Language No Object for Taiwan's Foreign Students!

For foreigners studying in Taiwan, language is the first hurdle. In theprograms where English is rarely, if ever, used, how do the foreign studentsadapt?

Antonio Beardall hails from the Central American nationof Belize, which is a member of the British Commonwealth. He earned anassociate's degree there and worked in a museum and then in the NationalInstitute of Culture and History before coming to Taiwan to continue hisstudies. His job involved the management and care of archeological artifacts,but the archeological research methods employed in Belize are rather out ofdate, and there are no related programs in the universities there, so heapplied for a five-year Taiwan Scholarship to study at the Department ofInformation and Library Science at Tamkang University. He is the firstforeigner ever to enroll in that department.

"At first, my instructors didn't know what to dowith me," recalls Beardall, who is now in his third year. Although he hada year of Chinese study under his belt, he couldn't follow his classes. Somekind-hearted instructors would stop halfway through a lecture or discussion anduse English to explain to him. But he found it awkward and embarrassing to haveall eyes on him, so he ended up devising a method that suited both him and hisprofessors.

                                                    

 

Resource:

http://www.taiwan-panorama.com/show_issue.php?id=201039903080c.txt&cur_page=2&table=0&distype=&h1=%B1%D0%A8|%A4%E5%A4%C6&h2=%A4j%BE%C7&search=&height=&type=&scope=&order=&keyword=&lstPage=&num=&year=2010&month=03

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