Taoyuan Yangming High School and American Sister School New Jersey International High School Hold Their First Virtual Meeting
In conjunction to Taiwan’s 2030 Bilingual Policy and the U.S.–Taiwan Education Initiative, the Ministry of Education is actively promoting elementary and secondary schools in Taiwan to establish sister-school partnerships with elementary and secondary schools in English-speaking countries, and engaging in online language exchanges. This will enhance the Taiwanese students’ understanding of multiculturalism.
With the assistance of the Education Division of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office (TECO)-NY, students and teachers at Yangming High School in Taoyuan City and at New Jersey International High School had their very first online meeting, on the morning of December 17, Taiwan time and in the evening of December 16, Eastern time in the US.
New Jersey International High School is located in Paterson, the largest city in Passaic County in northern New Jersey. It’s a 4-year public high school with approximately 480 students that’s part of the Paterson Public School System. The school has been authorized by the International Baccalaureate Organization as an IB World School.
The IB Diploma program requires students to study a foreign language and Dr. Catherine Forfia-Dion, the school’s principal, emphasizes that the school is committed to educating its students to become global citizens and she encourages students to join one or more of the many language clubs in the school. The Chinese Club is very popular among students.
The first online meeting between the two schools was based on the UNESCO proposal of “cultivating international minds and developing multi-partnerships”. Teachers and students from Yangming High School—including the school principal Lin Yufeng, Director Xu Zhengfen, and team leader Lin Xinyi—together with Hong Chuanzhu, the Chinese teacher at the New Jersey International High School, and students from the Chinese club, there had an online conversation with the teachers and students in New Jersey. They exchanged details of their experiences with language courses, club activities and part-time jobs. The two schools plan to jointly develop an approach for their ongoing cross-border exchanges to develop their perspectives.
During the meeting, Dr. Min-ling Yang, the director of the Education Division at TECO-NY, and Ms. Jocelyne Wu. the Education Officer there, encouraged the teachers and students of the two schools to continue to interact. They thanked Lin Xinyi, the team leader at Taoyuan City Yangming High School, and Hong Chuan-Ju, the Chinese language teacher at New Jersey International High School, for their efforts to promote international education, and building this bridge of friendship between Taiwanese and American students.