學生經驗分享 ─ Kristy「來自哈佛研究生 Kristy的來信」
Dear Ms. Chen,
I am not a parent, nor an English teacher. Yet, I do want to tell you that I am very impressed with your efforts and accomplishments in promoting, improving English education in Taiwan. Your aspirations of doing so for those less well-off children is especially inspiring.
I am a Taiwanese student currently studying in Harvard university for my graduate program. Your efforts strongly affected me because I came from a background closely related to English education— I almost became an English teacher, erh… almost. Before coming to the U.S., I majored in linguistics and English literature in NTNU, the mainstream institution that trains teachers.
During those years in the “formal” system where an English teacher is produced, I did see some serious problems in English education in Taiwan. One problem that particularly concerned me was the quality of English education for children. First of all, while it is commonly accepted that English is important for our competitiveness, there isn’t too much systematic efforts from the government for that cause. In the academic community, those prominent professors in this field tend to focus on research or English education at an elder age ( e.g. high school students.) Consequently, parents and younger children are left on their own to seek resources in English education outside school. While the education in your institution is exceptional, I doubt that other English-teaching institutions for children all possess the same quality or passion. However, pre-school age is arguably the most important stage of one’s lifetime in terms of laying a solid foundation for language capability. I seriously hope that our government can dedicate more interest, more efforts and more resources to promoting English-learning among children and to assume its responsibility in quality control in the field.
The other issue that bothered me is, as you mentioned, the widening gap between those well-off and those less wealthy children in learning English. I myself came from a small town. When studying in Taipei during college years, I was always amazed by how much better-resourced my classmates growing up in Taipei city were in learning English. I believe that such gap is not only becoming an educational issue, but also a social issue. That’s why I feel so strongly about your aspirations and efforts in trying not to leave those less privileged children behind.
I apologize for this long note. I guess I just wanted to tell you that I am very grateful that there is someone like you doing this for the younger generation in Taiwan. People like me may not know you in person, but we admire and support your cause and efforts.
Best wishes,
— Kristy
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Dear Ms. Chen,
我不是家長，也不是英語教師，但是我很想告訴您，您對台灣英語教育的努力和成就令我非常感動，特別是您幫助那些家境較窮困的孩子的熱忱更是激勵人心。我是來自台灣的學生，目前就讀哈佛大學的研究所。您的努力對我來說影響特別大，因為我的學歷背景跟英語教學有很密切的關係，我曾經差一點就成為英文教師了。在我來美國之前，我在專門訓練老師的台灣師範大學念語言學和英文文學。
在那些年的學習當中，我發現在所謂的「正式」的老師養成系統之中，台灣的英語教育的確有許多嚴重的問題。其中一項相當困擾我的問題是兒童英語教育的品質不佳。雖然大部分的人都認同英語能力對一個人的競爭力是相當重要的，但是政府對這點並沒有太多有系統、有條理的政策。在英語教學的相關學術領域中，學者專家都傾向於將焦點放在學術研究，或是把目標放在教導年紀較大的孩子（例如：高中學生）。因此，家長們和小孩子成了英語教學的孤兒，他們必須自己想辦法在學校體制之外的地方尋找學習英文的環境。您的學校品質特別卓越，但我相信其他兒童英語教學機構必定良莠不齊，也沒有像您一樣的熱忱。然而，學齡前這段時間許多人相信是兒童一生中奠定基礎語言能力的最重要階段，我衷心期盼政府能付出更多關注與努力，並投注更多資源來幫助兒童學習英文，並且同時嚴格控管各英語教學機構的品質。
另一個問題如您所述，也就是窮孩子和富孩子之間學習英語的懸殊越來越大。我來自一個小鄉鎮，從前在台北就讀大學時，我總是驚訝生在台北的同學與我相較之下，他們學習英文的資源豐富太多了。我相信這樣的差距不只是一個教育問題，更是整體社會的問題。這也是為什麼我對您的熱忱與對窮孩子的照顧會如此感同身受的原因。
真是抱歉寫了這麼多。我只是想告訴您，我很感謝台灣還有像您這樣為年輕一代努力的人。像我一樣，許多人也許並沒有親身跟您接觸過，但是我們都很欽佩您的付出，並且支持您所做的一切努力。
Best wishes,
— Kristy
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Dear Kristy:
剛從大陸回來，看到你的來信，心中有太多的激動。正好這趟大陸行，參觀了一些學校也和當地的台商與政府官員有許多談話。對照彼岸來勢洶洶強烈企圖心國際化的現象，台灣英文教育的僵化制度令人憂心忡忡。
您文中所述，字字針針見血，不愧是「幾乎成為英語教育工作者」的內行人真知灼見。台灣很需要像你這樣有理想有觀察力的年輕人，來改變混沌不堪的社會氣氛。的確家長必須在混亂的英語市場中自我摸索，每年我以一個私人小學校代表擠身在國際學校中，戰戰兢兢說爛好話，賠盡笑臉，九牛二虎之力為台灣的孩子找來英語系國家合格的中小學教師，目的也是希望幫助孩子不用出國當小留學生，不用拿外國護照進台灣外僑學校，依然可以享受與美加國家同等的英語教育，只是這二十幾年來，家長無法珍惜我們得來不易的資源，外加政府政策打壓，坊間掛羊頭賣狗肉學校充斥，英語教育的工作，令人心灰意冷。
此次大陸行原本單純的休閒度假，竟然因緣際會迸出許多意想不到的火花，對方競相邀請合作或顧問諮詢。多年的努力受人肯定自然欣喜，但想到台灣的下一代逐漸失去競爭優勢，又情何以堪？
你的信道出台灣嚴重的英語教育問題，我覺得應該讓更多人正視這個問題，我請老師翻譯成中文，希望你不會介意。為回應你的來信我寫了一篇心得與你和大家分享，希望我們微小的聲音能夠為台灣的英語教育帶來些許的改變。
碧華
2009/9/12
