| Summary: | 碩士 === 慈濟大學 === 教育研究所 === 99 === This research intends to explore how the foreign teachers adapted to Hualien from the following aspect: the reasons why they decided to move to Hualien, the experience of how they interacted with the local people, things and objects in Hualien after they moved here, as well as to analyze the problems they encountered and each of their individual experience of adjustment to Hualien.
The research is done in qualitative analysis on oral interviews of ten foreign teachers who had been teaching in schools or after schools in Hualien area for longer than one year. Their life adjustment experiences can be concluded as following according to the research questions:
1. Great environment and great life (the reasons for choosing to live in Hualien)
(1) Safe and convenient environment
(2) Slower pace in life, close to nature, and away from the metropolitancities.
(3) Friendly people
2. The problems encountered while relocating
(1) On daily activities
(a) Adjustment to different foods in a different country
(b) Overcoming different clothing sizes between the East and the West
(c) Minimal adaptation required in terms of living standards
(d) General concerns in terms of commute and traffic
(2) On language
(a) Difficulty in communicating to the locals for the language barrier.
(b) Language barrier that makes it difficult to mingle at work.
(3) On interpersonal relationship
(a) Foreigners help each other
(b) I am a “foreign teacher” living in Hualien
(4) on education system in Taiwan
(a) Feels bad for the pressures students perceived due to different ideas in education
(b) Re-direct how students study during classes
(5) On other systems
(a) The need to forfeit own nationality in order to be naturalized as a Taiwanese.
(b) Difference in medicare system between the East and the West
(6) At work
(a) Consensus can't be reached for the language barrier
(b) Independent and isolated teachers need to adjust to the new environment by themselves
(c) The cultural differences among students, colleagues and foreign teachers needed to be respected respectively
3. The process of adapting to living in Hualien
(1) Respect cultural differences and willing to learn will facilitate adaptation
(2) Self-adjusting and resolution seeking are the keys to a smooth transition
(3) Ability in local language will increase the change to interact with locals and raise adaptability.
(4) Further adjustment after acquiring Taiwanese culture
In conclusion, this research will provide results and suggestions for perspective foreign teachers as points of reference to relocate and teach, as well as future research.
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