Reflections on Working with Fulbright
I can really only speak for the programs in Taiwan, but from what I've seen of the scholar and fellow programs here, I think the scope and depth of the projects and research being done is impressive, and many of the people the program has brought to Taiwan are deeply invested in their work and value the insight that being here has brought them. For the ETA program, I think there are a lot of positives to having a native speaker—and a foreigner—in the classrooms. I think we become a good language resource for the local teachers, who don’t always have other access or experience with native speakers. And for the students, I think we are an important point of access and exposure not just to English, or to English language culture, but to someone who they perceive as being very different from them. When kids lack that exposure, it’s easy to think of other cultures as being completely unlike your own—and while there are differences, there are also many similarities, which students aren’t always able to see from a distance. I think interaction with different people, languages, and cultures is important for all children, no matter where they’re from, and I do think that the ETA program can be a very positive source of this.
But I think there are also problems in the program which I think are important to discuss. For one, the entire premise is a little problematic to me—take high achieving, native English speakers from the US, and plop them into EFL (English as a Foreign Language) classrooms abroad. It equates, on some level, the ability to speak English with the ability to be a successful English teacher, although in reality the two require completely different skill sets. Although I knew that it wasn’t a requirement for application, I still remember being surprised to find how many people in my cohort here didn’t have much, or any, experience in teaching (even taking into account things like tutoring, summer camps, and volunteer experience). My area, Yilan County, has the highest ratio of any region in Taiwan, with about half of us having some kind of teaching or education background. While I don’t believe that this means that the ETAs without this background can’t be good at what they do, I do feel that it creates the potential for a pretty critical knowledge gap in fulfilling our jobs.
Now, a great things about the program that helps to combat this is the fact that we have co-teachers, many of whom have been teaching for many years, and who are familiar with the school system and curriculum. Working with local Taiwanese English teachers is a great thing, whether you have an educational background or not—because again, at the end of the day, even someone like me is just a recent college graduate, and there’s a big difference between discussing pedagogical practices in a lecture and actually applying it in real life.
Still, it seemed to me that throughout the year Fulbright struggled to clearly articulate what our role was in the classroom: our title is English Teaching Assistants, so we’re teaching, but we’re not teachers; there was a huge emphasis placed on co-teaching, but we’re also only assistants by title, meaning that many ETAs struggled to find a firm footing in their classrooms; and, while the title implies teaching, what was drilled into us repeatedly during orientation was that we’re first “cultural ambassadors”—all of which, combined with some ETAs not having a background (or, far more importantly, and INTEREST) in teaching, lead to some situations where select ETAs were not taking their jobs as seriously. The Foundation goes out of its way to make us feel welcomed, respected, and an important part of our communities and schools (including paying us a pretty hefty stipend by Taiwanese standards—close to double what the average first year Taiwanese teacher makes) and though I do think they could take steps to better articulate our place in the classroom, it was also very frustrating to me to see how some of the ETAs took advantage of the slightly vague nature of our situation.
Which, I suppose, was its own kind of realization for me—even within prestigious programs, there’s a certain level of subjectivity and guess work involved in deciding who is best suited for a position. There are some really, really amazing ETAs in this program, and I’ve been lucky to work with them and get to know them; there are also some pretty mediocre ETAs—whether it was a question of interest, or maturity, or motivation. And I think that’s something important that I’ll take away from this experience too: the reminder that getting, or not getting, an award or position isn’t the same as being or not being worthy of it. Some people get the fancy piece of paper, but they don’t necessarily get much else.
I also think there’s an element of the Fulbright program that contributes to this global epidemic of English becoming such a status symbol. While I understand that English has, whether we like it or not, become pretty much the universal language for business and economics and what not, I think it’s important for people who travel abroad to teach it to consider the implications of their work on a greater scale. In a world that’s been rife with colonialism and an emphasis on Western influences and interests, teaching English—however beneficial it might appear, or actually be, to a country in growing their political relations and economies—doesn’t exist in a pure, happy vacuum.
In Taiwan, there’s a pretty big importance placed on students learning English (at least from the government’s point of view). All students are required to take English from 3rd grade and up (it’s even required for many university students)—in Yilan County, it’s required from 1st grade and up. And while there are absolutely benefits to learning a new language at an early age, there are no alternatives give to students—they can’t, for example, choose to learn Japanese, or Korean. Some aboriginal languages are offered selectively—my school offers the Atayal language, but only 2 or 3 of the handful of aboriginal students at my school are actually Atayal; the other students, though from different tribes, have the option of learning Atayal, or no aboriginal language at all, and from what I can tell, these classes are usually only provided for students of aboriginal decent.
I could go into a much deeper discussion about all this—the lingering aftermath of colonialism, East v. West dichotomies, the over-valuation of outside/Western culture, etc—but the sum-up is that it’s all really complicated, and definitely not as simple as “I think I’ll just go spend a year teaching abroad.” I think my biggest take away on this front is a much better understanding of the issues and questions that should be considered when going to teach a language like English in another country. There are problems and implications involved that I had never considered, or knew to consider, beforehand, and it’s definitely something I want to continue to think about after I leave.
All of these things in mind, I do think that on the whole perceptions of the Fulrbight program here are very positive, and that’s important. Schools want Fulbright ETAs in their classrooms, because they’ve been “vetted”, so to speak—not always necessarily a guarantee of success, but many schools nonetheless feel Fulbright is a much more reliable option for native English speakers/teachers than some of the alternatives. And, for all the faults it does have, I would say that if we’re going to be sending Americans abroad to teach English, the Fulbright model is probably one of the best ones working right now—it’s not perfect, but they do put a lot of emphasis on cultural exchange, and they do their best to frame our positions here as partnerships. The staff is Taiwanese, our program coordinators are Taiwanese, and they are all deeply invested in helping the communities and schools they serve. It’s not just about what we can bring and impart to our students and co-workers, but what we can learn from them as well. “A little more knowledge, a little less conflict.” I don’t know that that’s always quite how it goes… but I know I’m walking away with a lot more knowledge than I entered with. And I think that counts for something.
