taiwanese state schools is planned as part of the island’s ambitious blueprint for Developing Taiwan into a bilingual nation.
Taiwan’s Foreign English Teacher Recruitment Project, in place since 2014, currently recruits 80 native speaker teachers a year. In July, the Ministry of Education announced this would rise to 300 a year, according to a China News Agency report.
Hiring more native speakers has the stated aim of strengthening the English skills of Taiwanese students and sharpening “the country’s competitiveness.” The Ministry claims that a “growing number of schools” have expressed an interest in acquiring native speaker staff.
National Pingtung Senior High School, which has already benefited from native speakers via the scheme, told Focus Taiwan that foreign teachers taking part in the cultural life of the school outside class has “emboldened” students in practicing their English for “everyday life”.
