The MOE Holds the First New Residents Dance Competition

The MOE Holds the First New Residents Dance Competition

The MOE and National Taiwan University of Arts jointly organized the first New Residents Dance Competition, held on December 17, 2016 at National Taiwan University of Arts. Thirty-five teams from 10 different countries took part. The event was designed to encourage newcomers to Taiwan and their children to showcase their native languages and cultures, and thereby enhance people in Taiwan’s understanding of these cultures, and their interest in learning these languages. As well as nurturing people’s performing talents and creativity, the contest also helped dissolve boundaries between people.
The MOE has launched a Skills Development Promotion Program as part of its New Southbound Policy, and this has three core goals: people-centeredness, bilateral exchanges, and resource sharing. As well as optimizing its current related policies and measures, the MOE is planning a series of innovative programs featuring new ideas. This year the MOE is integrating the educational resources in Taiwan and promoting a New Residents Education and Skills Celebration Program, in cooperation with schools and local communities. It will provide opportunities for new immigrants and their families to learn about one another’s diverse cultures within their own local communities. The planned series of activities will help new residents and their children to make full use of their talents and to blend into Taiwan’s society.
Participants from countries including Gabon in Africa, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam displayed some of their country’s traditional dancing, thereby sharing one aspect of the richness of their different cultures. And this first New Immigrants Dancing Competition was just a beginning. We firmly believe that exchanges of traditional arts and cultures will help to speed up the integration of recently arrived immigrants into their new home in Taiwan, and help people in Taiwan learn to appreciate and enjoy the rich cultures of new residents’ home countries.