Teaching English

I have had many jobs in Taiwan, all of them to do with teaching. What, one might well ask, can Americans such as myself DO in Taiwan, apart from teaching English? Answer: not... very... much.

Sure, we can open restaurants or start short-lived English-language newspapers, we can open pubs or work as engineers, but the fact remains that about 99.99999% of us are teaching English in one form or another. This isn't a bad thing, just a reflection of economic and cultural realities.

English, after all, is big business in Taiwan.

So my job history, given where I live, is unsurprising. My first job in Taiwan was teaching English, and I have never left that profession. I actually like teaching English, even if my doing so doesn't exactly make me special.

1. My first job

My first job in Taiwan was teaching for Jump Start English School 柏克萊美語學校 in Taichung 臺中. I taught kindergarten there full-time. My classes were never more than 18 students, and I genuinely enjoyed what I was doing. I worked at this place for four years, and if they had pursued a better business strategy I would probably still be there today.

2. My second job

My second job was teaching part-time in the vocational school 專科學校 not far from Jump Start. This was an easy job, but they never paid me on time. My first class consisted of more than 100 students during a single two-hour class, and yes, that was extremely stressful. Fortunately the number of students dropped after they realized I wasn't Superman.

3. My third job

My third job was working at Canadian-American English School 加美美語學校 in Hsinchu 新竹. This was after I returned from two years of graduate school in Seattle, so by this time I had more than a few ideas about how and what I wanted to teach. This was without a doubt the most disastrous job I've ever had in Taiwan. The students were fast disappearing, the bosses were uncommunicative, and by the time I left the school was about to close - forever.

4. My fourth job

My fourth job was working for the Taitung County Government 臺東縣政府. My wife and I had always wanted to move to the east coast of the island, and working for the County also seemed like a step-up in my career. I was placed in Tung Hai Junior High School 東海國中 in Taitung City 臺東市, where I worked for two years. It was a good job, if a bit repetitive.

5. My fifth job

My fifth job involved teaching classes for both the English Department and the Language Center 語言中心 at Taitung University 臺東大學. There was a lot of preparation involved, but then again my classes were full of very sexy college girls. I was doing this at the same time I was working at the middle school.

6. My sixth and present job.

I still work for the Taitung County Government, though I am presently at Tung Hai Elementary School 東海國小. Financially speaking, it's the best job I've ever had. It's not quite as fun or meaningful as teaching kindergarten full-time, but as anyone who has done this in Taiwan knows, that job carries its own set of risks.  I like it here, and I plan on staying as long as I can.

Can You Speak English? 你會說英文嗎?

English is a very popular language. It is, in one sense at least, the most popular language, with about 1,800,000,000 speakers worldwide. Compare this to Chinese, of which there are 1,345,000,000 speakers worldwide. 英文是一門熱門的語言. 它是世界上最多人使用的語言. 目前說英文的人口有18億,比起說英文的人口,說中文的人數只有13億4500萬.

One thing that might surprise you, however, is the fact that Chinese has more native speakers than English does. 845,000,000 people speak Chinese as their first language, compared to 328,000,000 people speaking English as their first language. With regard to native speakers, even Spanish has about a million more native speakers than English does. 可是以中文為母語的人口比以英文為母語的人口多. 以中文為母語的有845,000,000人. 這個人數比328,000,00以英文為母語的人數大得多. 連以西班牙文為母語者還是比英文多100萬.

All of which means that English isn't necessarily the most "popular" language in the world, just the most studied. Certainly the combined economic might of Western countries is one reason for this. The giant shadow cast by Hollywood films and other forms of American media is another. 從這比較數字來看, 英文不是最"熱門"的語言. 卻是最多人學習的. 這與西方國家的經濟與科技發展有關. 也受美國電影跟音樂影響很大.

I just wonder if people sometimes miss the point of studying English. Yes, proficiency in English will open up a number of opportunities, but people seem to forget that the opportunities realized through English study are not the only ones out there. I've known Taiwanese people with a skill in music or dance, for example, who've not only traveled the world but also made a fair amount of money doing so. Scooter mechanics, to use another example, can be quite successful without any proficiency in English. 我想很多人搞不清楚為甚麼要學英文. 當然學好英文在工作上比較有發展機會, 可是不一定什麼機會都需要靠英文. 有的人很會跳舞或唱歌, 有的人很會畫畫還是修理機器. 有這種能力的人也能生活得很好, 不管他們的英文程度如何.

All I'm saying is that it might be worthwhile to contemplate the relevance of English to your daily life and goals. Some people use English to get into a good college, some people use English to get a job, and some people just use English to make friends or see the world in a different way. What you use English for depends on your own attitudes, likes, and dislikes. You can use English for many purposes, you just need to be clear about what those purposes are. 我的意思是確認您的學習目標有助於您的學習成果,有的人學習英文是為了進入大家公認的好學校,有的人則是為了工作上的需要,也有很多人是為了交朋友和拓展視野,您的學習態度和喜好影響您學習英文的方向,您可以為了很多不同的原因學英文,但是首先必須知道你的學習目的是什麼.

Taiwanese 台語

"Taiwanese" can mean three things: the language (台語), the ethnicity (閩南族的 / 閩南人), and the nationality (台灣的 / 台灣人).  I am talking here about the language (台語).

Taiwanese, also known as Minnanese 閩南語, or the "south of the Min River language," is one of Taiwan's two official languages.  The other is Mandarin Chinese 國語.  Taiwanese is a dialect - another form of Chinese - and it has borrowed many words from both Mandarin and Japanese.  Just try having a Taiwanese (non-Mandarin) conversation about electronics, and you'll see what I mean.

Taiwanese phonics practice.  Good luck with that.

Taiwanese has a long history in Taiwan, going back hundreds of years.  It was originally the language used in and around Fujian 福建 Province in China, and most people in this province still speak Minnanese today.  Of course Minnanese speakers in Taiwan and Minnanese speakers in China have been separated by hundreds of years of geography, politics, and culture, so it's not surprising that the Minnanese spoken on the Mainland and the Minnanese spoken in Taiwan differ considerably.

On the west coast of Taiwan, Taiwanese is spoken by a larger percentage of the total population.  Most of these people grow up speaking Taiwanese, and learn Mandarin as part of their schooling.  This Mandarin is the legacy of the Kuomintang's 國民黨 arrival in Taiwan after the disastrous Chinese Civil War "concluded" in 1949.  The KMT created its own administration in Taiwan, to replace the vacuum left by the Japanese, and the language of this administration was Mandarin.

Excerpt from Taiwanese textbook.

The descendants of these KMT immigrants still live in Taiwan, though they all grow up surrounded by those whose first language is Taiwanese.  Most of them can understand it when it's spoken, but they will be at pains to explain the subtler aspects of their lives in Taiwanese.  This is also true of Hakkanese people 客家人 and aboriginal people 原住民.  Those who live in Taiwan end up picking up odds and ends of this language, but a true mastery of it resides with those who can describe themselves as Taiwanese in ethnicity 閩南人, not just Taiwanese in nationality 台灣人.

People often ask me if I speak Taiwanese.  My answer is usually "Yes, but not much."  I can get the gist of it when it's spoken to me, but I am at a loss to express myself in Taiwanese.  I speak it much better when I am drunk.  Or at least I think I speak it much better when I'm drunk.  I'm not really sure.

Wu Bai 伍佰 sings a lot of Taiwanese songs.

Some readers of this blog have asked me about studying Taiwanese in a university here.  While I am no expert on the subject, I do know of a few such programs in the bigger universities.  One of the chief difficulties with this is the fact that the system for writing Taiwanese is only fully understood by a handful of specialists, and is all but inaccessible to someone at the elementary level.  It might seem like a more interesting choice for those who style themselves linguists, but I have never met any foreign graduate of any university who could speak Taiwanese well.  I suggest instead learning Mandarin intensively for at least two years, and only then beginning a study of Taiwanese from locals.  This is, after all, how the locals learned it.  This is also how missionaries learn it, and the only foreigners I've met who could REALLY speak Taiwanese were either missionaries or doctors who spent long periods of time living somewhere where they needed to know it.

My school has several teachers of Taiwanese, but they only show up once a week.  The four of them teach all of the classes in a single day, and then they depart, leaving little progress in their wake.  The students that already know Taiwanese continue to know it, and those who don't haven't learned much.  My younger daughter is picking it up, but this is more due to environmental factors than anything else.

Jiang Huei 江蕙 is another well-known singer of Taiwanese songs.

The problems of Taiwanese language education parallel those of Hakkanese, and of aboriginal language education. Mandarin is such an overwhelming force in Taiwanese culture, and for those who haven't grown up speaking these languages there is little chance of their ever learning to do so.  Mandarin is everywhere in Taiwan: on TV, on the radio, on the Internet, and it can have a subversive effect on those who wish to preserve their identity as Taiwanese speakers.  Even those who've grown up speaking Taiwanese often switch into Mandarin in the presence of classmates or coworkers.

Certainly Taiwanese is in no danger of becoming extinct.  Not any time soon.  Too many people speak it, and too many people identify with it for that to happen.  But it is becoming less useful in certain sectors of Taiwanese society, and that's certainly something to think about.  Languages are often judged by their utility, and the less useful they become the faster they fade from the collective consciousness.  Should Taiwan ever become a truly independent country (in other words, should the government finally stand up and say "Yes, we are a country!"), Taiwanese may well experience a resurgence.  On the other hand, an absorption into Mainland China would likely spell trouble for the Taiwanese language, as immigration from the Mainland would make this language even less relevant to daily life in Taiwan.

Related Entries:

Mandarin in Taiwanese Elementary Schools

For a look at Social Studies in Taiwanese elementary schools, see "Social Studies in Taiwan."  For discussions of English in Taiwanese elementary schools, see "English in Taiwanese," and "Teaching English 10: Review."  For a more general introduction to elementary school in Taiwan, see "Elementary School in Taiwan."


1. Introduction

Mandarin 國語 is one of Taiwan's two official languages.  The other official language is Taiwanese 台語, also referred to as Minnanese 民南語.  Minnanese, like Mandarin, is a Chinese dialect, and the two share many linguistic similarities.

Yet Minnanese, while taught in every Taiwanese public school, is only taught once a week.  It is also spoken by a much smaller percentage of the population.  Despite the government's efforts to the contrary, it is Mandarin that is Taiwan's common language, and Taiwanese, although spoken and understood by many, is for many people a second language, and one that often fails to express the realities of both the modern world and their daily lives.

Mandarin, along with Math, Science, English, and Social Studies, is a core subject in Taiwanese elementary schools.  In my elementary school, every grade from 1 to 6 has 5 Chinese classes per week.  This makes Mandarin the most-taught subject in my school, followed by the other core subjects, which are allotted 3 class periods each.

2. Textbooks Used

The textbooks used for teaching Mandarin are all fairly similar.  Our school uses the textbooks published by 康軒, 南一, and 翰林.  Each semester the students complete a textbook and an accompanying workbook.

Below are excerpts from 康軒's textbooks.  The red characters in each excerpt indicate characters that were introduced in that unit.  Aside from the first grade 1 book, which introduces 94 characters, all the other books introduce between 200 and 250 characters each.

Grade 1

北風ㄏㄨㄏㄨㄏㄨ, 一下子跑到東, 一下子跑到西.   The north wind blows east "hoo, hoo, hoo" one moment, and the next moment blows west.
白天, 小松鼠在玩球, 北風大聲的說: "給我!  給我!  我們一起玩!"  In the daytime, the little squirrel is playing ball, and the north wind loudly says: "Give it to me!  Give it to me!  We'll play together!"
晚上, 北風輕輕的說故事給松鼠聽.  In the evening, the north wind softly tells a story to the squirrel.
春天來了, 北風說: "小松鼠再見, 再見了!"  As spring arrives, the north wind says: "Goodbye little squirrel!  Goodbye!"

Grade 2

開學日,  On the first day of school,
我們來到新教室,  We arrive at our new class,
我坐上新的位子,  We sit in new seats,
看一看身邊的朋友,  We see our friends next to us,
今天是新學期的開始.  Today is the beginning of a new semester.
開學日,  On the first day of school,
我們打開新的課本,  We open new textbooks,
書中有可愛的圖畫,  Within the books there are cute pictures,
書中有好聽的故事,  Within the books there are pleasant-sounding stories,
書有新奇的事物,  There are many interesting things in the books,
我抱著新書,  I hold my new book,
心裡好歡喜.  My heart is full of joy.

