Taipei, Taiwan. TutorABC Junior, the primary-school English division of online education provider TutorABC, has launched an elementary English bridging programme in Taiwan, structured by year level to address the differing English starting points that children bring into the new academic year. Elementary and junior high schools across the country return to class on 31 August.
Under Taiwan's 12-Year Basic Education Curriculum Guidelines, English becomes a formally timetabled subject only from Grade 3, while Grades 1 and 2 are left to individual schools to plan through their own school-developed curriculum. Local government programmes promoting bilingual curriculum schools have added further variation. Children in the same year group can therefore arrive at primary school with markedly different levels of exposure.
Different challenges by year level
According to the TutorABC Junior teaching team, the gap presents differently at each stage. In Grade 1, prior exposure depends largely on the family and the kindergarten attended: some children can already introduce themselves in English, while others are not yet confident with all 26 letters. From Grade 3, English enters both the timetable and the report card, and earlier exposure becomes visible in assessment results. In the upper grades, the national Comprehensive Assessment Program for Junior High School Students divides English into reading and listening, grades the two skills separately, and weights listening at 20 percent of the overall English result.
Programme structure
Lessons for children entering Grade 1 begin with the 26 letters and phonics decoding rules, using licensed National Geographic Learning materials alongside songs, movement and games. Middle-grade students use officially licensed Oxford materials to study science and humanities content through English, aligned with Taiwan's 108 Curriculum. Upper-grade students take one-on-one lessons with foreign teachers focused on pronunciation, response speed and full-sentence expression.
Lessons run from 25 minutes and are delivered online at home, with 24-hour scheduling. More than 35,000 Cambridge-certified foreign teachers deliver the interactive lessons, bilingual instructors handle review afterwards, and parents can observe lessons live through the mobile app or review recordings.
About TutorABC Junior
TutorABC Junior is the English learning brand created by TutorABC for children and secondary students. Its curriculum is aligned with the core competencies of Taiwan's 108 Curriculum and national admissions syllabi, and incorporates officially licensed Oxford and National Geographic Learning materials.
TutorABC was founded in 2004 and has delivered more than 100 million online classes worldwide, providing English and Chinese-language learning, examination preparation, corporate training and study-abroad services.
Sources: TutorABC Junior programme page; TutorABC blog announcement.
