Taiwan has been at the forefront of Chinese language education. The Ministry of Education in Taiwan offers students at honor degree and graduate level of teaching Chinese as second language the opportunity to be trained overseas in many countries including Australia.
In 2019, 6 Mandarin teaching assistants from Taiwan were selected to assist Mandarin teaching at schools of Queensland State and ACT. The numbers of teaching assistants has doubled since last year. The Office of Global Mandarin Education, a new incentive aimed to lift the international profile of Taiwan’s Chinese language education, conducted an orientation before their departure to ensure they’re equipped with the best resources for teaching Mandarin overseas.
41 Taiwanese teaching assistants have been funded and trained in Australia since 2008. Co-sponsored by the Ministry of Education in Taiwan, the aim of the programme is to train Taiwan’s teachers-to-be in the field of teaching Chinese as second language with first-hand experience while assisting Chinese teachers in Australia to enhance pedagogy.
The Education Division of Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Australia works with state governments and schools to select the most suitable candidates. We look forward to continuing this collaboration in the years to come.
For Australian schools interested in hosting a Mandarin teaching assistant, please contact Department of Education of State Government or the Education Division, Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Australia directly at Australia@mail.moe.gov.tw or (02) 6120-1020
Ms Irene Chen (left) and Ellen Liou were selected by the Ministry of Education to be the Mandarin teaching assistants for the Kedron State High School and Calamvale Community College of Queensland State in Australia. Before departure, both attended orientation organised by the Office of Global Mandarin Education on 10 July, 2019.