One of the most challenging educational tasks we face in Taiwan today is reconciling the teaching of a "foreign" language and culture (English) through school organizations which are "unforeign" in management process and personality; (apart perhaps from the presence of foreign native language-speaking teachers.)

　Put bluntly, unless a student becomes "immersed" in a cross-cultural communicative situation, he or she will not fully appreciate the many subtleties, innuendos, metaphorical and colloquial expressions possible in a foreign language. Emotion is language; language is emotion.

　Because Western cultural values and ideas are often not well understood by local English teachers who are Taiwan-born (and who have not lived for extensive periods of time in Western countries), they alone, can't help their students become immersed at a suitable level in this kind of language learning.

　This situation is analogous to foreigners studying Chinese in America, who would not fully appreciate the richness of the language and culture until they came to live and work in a Chinese society, such as Taiwan. A foreigner living in Taiwan, for instance, is in a unique position to fully grasp the communicative possibilities of the Chinese language(s) here, through immersion in the life, culture and customs of Taiwan.

　Nevertheless, by clarification of the respective roles of local and foreign English teachers when teaching together cooperatively, the richness of the English language and culture can be better integrated into local school curricula, thereby benefitting both students and teachers. The vital nature of both teachers working together to enhance and enrich the language learning experience for their students cannot be stressed enough.

　There is a need though, for both local Chinese teachers of English and native-speaking foreign teachers to mutually understand each other's customs, behaviors, and personality types, so that all teachers can develop the proper awareness toward working together professionally and harmoniously, to help our students reach higher levels of “immersion". New foreign teachers and new local teachers however, often have little understanding of other cultural and behavioral norms.

　Here I argue that, although there is an overt expectation that the new foreign teacher will “fit in” to the Chinese way of doing things here, there is a much-neglected point of view that, as we are teaching a “foreign” language using foreigners (English is in fact taught in Taiwan as EFL, not ESL - hence uses different techniques), as teachers and educators, we need to understand the “foreign” environment from which our foreign teachers come from. So from where do they come?

　 America, Canada, England, Ireland, Scotland, New Zealand, Australia and lastly, South Africa, are the main countries recognized by Taiwan's Ministry of Education as native English-speaking countries, and accordingly, our teachers are drawn from these places.

　A BRIEF LOOK AT CULTURE, AND HOW IT INFLUENCES BEHAVIOUR

　Although lamentably, our government no longer celebrates Teacher's Day as a public holiday, every child learns about Confucius-the great Teacher. He was an eminent Sage, born in 551BC, who later became a notable Government figure. His writings were heavily influenced by 3 factors. Firstly, early China was composed of a group of warring kingdoms, hence was politically unstable. Secondly, the size of the popula-tion of China and the many natural disasters, all contributed to economic instability. Finally, traditional China was an agrarian state; one based on agriculture, family clans and closed village societies.

　To minimize anarchy, in his position as a government minister, he developed a set of moral codes and analects, and by the time of the Han Dynasty 500 years later, universities were set up modeled on these Confucian Principles. The ideals of “Self-Restraint” and “Hierarchical Obedience” were paramount.

　The Chinese view is that man exists in terms of his social and linear relationships to others-a Culture of the Group, where people have responsibility to group cohesion and cooperation during interaction. In Chinese families, people are in fact identified and named as a younger brother, elder sister, paternal aunt, or maternal uncle etc., which means they exist in a social pattern with all the attendant deference and respect shown to those in the hierarchy above, regardless of whether they are deserving of respect (not having earnt this through action, ability, competence or demonstrated love, but by seniority in birthright). Women in particular, hold a certain place in the social hierarchy, and are still bound traditionally, by certain conventionally proscribed behaviors.

　On the other hand, most Western cultures (European, Caucasian, North American, Australasian-call them what you will) name family by their personal names, which immediately implies individuality and respect born from demonstrated competence, ability or love. Man is an island, existing independently-a Culture of the Self, wherein people are responsible for their own self-development and independence. Incidentally, women in these cultures are valued and respected as themselves, as equals to men; not being subservient to any male family figure in any way, shape or form.

　These two views: Collectivism vs. Individualism, have far-reaching implications and consequences for behavioral interactions of Chinese and Westerners, as the social “order” developed quite differently.

　The European migrations to the Americas and Australasia also developed a pioneer spirit of independence, creativity, self-assurance and self-confidence with an attitude. If you didn't learn to "stand up for yourself", you didn't make it. This all means that, in a proactive sense, typical Westerners will show traits of confidence, creativity, friendliness, outgoingness, kindness etc. and may not be afraid to show their emotions in positive ways.

　A westerner will tend to respectfully treat a Chinese girl as an equal for example, expecting her to respond openly to any interactions. For a young woman who has been somewhat “cloistered” in her family home and perhaps never asked for her opinion, this can come as a real shock!

　In a reactive sense, a Westerner may show traits of arrogance, aggressiveness, rudeness, cockiness, and be quick-tempered, displaying negative emotions too readily, unlike a Chinese, who is far more cautious about open and public displays of emotion (particularly negative emotion).

　So how does this further affect you and your foreign coteacher? Markedly! If you are to develop good professional working relationships with these people, you must consider such points as will be outlined in next month's article.