“Taiwan: A Cultural Discovery,” a documentary about 16 Mandarin language teachers traveling to Taiwan to sharpen their teaching skills, will be airing in Los Angeles this spring.
The teachers come from a wide range of schools districts and universities across southern California, including the Los Angeles Unified School District, Bellflower School District, UC San Diego, UC Irvine, UC Santa Barbara, Chaffey College, and East Los Angeles College.
PBS affiliate station KLCS will be broadcasting the hour-long program in celebration Taiwanese Heritage Week, which takes place in mid-May.
For the past decade, there has been an explosion of interest in learning Mandarin. As the home of one of the largest Chinese speaking communities in the US, Southern California has become one of the most popular places for students to do so. As class sizes continue to expand, teachers look for ways to enrich their lessons with cultural components and technology.
The documentary follows the teachers to several different locations throughout Taiwan during their two week long professional development trip that took place last summer. “We’d like to show the story of the teachers who are coming to Taiwan to experience the culture and the language, get a deeper appreciation, so then they can take it back to the students in the United States,” said Jorge Briseno, the instructional TV director of KLCS.
“As a preserver of traditional Chinese culture and also an incubator of its own unique traditions and customs, Taiwan is the perfect place not only for language learners, but also for their teachers to gain inspiration,” said Steve Hsia, the director general of the Taipei economic and cultural office in Los Angeles (TECO-LA). “This documentary conveys the natural beauty and rich culture that our country has to offer, and we are overjoyed to share this with viewers in southern California.”
The soft premier of “Taiwan: A Cultural Discovery” was aired in mid-May to a very positive reception in southern California. It will be aired again on Wednesday, June 8, at 8 p.m. and Sunday, June 12, at 5 p.m.
