Inside the English Language Schools in Taiwan

In the morning, entering the doors of a private English school in Taiwan one may hear the loud and frequently repeated words "No Chinese". This is usually shouted hysterically by a worn owner or manager of the school and for the benefit of passer-by's, parents and other teachers and directed to a bunch of partially happy children starting the evenings, mornings or weekends torture.

I say partially happy as having to attend this school would reduce any child to tears at the mere thought of entering the doors, but being children they do retain a slight cheer when faced with diversity. Groups of children from any age, typically schools target 12yrs and younger down to three years old: enter the doors to be shouted at for the rest of the day.

Control of children is very tough in Taiwan and for many reasons. Children in general are quite arrogant assuming that they are all-important: this bred from years of being farmed out to private schools and being spoilt to keep them quiet. So, generally schools use methods to control and teach that include strictness, shouting, punishment and award.

The award cabinet

Upon walking into a private English Language School in Taiwan, and after clearing the 'head' of shouting, one will probably see a large display cabinet that houses many a cheap toy, ornament or game that might be considered attractive to the average child. This is the monument to control! Inside of this cabinet is the means by which the students are controlled and moulded, reduced or increased in stature and through which they are kept quiet in the classroom. Typically a teacher has at his/her means a box of gaily coloured circles with numbers on them or counters of one form or another. Should a teacher be suffering from a whole class not listening to the lecture then a simple offer of "if you be quiet then you will each get ten points" will reduce the noise to zero. Should one boy/girl be causing trouble or is the only one misbehaving then a simple withdrawal of ten points and the threat of more to follow will generally draw the miscreant back into the fold.

Each child will collect points until the quantity matches one of the items in the display cabinet. This cheap trinket or gift can then be obtained by trading in the required number of points that the child has collected.

In effect the method of control is bribery. By awarding points to the good, taking points from the bad, and using the threat and promise of award and punishment to control ahead of time is probably a definition of the word 'bribery' as might be found in some English Language dictionaries. It is in fact outright bribing of the children to keep them in-line, a method that is fully accepted by parents, teachers, administration and governments alike. In fact it may be currently the only method of control and will be until children themselves are brought up by parents to realise their true place, that the world does not just revolve around little children.

School Structure..

Schools generally are small in scale. Many function in converted houses with five to six classrooms some on an even smaller scale. Classes vary in age groups, often 3-5 year olds being mixed together with 6-8yrs combined and 9-12yr olds combined. A more general classification is based on English language skills, with three levels of classroom being operated based on beginner, intermediate and advanced level.

As a result of economic pressures and scale it is not uncommon to find a beginner 10yr old in a classroom filled with five and six year olds. This certainly does not help a teacher to control classroom behaviour, nor help the teacher to impart information: in other words does a five year old have anything in common with the 10yr old? Certainly, the larger the school the easier it gets and the more divisions and classifications can be had, and it is easier for the chain schools who can subdivide through different schools offering different levels or age group classifications.

The English Teacher ..

Generally most English Language Schools rely on a foreign teacher to bring in the students. In fact without the presence of an English Speaking foreigner it is doubtful whether the school would be able to recruit anybody at all. The foreign English teacher then becomes the pivot around which the school operates. Unfortunately, the English Teacher is a very expensive outlay for the school and one that they can ill-afford. The large chain schools who can afford the staff and the training of such do not suffer so much and can generally employ enough English Speaking staff for each level taught. They also tend to operate on the principle of one English Speaker and one local teacher per class, especially at the beginner level, thus the control aspect is better attained.

Smaller schools and those just starting up or suffering from a lack of profit tend to employ one expatriate on an ad hoc basis; one who will then provides the "attraction" base for parents. This teacher will be spread thinly across the board, one minute fighting a classroom of unruly preschool kids and a couple of near teenagers who don't speak a word of English. The teacher will struggle on, using points and awards in hasty and desperate fashion to try and get a modicum of interest from the totally uninterested class. After having been defeated by a group of kids who speak Chinese the whole time this teacher will stagger to the next classroom, one filled with a group of twelve years olds (with one five year old standing out) who supposedly speak English at conversational level. The teacher will spend the first ten minutes trying to be noticed by the class who act is if no teacher is present. He/she will eventually manage to start off the class, probably only with the five year old who listens only because he has nothing in common with the older kids. In this classroom the teacher will grow hoarse through shouting and screaming at kids and at the end of the class will be found hyperventilating in the corridor.

The Curriculum ..

The Chain schools will have to their name an established and forward moving curriculum that is well-based and provides a good grounding in the English language. The lone schools and smaller institutions use a mixture of materials, often based on cheaper cost rather than content. These materials can vary from American based to UK based and/or a mixture of the two. They can be formed by an expatriate who saw a buck involved or as is the case the foreign Teacher finds him/herself going out shopping with a small bundle of money to buy what is required. Many foreign teachers are required by the school to form and produce material in their spare time, often as a result of the school cupboard being bare and because the school can not afford to buy any.

Many schools operate without a formatted curriculum and rely on the foreign teacher to meander through the year using materials that are scraped together from anywhere and mostly at the last minute. The Internet, other teachers minds, friends and personal books are plagiarised and copied in hysterical attempts to make lesson plans, minutes before class is due to start.

The chain schools provide a far more stable environment for the students and thus have far greater control over them as a result of this stability and surety during lessons. Teachers at the single owned schools or bushibans often lose control in the classroom when they attempt to improvise lessons due to having no material at hand.

Teaching methods .

This depends quite a lot on a particular teacher, the age group being taught and on the curriculum being implemented. It is normal to see students being taught through regurgitation and threat but should a teacher break away from this practice then more practical and mind absorbing methods can be used. The ability to break away, especially for a foreign teacher depends upon the school head and the culture in practice and the attitude of the teacher him/herself.

Parents eyeing up the school with intentions to sending their children to it are often invited to an open day. These open days are highly staged events to which the students have practiced for endlessly and without letup. What the parent sees is a group of kids performing shows, singing songs and generally advertising that they have a good grasp of the English language. It must be remembered though that the children have gone through many weeks to get so far and although they maybe able to sing/dance well in English it does not say anything about further abilities or for that matter if they can hold a conversation in English. Should any parent be serious about their children attending a certain school it would be advisable to turn up uninvited to view in person the teaching methods in use. The open days themselves only go to show that the head and the teachers are good at logistics and the management of staged events.

The Future

The government of Taiwan desperately needs to control and to monitor educational standards at these schools to ensure that a proper level and standard of education is being given. They must note that by simply having a native English speaker on the books does not mean that the school is up to standard. It might be a consideration of the government to have a nationalised curriculum that private schools must adhere to or that potential schools must submit a curriculum to a government body for approval before they can open their doors.

Many schools in Taiwan offer an excellent environment where two (one foreign, one local) correctly educated teachers control classes using adequate and suitable resources and materials. But many do not and it is these ones that should be clamped down upon by government bodies, to eradicate the schools that exists purely to fill the pockets of shareholders as rapidly as possible, and thus to build up a network of schools across the Island that provide quality and positive grounding in the English language.