[Press release provided by the College of English and International Studies] On April 14th, President Margaret Mei-Hua Chen of Wenzao Ursuline University of Languages and Director-General Rong-Feng Wu of the Education Bureau, Kaohsiung City Government, signed a memorandum of understanding at the Education Bureau’s board meeting. The two parties will work together to promote Kaohsiung City’s bilingual education and the plan to recruit and train foreign teachers. The expectation is to use English teacher training and certification to recruit and train outstanding foreign teachers, in order to help the Education Bureau successfully promote English education for elementary and junior high schools, and increase their students’ English skills and international competitiveness.
To cooperate with the Education Bureau’s “four arrows, five drives” bilingual education policy, Wenzao Ursuline University of Languages is actively promoting Kaohsiung City’s bilingual school plan. Each year, participation in course planning schools and hiring of qualified foreign teachers increase. Quality bilingual teachers are cultivated to help improve the bilingual abilities and international competitiveness of students in this City.
.Director-General Rong-Feng Wu of the Education Bureau states that Kaohsiung City is working hard to promote bilingual education and support the running of schools. The Education Bureau places importance on teacher training and creating a friendly teaching environment. This time, the resources and professional assistance of Wenzao Ursuline University of Languages are being used in the recruitment and training certification plan to develop sources for foreign teachers in this City and pioneer diverse hiring channels.
President Margaret Mei-Hua Chen of Wenzao Ursuline University of Languages states that: “Wenzao has over 50 years of bilingual teaching experience, especially in cultivating countless English talents. Cooperating with the Education Bureau can achieve resource integration results. Wenzao is the national bilingual teaching center designated by the Ministry of Education. Cooperation between the two can integrate national teacher resources, help Kaohsiung City promote bilingual education, and increase students’ international competitiveness, resulting in benefits for everyone. We are very thankful for this opportunity to work with the Education Bureau to improve the English abilities of elementary and junior high school students in Kaohsiung. In addition, teacher training and certification will expand to Catholic elementary and junior high schools and the training of Taiwanese teachers.”
The “Kaohsiung City Bilingual Education Promotion and Foreign Teachers Training Program” is divided into two tiers. The first tier is expected to implement a 32-hour English teacher training course from May to June. The certification test will be held in July. Participants who pass the certification will be assigned to Kaohsiung elementary and junior high schools to teach in September. The second tier will start in August. Wenzao’s English certification differs from ordinary paper and pen certification tests. Exam takers need to write a course outline, conduct a teaching demonstration, and answer questions. An exam taker can only pass after receiving a score of 70 or more in a review by three judges. Wenzao Ursuline University of Languages not only has the most complete faculty for English and foreign languages teaching, but has also worked hard to cultivate relevant talents. We believe that by using abundant resources and a mature system, we can provide comprehensive English teacher certification training. In turn, these teachers can become a strong foundation for Kaohsiung City and other counties/cities in promoting bilingual education.