Grade 3

萊特兄弟是美國人.  小時後, 他們看著鳥兒在天空自在的飛行, 心裡想著: "要是能做一隻'大鳥', 載著人們在天空飛翔, 那是多麼美妙的事啊!"  The Wright Brothers were American.  When they were children, they saw how birds flew in the sky, and they thought: "If we could build a 'big bird' to take people flying into the sky, that would be a wonderful thing!"

長大以後, 萊特兄弟合開了自行車行, 雖然工作很忙, 但是他們始終懷抱著在天空飛行的夢想.  為了完成夢想,他們先觀察老鷹飛行的動作, 畫出一張又一章的圖, 還閱讀許多有關滑翔機的資料.  經過一次次的修正, 他們終於改良出精巧的滑翔機.  然而, 萊特兄弟並不滿足, 他們的夢想, 是造出一種不靠風力也能飛行的動力機器...  After they grew up, the Wright Brothers opened a bicycle shop.  Although they were very busy with work, they still held to their dream of flying through the sky.  In order to realize this dream, they first studied the way that eagles flew, and drew many pictures of this.  They also studied a lot of information on gliders, and made many experiments.  In the end they built an improved kind of glider.  The Wright Brothers, however, were not satisfied with this, because their dream was to create a flying machine that didn't need to rely on wind power to stay aloft...

Grade 4

"放天燈了!" "Raise the sky lanterns!"

"放天燈了!" "Raise the sky lanterns!"

每年元宵節, 爸爸都會帶我們回到"天燈的故鄉" - 平溪, 和家族的親人聚在一起放天燈.
今天, 我們和往常一樣, 搭小火車回家.  火車才駛出山洞, 妹妹就指著天空, 大喊: "放天燈了!"  我抬頭一看, 果然有幾盞天燈, 好像等不及天黑似的, 已經在昏黃的暮色裡, 慢慢的往上飄.  On Lantern Festival every year, father always takes us back to Pingxi, "the hometown of sky lanterns," so that our whole family can raise sky lanterns together.  Today we did as we usually do, riding the train back "home."  As the train passed through a mountain tunnel, my little sister pointed to the sky and said loudly: "Raise the sky lanterns!"  I lifted up my head to see, and suddenly many sky lanterns appeared.  It was as if they could not wait for the sky to grow dark, and they were already floating slowly in the dusk.

 一回到老家, 大家都立刻圍過來, 相互問候.  爺爺興高采烈的說: "今年我們要彩繪天燈, 用圖畫向上天祈願."  在院子裡, 除了天燈以外, 我還看到許多畫筆和顏料...  After we got back home, everyone gathered together and discussed what had happened.  Grandfather then excitedly said: "This year we need special sky lanterns, so we will send them skyward with pictures!"  Aside from sky lanterns, in the yard there were also drawing pens and pigments...

Grade 5

明天, 明天, 未來似乎有無數個明天!  然而, 我們做事若只是等待明天, 期待明天, 不僅會讓時間從手中流走, 也會坐失許多良機.  Tomorrow, tomorrow, the future holds endless tomorrows!  However, we often wait until tomorrow to do things, and we are often looking forward to tomorrow, regardless of how time slips through our hands or the opportunities we miss.

錢福寫下明日歌告訴世人: 時間稍縱即逝, 千萬不要虛度光陰, 以免被明日牽絆. 當我們朝看河水東流, 暮看夕陽西下,春去冬來, 年復一年, 鶩然回首, 青春以逝, 人的一生能有多少個明天呢?  Chien Fu's "Song of Tomorrow" tells the people of the world: time is fleeting, it is imperative not to waste your time, in order to avoid wasting your tomorrows.  When we see the flowing river pass us by, when we see the sun setting in the west, when spring passes into winter, when one year passes into the next,  we must step back a moment and consider our mortality.  After all, how many tomorrows does one person's life possess?

