• Huang Wei-che Inaugurates “Tainan Bilingual and English Education Resource Center” to Promote Bilingual Education, Enhance Children’s Competitiveness

To achieve the goals of the central government’s Bilingual Nation 2030 policy, Tainan City’s Education Bureau previously announced a plan to double the number of bilingual schools. Now, the city has established the “Tainan Bilingual and English Education Resource Center” (TBEERC), the first of its kind in Taiwan. Mayor Huang Wei-che presided over the opening ceremony at Tainan Municipal Simen Experimental Elementary School today (Oct. 29). During the event, children and the mayor participated in an English quiz, showing the ways that bilingual instruction can be life-oriented and fun.

Huang says the city began actively promoting English as the second official language as early as Vice President William Lai’s time as mayor, recognizing that the penetration and internationalism of English was the strongest. To further promote the competitiveness of children, the city established the Bilingual Advisory Committee in June this year. This event and the inauguration of TBEERC show that Tainan is expanding and enhancing its bilingual education promotion.

Huang says, “Even though resources are limited, Tainan City’s ambitions are unlimited.” The city has invested immense resources and efforts on education, hoping that the establishment of TBEERC will accelerate the bilingual education coverage. It is hoped that the future Tainan will be a city where not only Taiwanese and Chinese are widely spoken, but also English. Tainan City Council members Li Chi-wei and Lu Wei-yin attended the event to show their support for and approval of Tainan’s bilingualism.

Bureau of Education Director-General Cheng Hsin-hui says the city issued the “Tainan City Bureau of Education Bilingual Education Medium-Term Plan” (Bilingual Schools Doubling Plan) in June this year (2021) to help bilingual education take root and give elementary school students in both urban and rural areas the opportunity to access bilingual education. It provides a program of action for schools to become bilingual schools by 2024 based on their existing conditions.

Cheng explains that the city’s bilingual schools are divided into three categories of A, B, and C based on the ratio of the number of bilingual teaching sessions in each grade per week to the total number of teaching sessions per week. Category A schools have a ratio of at least 1:3, category B schools have a ratio of 1:6, and category C schools have a ratio of 1:9. The TBEERC and Bilingual Advisory Committee will integrate professionals and resources to systematically guide schools to progress from category C to B and then to A, and eventually to become fully bilingual.

The bureau describes the TBEERC and Bilingual Advisory Committee as the dual engines for the promotion of bilingual education. The center is the locomotive that drives the development of bilingual education at schools to make “speaking English” part of daily routines. The Bilingual Advisory Committee assists schools in “developing course packets” to make it easier for teachers and students at bilingual schools in different categories to teach and learn, respectively. Under the plan to double the number of bilingual schools, over half of Tainan’s schools will become category B or above bilingual schools by the 2024 academic year, and there will also be more than 60 foreign teachers assisting schools in promoting bilingual instruction through the resource-sharing mode of operation.

The Tainan Bilingual and English Education Resource Center inaugurated today has three divisions: “Course Teaching Division,” “Activity Development Division,” and “Foreign Teachers Work Division.” Tainan Municipal Simen Experimental Elementary School is in charge of the “Course Teaching Division,” which provides assistance to schools in the output of bilingual courses and the professional growth of teachers. Tainan Municipal East District Chongming Elementary School and Annan Junior High School oversee the “Activity Development Division,” which is responsible for all citywide bilingual education-related activities and highlight planning. Shengli Elementary School heads the “Foreign Teachers Work Division,” which is tasked with hiring, mentoring, and supervising foreign teachers. The first director of the center is Tainan Municipal Simen Experimental Elementary School Principal Alison Lu. She says the center will hold regular monthly meetings and serve as the biggest source of support for Tainan’s bilingual courses and instruction. Tainan Municipal Simen Experimental Elementary School will draw on its own experience to provide schools with reference values, as well as work with them to promote and implement bilingual education in Tainan.