• Tainan City Government Launches Tourism-Related English Courses to Strengthen Proprietors’ English Proficiency

The Tainan City Government launched a plan in 2015 to create an English-friendly environment with the aims of enhancing the city’s overall English environment and establishing an “international environment that is friendly to both English speakers and English learners.” This year, the Tainan City Government’s Office of English as the Second Official Language (OEASOL) collaborated with Kunshan University’s Language Center to offer “English for Tourism and Travel Courses” in November and December. The purposes are to strengthen and consolidate the English proficiency of the proprietors of English-friendly shops, as well as prepare them to receive future foreign tourists.

Mayor Huang Wei-che says that the city government is responding to the central government’s Bilingual Nation 2030 policy by organizing English-related activities to improve the English proficiency of residents. For example, the city completed a half-day training course for taxi drivers in October. The taxi drivers learned English phrases that frequently come up during taxi rides and others that are essential for their work. Right after this course ended, the OEASOL received a call from Silks Place Tainan, which said that numerous foreign tourists are requesting taxis, so those taxi drivers who underwent English-friendly training will have the opportunity to immediately apply what they learned. Statistics show that as of Sept. 15, there are 63,890 foreigners living in Tainan, which accounts for three percent of the population. All this shows that it’s imperative for Tainan to construct an English-friendly environment.

The OEASOL says that from the launch of the English-friendly plan until the present, it has advised over 1,697 proprietors. This year, the city added an additional 88 restaurant proprietors and 16 taxi drivers to its English-friendly ranks. It continues to organize English-language training courses for taxi drivers and advise shops and temples on creating English-friendly menus and catalogs. The online Tainan English-friendly map is also frequently updated to make it easy for foreigners to find English-friendly businesses online.

Kunshan University says that in order to create an international campus environment, it actively recruits foreign scholars and professional qualified teachers. In addition, it has organized the “Intensive English Summer Camp” every summer since 2015 to strengthen and deepen students’ foreign language proficiency and broaden their career planning and future employment prospects through practical English drills and skill learning. The university says it was a privilege to work with the OEASOL this year to conduct the “English for Tourism and Travel Courses.” It hopes its professional qualified teachers are able to provide an enriching educational experience that progressively guides English-friendly proprietors to construct a solid foundation for practical English use so that they’ll have no trouble communicating with foreign tourists in the future.

The OEASOL planned the content of the courses based on the requirements of hospitality providers. The themes include welcoming and directing guests; answering and handling telephone customer service inquiries; English responses to menu ordering; and travel conversations in English. The OEASOL invites all of the city’s English-friendly establishment proprietors to sign up (non-English-friendly establishment proprietors are welcome to leave their contact information for the waiting list). The address for online registration is: https://reurl.cc/XlaWXe. For more details about the courses, please visit the OEASOL’s website: https://reurl.cc/q1Km9n.