讀過明日歌, 再讀今日歌, 更能凸顯"今日"的重要.  今日就像流水, 一去不回頭.  今天的事, 如果不去做, 何時才能完成呢?  人生在世, 能有多少個今日?  白白浪費"今日"寶貴的時間, 不是十分可惜嗎?  有人說, 姑且等待明天再做吧!  可是明天還有明天的事啊!  After studying the "Song of Tomorrow," and after studying the "Song of Today," we can understand the importance of today.  Today is like flowing water, passing on without any return.  If today's business is not concluded, when will it be concluded?  People live to die, so how many todays do they have?  Isn't it a great pity to waste all of the precious time in today?  It is said that we can always wait until tomorrow!  But tomorrow has its own demands!

Grade 6*

中秋節前後, 就是故鄉的桂花季節.  一提到桂花, 那股子香味就彷佛聞到了.  桂花有兩種, 月月開的稱木樨, 花朵較細小, 呈淡黃色, 台灣好像也有, 我曾曾走過人家圍牆外時間到這股香味, 一聞到就會引起鄉愁.  另一種稱金桂, 只有秋天才開, 花朵較大, 呈金黃色.  我家的大宅院中.  前後兩天片曠場, 沿著圍牆, 種的金是金桂.  唯有正屋大廳前的庭院中, 種著兩株木樨, 兩株繡球.  還有父親書房的廊簷下, 是幾盆茶花與木樨相間.  In the village, the growing season for osmanthus flowers occurs at about the same time as Mid-Autumn Festival.  At the mention of osmanthus flowers, it is as if the remembered smell of these flowers returns.  There are two kinds of osmanthus flowers.  The variety that opens every month is called sweet clover, its flowers are smaller, and it is a pale yellow.   I think Taiwan also has this variety**.  When I walk by people's outer walls I can smell this smell, and it causes homesickness.  The other variety is the gold osmanthus, and these only open in the fall.  The petals are bigger, and it is gold in color.  In the big yard of my family's house the petals open during two days, and spread along the outer wall.  The gold osmanthus is a kind of gold you can plant.  There is a big courtyard in front of my family's house, and there are planted two strains of sweet clover, two strains of hydrangea, and in my father's library there are pots of sweet clover and white camellia.

3. Method of Instruction ***

As I am writing this at the end of the semester, I only had the time to observe two classes.  The first of these classes was a first grade class, and the second was a fourth grade class.  A short outline describing each class follows.


First Grade:

The teacher began by placing several character cards on the board.  These characters are to be found in Unit 8 of their textbooks, and the students are expected to practice writing them at home.  They are: 要, 山, 洞, 穿, 原, 平, 過, 快, 排, 車, 火, 八, 去, 回, 哪, 你, and 搭.

After the students were all seated, their teacher asked them to take out their books and turn to Lesson 8.  Students then recited a chant several times together.  The teacher placed a larger copy of this chant on the board, and referred to it during subsequent discussions.

The remainder of class alternated between repetition of the chant and discussion of the Chinese used in the text.  The teacher discussed words with the 火 radical, how to use the character 過 with several verbs ("我去過台北."), how to make sentences longer (from "他走" to "他慢慢走"), verb phrases using two characters ("上學," "開車," etc.), putting these two-character phrases in context ("我每天自己坐車上學"), matching the mode of transportation to its destination, and using the right verb with the right mode of transport ("開車," "騎腳踏車," etc.)

During the last five minutes of class, students completed a textbook grammar exercise together, and the teacher circulated through the room, answering their questions.

Fourth Grade:

The students began class by reciting a passage that their teacher had copied.  The teacher then called upon individual rows and individual students to recite the passage.

The students then read through a play.  Students were asked to read different parts, and they were told to show the proper emotion and use the correct body language (表情跟動作).

As the class read, they discussed idioms (成語) in the text.

Then the class discussed the characters in the play, their motivations and feelings.  They were asked to provide examples of when they felt the same way, and to provide details of the situation that made them feel that emotion.

The students were then asked to memorize parts of the play after class, and class concluded with students completing a section in their workbooks.  This section asked them to match idioms with the corresponding emotion.  The teacher discouraged students from helping one another find the answers, and told students who didn't know to use their dictionaries.

4. Conclusions

I found the first grade class much more interesting to watch, probably because it was more different from what I've seen in American Language Arts classrooms.  Both classes were taught by excellent teachers, but aside from side discussions of Chinese idioms, the fourth grade class just felt too much like English class in the States.

