Back in 1989 when Steve Hess was still a first-year student of Chinese at Lincoln University in Pennsylvania who had come to study the language overseas, walking on the streets of Taipei he was often asked: Would you like to teach English? Although he had never taught the language, at the time schools offering American English were in a vigorous stage of growth, and finding a job teaching English was a piece of cake. So he joined Hess Language School and taught English for a brief period. After he graduated from university, he returned to Taiwan to teach English and put down his roots here.

"Don't count too much on foreign teachers of English," warns Hess, who has been in Taiwan more than a decade and for most Taiwanese is a typical "foreign English instructor." Unless a teacher has, like Hess, married a Taiwanese and firmly rooted himself here, otherwise it can be very difficult to retain a foreign teacher, much less get that teacher to devote himself or herself to the job of teaching English. And foreigners like Hess can be counted on the fingers of one hand: For instance, at Hess Language School--which has 500 branches island-wide--only about 10% of all foreign instructors stay longer than three years.

"Localizing" foreign teachers

English teachers from abroad are extremely mobile, points out Pingtung Tunglung Elementary School teacher-in-training Lai Cheng-cheng, who has been teaching children English for almost a decade. He formerly taught at Kojen English Language Schools, and returned to Pingtung to open a language school four years ago. Within two years, he recounts, his language school lost four foreign instructors. Unless they marry a local, it is difficult to retain a foreign teacher longer than three months.

"It's tough to get a teacher to stay in Taiwan for one year," says Tony Chen, Hsinchuang and Sanchung District manager for Hess Educational Organization. "Those who remain two years are worth their weight in gold." All foreign language schools must face the problem of teachers who come and go at will.

The channels used by different language schools to recruit foreign teachers are largely identical. They either have professionals responsible for recruiting on the ground in the USA, Canada, and the UK, or they commission local universities to seek teachers with the appropriate qualifications. Those having taught English in Taiwan would become "designated agents" responsible for helping headhunt teachers when they return home. In today's cyber communications age, language schools tend to establish their own websites and use the ubiquitous Internet to recruit teachers.

But it's a rare foreigner who can "go into battle" the moment he steps off the airplane. At Hess Language School, for instance, new teachers undergo two to four weeks of training, including practice teaching, an introduction to Taiwanese culture, studies of basic Chinese, help in renting a place and buying furniture, and so forth, in order to lessen the insecurity that comes from an unfamiliar environment.

Besides the problem of the "high mobility" of foreign instructors, due to differences in language and culture, they are often incapable of conducting a class on their own and need an assistant to maintain order or explain difficult vocabulary.

English instruction is very professional, says Samantha Fan, a foreign personnel consultant for Kid Castle Educational Institute, a chain which comprises English-language kindergartens and cram schools for elementary school-age children. In the same way that a Taiwanese cannot simply go abroad and teach Chinese, a foreigner who has not previously taught English can usually only handle fairly relaxed and simple elementary English instruction. Fan believes that foreign teachers should not just teach pronunciation, and therefore Kid Castle maximizes the relative advantages of Chinese and foreign teachers to obtain a mutually complementary effect. Freshly arrived foreign instructors only undertake curriculum for speaking and listening skills; after they have accumulated more experience, then reading and writing instruction is handed over to them, and in this way, students' English ability is strengthened.

Understanding cultural differences

Although bona fide language schools do provide "pre-training" for foreign teachers, the problem of foreign teachers who don't cooperate well still exists.

The great majority of foreign teachers do not prepare their lessons, says Lai Cheng-cheng. Once the local English teacher informs the foreign teacher of what is to be taught, if the latter actually shows up on time then you can thank your lucky stars, he says. Take his team of home tutors, for instance. He once had a South African teacher who, having obtained one month's salary, demanded that his teaching hours be rescheduled to fit his own needs. When it comes to scheduling, large-scale language schools can be rather strict in order to maintain their reputation for good instruction.

Remote rural areas have the greatest need for foreign instructors. The problem is that most locals just don't know how to get along with them.

