The New Jersey Department of Education recently announced a finalized memorandum of understanding with the Taiwan Ministry of Education that promotes an academic exchange in language education and science, technology, engineering and math education.
The collaboration means several educational initiatives are available for local educational agencies, including:
- Mandarin Chinese Language Teachers Program: provides highly qualified teachers of Mandarin Chinese (simplified and traditional) for dual language immersion, heritage language education, and/or world language programs in New Jersey schools. New Jersey LEAs that would like to interview candidates for positions available for the 2024-2025 school year should:
- Demonstrate to the executive county superintendent the inability to locate a qualified teacher with the required certification for the position, pursuant to N.J.A.C, 6A:9B-5.14 “Limited certificate for noncitizen teachers.”
- Submit an official request letter and the Employing Mandarin Teacher from Taiwan – Information Form (located at the bottom of the page) to the Education Division of Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in New York at newyork@mail.moe.gov.tw by March 29, 2024.
- The local County Office of Education can provide more information about the requirements of N.J.A.C 6A:9B-5.14. For additional guidance and support on hosting an international teacher, please contact worldlang@doe.nj.gov.
- Sister School Partnership: encourages elementary and secondary schools in Taiwan and the United States to seek suitable counterpart schools for language-learning and culture-related exchanges and collaboration. Schools can begin with cultural exchange programs and advance to cooperative teaching or online courses. Please submit an official request letter and the School International Exchanges Form (located at the bottom of the page) to the Education Division of TECO in New York. For more information, please contact the Education Division of TECO in New York via email.
- Foreign Student Short-term Mandarin Chinese Study Groups: The Taiwan Ministry of Education will provide subsidies to the host institutions in Taiwan for covering partial living costs and program fees for student groups. The host institution will work with schools and teachers to develop programs and organize a group of at least 15 students to study Mandarin Chinese in Taiwan for two to four weeks. The 2024 deadline to apply is March 31, 2024; applications opened Jan. 1, 2024.
- Overseas Mandarin Chinese Language Teacher Training Program: The Taiwan Ministry of Education will provide subsidies to the host institutions in Taiwan for covering partial living costs and program fees for teacher groups. The host institution will work with schools and teachers to develop programs and organize a group of 15 to 20 teachers who teach Mandarin Chinese in schools, colleges, or universities in the United States to visit Taiwan for two weeks for further professional training. The 2024 deadline to apply is March 31, 2024; applications opened Jan. 1, 2024.
- Taiwan Foreign English Teacher Program: invites talented teachers and language assistants from English-speaking countries to teach in Taiwan’s public elementary and secondary schools. The deadline to apply is April 30, 2024; applications opened Jan. 1, 2024. For more information, please reach out via email.
For any questions, please contact the NJDOE’s Office of Standards via email.