After watching the first grade class, which was very grammar-oriented, I couldn't help but wonder how one might go about having that kind of class with Taiwanese kids in English.  To use an English chant punctuated by grammar discussions at that level would be an unheard-of thing, especially with students in that age group.  I have come close to doing this in a private school setting, but to maintain that kind of dialogue with kids in a public elementary school would be an impressive achievement.

But what struck me most forcibly were the similarities between Chinese instruction, as practiced in my school, and English instruction, as myself and others have practiced it in the States.  As I watched the two classes, it became clear to me that aside from linguistic differences we are - despite appearances to the contrary - members of the same culture.  We might be using different sets of vocabularies to describe our world, but many of the thoughts, feelings, and impressions I gathered from my time in the Chinese classroom were very similar to things I'd hear in an American classroom, with kids the same age.

Related Entries:


* Thanks to Teacher 依婷 for help with this part.  A discussion of flowers in Chinese?  I little out of my depth!

**She thinks "Taiwan also has this variety" because she is reminiscing about her childhood in Mainland China.

***Thanks to Teacher 靖雯 and Teacher 素慧 for letting me watch their classes!

Commun Englash Mastakes 常見的英文錯誤

I teach "conversational English" to grades 3, 4, 5, and 6 at my elementary school.  I just finished correcting their mid-semester tests, and I've seen the usual mistakes in every class.  Below are some examples:  我在我的學校教3, 4, 5, 6年級的英文會話課.  我剛改完這學期的期中學習評量, 以下列的是一些學生常犯的錯誤.  :

1. Confusing "is" with "it's." 搞混is跟it's

I see this one more than anything.  Sentences like "He it's my brother," and "Is five o'clock" are commonplace.  Part of the problem, I think, is the fact that the word "is" isn't formally introduced in their textbooks.  這是學生最常犯的錯誤.  每天都會看到"He it's my brother"或是"Is five o'clock".  我覺得部分的原因是他們的課本沒仔細解說is跟it's到底是什麼意思.

2. "Can" vs. "do." can比do

This mistake has to do with answering questions in the proper form.  For example, if I say "Can you swim?" the correct answer is "Yes, I can."  And if I say "Do you like apples?" the correct answer is "Yes, I do."  Kids often answer "can" questions with "do," and "do" questions with "can," and sometimes they will even mix a form of "are" into their answer.  另外跟對方問的問題有關的.  例如我說"Can you swim?"答案應該是"Yes, I can."  我問"Do you like apples?"正確的答案就是"Yes, I do."  小朋友常用"can"回答"do"的問題還是"do"回答"can"的問題.  他們有時候也會把"is"或是"are"混在答案裡面.

3. Confusing "he" with "she."  搞混he跟she的差別

It takes a lot of kids a long time to register the fact that "he" refers to someone (or something) male, and "she" refers to someone (or something) female.  The textbooks we use never explicitly state this concept, so it is left to the discretion of teachers when (or when not) to introduce it.  有的小朋友要學習英文很久之後才懂"he"指的是男的, "she"指的是女的.  我們的課本沒有把這兩個單字的差別說出來, 所以都要等老師說明介紹才會知道.

4. Capitals 大寫跟小寫

Kids in the lower grades will capitalize a lot of letters, often because they're confused about the uppercase and lowercase forms of these letters.  Sentences like "MY fatHer is VerY Good." are the norm until maybe fifth grade or so.  低年級的孩子會把很多英文字母寫成大寫.  這個問題發生的原因通常是他們不太懂大寫跟小寫的用法.  很多小朋友到五年級會寫"MY fatHer is VerY Good"這種句子.

5. Verb tenses 動詞時態

Because Chinese doesn't employ verb tenses, kids often shake their heads over the difference between "run" and "ran," "walk" and "will walk."  Particularly confusing are forms of "is" such as "was" and "will be."  This problem doesn't appear in elementary quite as much, but it does surface quite a bit in the sixth grade.  中文沒有動詞時態, 所以學生碰到"run,""ran,""walk,""will walk,"這種單字會很混亂.  他們最常搞不清楚的是"is,""was,""will be"的用法.  在國小這個問題不是每天看到的, 可是五, 六年級生會在動詞時態碰到這種困難.

