Education Ministry dispatches Chinese tutors to Thailand

This article was written by Cecilia Fanchiang and published by the Taiwan Journal on November 11, 2005. It reports that the Ministry of Education recently sent 22 Chinese language teachers to work at teacher's colleges in Thailand. These teachers will start teaching Chinese as a Second Language (CSL) for a three-month trial period, before signing two-year, renewable contracts with the Thai government.

For the first time, Taiwan and Thailand are cooperating to promote Mandarin Chinese instruction, which has been gaining popularity in Thailand since the country lifted its ban on teaching the language in 2002. A regulation instituted by education officials in Bangkok will make Chinese a mandatory subject in middle schools starting in 2008.

There has been rising demand for CSL teachers in every level of school in Thailand, where ethnic Chinese people play a strong role in economic development and tourism. A Thai teacher's college sent a delegation to visit Taiwan in early 2005 and requested the Ministry of Education for help in training appropriate Chinese teachers to work in Thailand.

A second group of Taiwanese Chinese teachers will leave for Thailand in May 2006.