Fan points out that when a school employs only one foreign instructor, it is most likely to lead to the departure of that instructor. Regardless of how well he or she might accept "things Taiwanese," loneliness is inevitable because there are often very few locals who can converse with the foreign teacher, chat about cultural differences and allow the teacher to express his or her feelings. The problem of making adjustments in one's personal life aside, when meetings are held to discuss course content, local English teachers are not accustomed to discussing it entirely in English, and the foreign teacher might not be able to follow in Chinese; during other events when students "perform" (make speeches, compete in quiz contests, etc.) to demonstrate their progress, everyone is terribly busy--but the foreign instructors don't know what is going on because the students are often chatting away in Chinese. Thus they lack a feeling of involvement and find it difficult to really throw themselves into such activities.

Although frequent replacement of foreign teachers is the subject of the most intense complaints from parents, Tony Chen and Samantha Fan--both of whom have worked together with foreign teachers for many years--point out that language school administrators are deeply troubled by the biases and confused thinking that drive parents when selecting a foreign teacher.

"Parents are very likely to judge people by their appearance," says Tony Chen. They are picky about nationality, skin color, and looks. For instance, he recounts that three years ago Hess Language School hired a blue-eyed, blond-haired American who was a dead-ringer for Brad Pitt. This hunk immediately became a walking advertisement for the language school, even positively impacting the workplace attitude of the administrative staff. What is even more ridiculous, Chen has come across parents who insist upon a refund because they judge a given teacher's pimpled complexion to be a drawback. "Taiwan's desire to study English is 'hot' enough, but it's very superficial," he says. "People think that young, cool-looking teachers can teach well, while studying with an old teacher is no fun."

Lai Cheng-cheng recalls that there was once a black British woman in his team of tutors with a virtual crew cut. At the time when he was about to hire her, he couldn't help hesitating, because back then it was rare to see a foreigner in Taiwan's countryside, much less a black teacher with a razor cut. Happily, parents were supportive, and that teacher was able to win trust thanks to her dynamic style of teaching.

"Some children in kindergarten break out in tears the first time they see a black teacher," says Fan. "Besides preparing students for this ahead of time, later on we realized that we could arrange for those teachers to teach students in middle and high school." Fan says this sort of thing is common experience shared by small-scale, private language schools.

Just what is "standard" English?

"Judging people by their appearance" includes preferences for a given accent. Over the last two years, due to the poor economy many South Africans and New Zealanders have come to Taiwan to work, says Tony Chen. Parents often complain that the "teacher's accent is not correct." But in language schools, the manner in which Taiwanese parents blindly follow American culture is frowned upon by teachers who are not from the US.

Of course, there are those who believe that since one is studying English, it's only natural to study the current dominant form--American English. But Taiwanese parents need to understand that it is not only in the USA, Canada, and Britain where English is the mother tongue; English is also the main language in South Africa and New Zealand. Besides, when abroad, you can't just choose to communicate and interact with Americans.

Fan notes that for Taiwanese parents, the definition of "standard English" is strongly influenced by cassette tapes and American movies and TV. One often feels that if what one hears differs from those tapes, then it is not "standard English." For instance, the British English pronunciation of the word "park" is not a retroflex sound, making it different than the American pronunciation.

To handle these differences, Kid Castle Educational Institute first establishes a foundation for young students using American English, and then arranges for teachers of other nationalities to teach them in order to ensure that the youngsters are not confused.

Many people blame their unwillingness to speak out as the reason they didn't master English many years ago. Foreign teachers can probably help today's children dare to open their mouths and speak English. The responsibility for ensuring that foreign teachers are not just "walking tape recorders," but rather help youngsters to have deeper cultural interaction with them, lies with parents, teachers, and language schools.

p.73

It's a small world, after all. In Taipei's Tienmu district foreigners can be seen everywhere. Without a work permit, though, it's difficult for them to remain in Taiwan for prolonged periods. It's even more difficult to find foreigners with specialized backgrounds in English pedagogy. (photo by Jimmy Lin)

p.74

It's important for foreigners to be around friends of a similar cultural background in order to allay feelings of estrangement. (photo by Hsueh Chi-kuang)