Related Entries 相關的文章:

English in Taitung County 台東的英語教學

Last Wednesday I attended a meeting at Kang Le Elementary.  The subject of the meeting was the county government's plans for English instruction.  In attendance were English teachers from Da Wu, teachers from Cheng Gong, and even a teacher from Green Island.  Besides these Taiwanese English teachers, there were also four Foreign English teachers on hand.  It was a crowded room.上星期三我到康樂國小參加一場會議, 主題是關於台東縣政府對於英語教學的計畫. 出席的英文老師有的從大武 , 成功, 甚至遠從綠島而來, 除了本土的英文老師之外, 也有四位外籍教師到場, 場面顯得很熱鬧.

The meeting began and ended with a speech.  I will not comment on the content of this speech.  Suffice to say, we were encouraged to believe in ourselves, and in all of the possibilities that each day brings.會議開始前, 後都有一場演說, 在這裡我就不詳述內容了, 大體上是鼓勵老師們要對自己的教學有信心, 每一天都是好的開始.

Between the two speeches, the principal from Hot Spring Elementary talked about the county's plans for English-language instruction.  He mentioned the addition of more Foreign English Teachers (FETs) in the near future, and the county's utilization of the Fulbright Program to cull these teachers from American universities.  He talked about the English competitions that come along every semester, and more specifically about this semester's Reader's Theater competition.  He also discussed the fact that many Taiwanese English teachers from other areas try to avoid working in Taitung, and also some of the peculiarities of teaching (and learning) English in Taitung County.  I agreed with the statements he made, particularly with regard to FETs in Taitung County.會議當中, 溫泉國小的校長談到台東縣政府對英語教學的計畫方針, 他提到未來將徵聘更多的外籍教師, 計畫從美國大學招攬更多人才來臺任教, 也提到每學期的英語比賽 , 尤其是這學期的"讀者劇場". 也討論一些現實狀況: 很多臺灣的英語老師不喜歡到台東任教, 而台東在英語教學及學習上也有些特殊差異, 我贊同他的見解, 尤其是他對於外籍英語教師的意見.

Afterward there was a discussion period, and this was where the meeting broke down.  We were separated into area groups, with people from the Rift Valley in the back, people around Taitung City in the front, people from south Taitung County to the left, and people from the northern coastal areas to the right.  Each group was charged with answering a question about local English instruction, and they had about twenty minutes to formulate their answers.之後有一部分的討論時間, 我們大家分成幾個小組, 鹿野,關山及池上來的人在後, 台東市區的在前面, 臺東縣南部的人在左邊, 北海岸線的人在右邊, 每一組回答一個關於英語教學的問題, 並且在二十分鐘內討論他們的答案.

The trouble was that we were all sitting in an auditorium, and it is really difficult for anyone to have a group discussion when they are facing forward, and the seats don't move.  A lot of people didn't want to join the discussion, and I can't really blame them for that.  In the end, a few people from each group tended to monopolize this activity, and what most people thought about the questions remained a mystery.問題是我們是在會議室裡, 很難有小組討論的感覺,  因為所有的椅子都朝向同一邊, 根本不可能搬動, 因此很多人不想參與討論, 我可以了解他們的感覺, 最後, 只有每組中的少數幾個發表意見, 大部分的人的意見仍是個秘密.

What struck me about the meeting was how little we discussed WHY our students need to learn English.  You would think this would have come up somewhere, but maybe it was taken for granted.  Or maybe the issue is too contentious.讓我覺得不可思議的昰: 我們幾乎沒有談到為什麼我們的學生需要學英文, 我以為這問題應該會有人提出來, 也許這是大家都知道的事, 也或許這個問題太具爭議性了.

It just seems to me that there are many different reasons to learn (or to teach) English, and identifying these reasons would be the first step towards setting goals and trying to reach them.  For example, are we teaching English for purely academic purposes?  Or are we also teaching English for aesthetic reasons related to personal development?  And what about local economic factors?  Would a broader English-language base help open up Taitung County to tourism opportunities?  Would it help students in their later careers?對我來說, 學習英語或是教授英語有許多的原因, 了解學習或教授的目的有助於設定目標及達成. 例如: 我們教授英文昰為了學術需求? 或是自我能力的充實? 還是當地經濟因素? 好的英語能力是否能幫助臺東縣發展觀光? 是否能幫助學生就業?

