An entire city in Taiwan speaking English fluently? Well, not yet, but the city of Tainan is well on its way. The 3rd annual Tainan City English Fair, sponsored by Studio Classroom, was held December 14-18. The first three days were filled with English language contests. Top students from schools throughout the city participated in drama, singing, speech, recitation and story-telling contests.

As a language education consultant for the city's education bureau, Studio Classroom's Matt and Rachel Sawatzky were on the panel of judges for these contests. Yvonne Kao, also from ORTV's Kaohsiung office, assisted. Students participating in these contests ranged from fourth to ninth grade. Tainan is currently the only city in Taiwan where students are required to begin taking English classes starting from the second grade.

The climax of the event was the outdoor English Fair on Friday, December 17. The entire city was invited to enjoy the outdoor carnival atmosphere. Doris Brougham and Simon Hung were honored guests at the opening ceremony and Doris shared some encouraging words with the students. Many children from each school attended, and practiced their English by taking along their ˇ§English passportˇ¨ book to various tents and stations. At each station, they had to practice some English phrases in order to get their passport ˇ§stamped.ˇ¨

Rachel commented, ˇ§The students far exceeded my expectations. Not only did they have excellent verbal skills, they were also wonderful performers.ˇ¨