On August 30 Ambassador Peter Chia-yen Chen officially handed over a collection of textbooks to the Minister for Education, Sustainable Development, Innovation, Science, Technology, and Vocational Training, Shawn Edward during a presentation at the ministry.
The Mandarin language textbooks, “Let’s Learn Chinese”, were published and donated by Taiwan’s Overseas Community Affairs Council (OCAC), which is identified as being suitable for the elementary and junior high school levels.
According to a Taiwanese official, the objective of this exercise is to help cultivate students’ ability to use mandarin to communicate in everyday life.
During the presentation, Ambassador Chen said there has been an increasing demand for learning Mandarin over the past few decades. He noted that Taiwan’s teaching materials are diverse, teaching methods are varied, and that leaning models have matured in recent years in combination with smart teaching, digital technology and innovation.
“All these teaching advantages are products of an ideal democratic system and thus fully meet the requirements of St. Lucia, which shares the same value of freedom and democracy,” Ambassador Chen declared.
He added: “Mandarin learning opens up a new world and new markets for young people to explore. We sincerely hope that through the adoption of the Mandarin textbook provided by Taiwan, teachers and students will have a better learning experience, as well as feel empowered and confident to pursue their passion and dreams.”
Ambassador Chen also introduced two new Mandarin teachers, Ting Ting Lu and Yu-Ling Lin, noting that the Embassy of the Republic of China (Taiwan) will continue to work with Minister Edward and Ministry of Education personnel to provide top-notch opportunities for education in Saint Lucia.
Meanwhile, the minister acknowledged the support from the Government and People of Taiwan for collaborating on several projects that contribute to Saint Lucia’s development, including healthcare and agriculture.
Edward said the teaching of foreign languages – including Mandarin – is in keeping with government’s thrust to prepare Saint Lucians to be global citizens. The teaching of Mandarin, he said, will initially be a pilot project targeting two schools. Monitoring and assessing will be done with a view to replicating the initiative in other schools.
“In preparing a child or young citizen to become a global citizen, they need more than just the traditional subjects that we are accustomed to teaching them from kindergarten,” noted Edward. “We have recognized the need for our children to be able to speak more than just the native language. It is against that backdrop that we have agreed to incorporate the teaching of Mandarin in our school system.”