The Ministry of Education (MOE) unveiled on Wednesday English teaching guidelines for high schools and below in Taiwan with a goal of having 60 percent of schools use only English to teach English courses by 2024.

After presiding over a meeting discussing MOE affairs, Education Minister Pan Wen-chung (???) told reporters that the ministry has intensified its efforts to train Taiwanese English teachers and recruit foreign English teachers to achieve Taiwan's goal of becoming a bilingual country.

On the back of a growing talent pool in English teachers, Pan said the 2021-2022 school year will become an important beginning for English teaching, and the MOE is aiming for teachers in 60 percent of elementary schools, and junior and senior high schools to use only English to teach English classes by 2024.

In addition, Pan said the use of English in teaching other courses in high schools and under will be required in a bid to improve students' English proficiency.

By 2024, the MOE will ask teachers in one-seventh of Taiwan's high schools and below to teach part of their courses besides English classes bilingually, said Pan.

Afterwards, Pan said, teachers in all high schools and under around Taiwan will be asked to use only English to teach English classes by 2030.

Pan added that teachers in one-third of high schools and under around the country will be asked to teach part of their courses besides English classes in a bilingual manner also by 2030.

Meanwhile, Pan said high schools serve as a critical link to higher education so the MOE is planning to have 50 high schools in the country offer bilingual classes on a trial basis starting from the 2021-2022 school year.

Pan urged these schools to make good use of the budget that will be provided by the MOE to run their bilingual classes this year, adding such bilingual classes will be expanded to other schools in the future.

Also, starting from the 2021-2022 school year, Pan said, the MOE will launch a massive campaign to recruit foreign teachers.

As part of the recruitment efforts, the ministry will have National Taiwan Normal University (NTNU) and National Chung Cheng University set up counseling centers to provide necessary assistance to foreign teachers.

To help persuade foreign teachers to stay in Taiwan, Pan said, the MOE will provide subsidies for their living expenses including lodging and transportation.

Earlier this year, the MOE announced it would list National Taiwan University, NTNU, National Cheng Kung University and National Sun Yat-sen University as the priority schools for bilingual teaching.

Making Taiwan bilingual by 2030 is a policy initiated by Vice President Lai Ching-te (???) in 2018 when he served as premier. In June that year, Lai specified the "2030 Bilingual Country" plan as a major national policy.

On Sept. 2, the Executive Yuan approved a draft bill to establish a national development center to advance the government's plan to develop Taiwan into a bilingual Chinese and English-speaking nation by 2030.

Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel