[EDLING:328] Taiwan: `Village' shows strength of English

[Francis M. Hult]

Taipei Times

`Village' shows strength of English

They look like empty classrooms tucked away amid farmland and condos in rural 
Taiwan. But to the King Car Education Foundation, a Taiwanese nonprofit 
organization that promotes the study of English, they're a nation.

"We're creating an environment where students must speak English," says King 
Car official Poly Chang (ˆŒC) as she flips through blueprints of her US$2 
million country in a school -- Taiwan's first "English village."

The "nation" -- three floors of rooms attached to a Taoyuan County school -- is 
still just a vision, but sponsors are lining up to make it a reality. Local 
airline Eva Air will donate a Boeing fuselage to put on the first floor. 
Students will disembark from the jet's cross-section, going through "customs," 
all the while speaking English, Chang says.

A local bank is renovating one classroom in its own image to go with a mock 
hotel lounge and post office, among other border-town trappings. Instead of 
attending lectures -- the traditional learning model in Taiwan -- students will 
cruise the venues, practicing English in real-life scenarios. The instructors, 
Chang says, will be more like actors on a movie set than classroom teachers.

Full story:
http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2007/08/01/2003372218