These would have been valid questions to ask, but there didn't seem to be any forum in which to ask them.  As it was, we were presented with a list of questions to answer, and it was hard to address other issues.  It just seems to me that before we get to the HOW of local English instruction, we first need to define the WHY. 這些會是很好的問題,  但那裡似乎不是個很好的討論場所, 因為我們手上已經有一堆問題等著我們回答, 所以很難再提出任何的問題, 對我來說, 在討論到"如何做"之前, 應該先需要知道"為什麼做"!

Anyway, those are my thoughts on last Wednesday's meeting.  There are other points I might raise, but I have raised them elsewhere in this blog.  Hope you have a happy Double Ten Day next Wednesday.  I know we could all use the break! 無論如何, 這些昰我對上星期三會議的一些想法. 我也對英語教學提出一些其他的想法, 這些都在我的部落格裡, 祝你有個愉快的雙十節, 啊! 我們都需要休息一下.

Fun Facts About English 英文的有趣的真相

All of the below is taken from the article about the English language on Wikipedia.  Those who want to read further are directed there.  What follows are my favorite bits of trivia from that article.  There is also an article about the English language in Chinese.以下內容取自維基百科, 昰那篇文章中我覺得有趣的部分, 你可以從以上兩個連結進入文章的中,英文內容.

• English is a West Germanic language.  This means that English grammar is more like German than the "romance languages" such as French and Spanish, which are based on Latin.英語屬於西日耳曼語.這意味著英語文法比較接近德語,而不是像法語和西班牙語昰由拉丁文演變而來的浪漫語言.

• English is the most widely spoken language in the world, but it is NOT the most natively spoken.  Both Chinese and Spanish boast more native speakers.英語昰全世界使用最廣泛的語言,但昰以中文和西班牙文為母語者卻比以英語為母語者多.

• English grammar is closer to German, but many English words were taken from Latin and French.  Many of the Latin words are the legacy of the Catholic Church, which was very influential throughout the Middle Ages.  The French words are the result of the Norman conquest of England in the 11th century.英文文法比較貼近德文, 但是很多英文字昰由拉丁文和法文而來. 大多的拉丁文字被中世紀的天主教廣泛運用, 而法文字的使用則昰由十一世紀諾曼人征服英格蘭開始.

• The Oxford English Dictionary lists over 250,000 words in English, and many of these words are borrowed from languages as diverse as Hindi and Swahili.牛津英語辭典收了 250,000個英文單字, 其中很多都是從不同的語言借來的,例如: 印地語和斯瓦希里語.

• The epic poem Beowulf is one of the oldest things written in the English language, dated between the 8th and 11th centuries.  This poem was written in Old English, and is difficult for even native English speakers to understand.史詩"貝奧武夫"昰以古英文在第八到十一世紀之間寫成,昰最早的英文文學作品之一. 就算是現今以英文為母語者都認為它困難難懂.

• The United States has more native English speakers than any other country in the world, but...在美國以英語為母語者多於世界上任何一個國家, 但......

• India may have more people that speak and understand English than any other country.印度可能比任何國家有更多會說英文的人口.

• It is said that written English is about 80% phonetic, meaning that about 20% of the words in the English CANNOT be decoded using phonetic rules.這說明 80%的英文字符合拼音規則,而另外的20%則不適用拼音規則.

•  The spelling of English words has varied over time, and there are many regional differences with regard to the spelling of English words.  The chart below outlines the history of the phrase, "Our father, who is in heaven," from the Bible.英文字的拼法隨著時間的演變而不同, 也有許多區域性的差異,下面的表格標示出聖經中"Our father, who is in heaven,"的拼法演變.

Year 年	Phrase 句子
1000	“Faeder ure bu be eart on heofonum si bin nama,”
1384	“Ovre fadir pat art in heavens halwid bi pi name;”
1611	“Ovr father, who art in heaven,”
2011	“Our father, who is in heaven,”

Hope you are having fun... in whatever language.  To study is good, but as the Bible also says, "In much study lies a weariness of flesh."  祝你學任何一種語言都很愉快! 學習昰一件很好的事, 但聖經上也說: 身體上的疲累源於過量的學習.