And today we're going to focus on Unit 5.

As Taiwan's government sees it, English is the future.

It's a policy of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party to make the country bilingual in Chinese and English by 2030.

And it's at schools like this that better English begins.

Officials want more schools teaching English through English.

And in schools that are ready, they even want some other subjects taught in English too.

But Taiwan schools have always taught the language.

Why push the bar up to bilingual?

Taiwan is a trade-dependent country, and we are making every effort to attract many international companies to Taiwan.

Unfortunately, a lot of times we lose out to Singapore because those multinational companies found that our professionals are not that fluent in English as the Singaporeans are.

The National Development Council charged with making the plan a success says Taiwan needs English to ensure the country's voice is heard on the world stage.

That's especially important given the growing clout of nearby China, a country that claims Taiwan as its own and does its best to keep Taiwan out of global organizations.

Experts have good news.

For a non-English speaking country, Taiwan has a high percentage of high school grads with strong English language skills.

We conducted a baseline study of English proficiency for the Ministry of Education back in 2020.

And that showed that 21% of students at senior high school were achieving upper intermediate or advanced levels of English language proficiency.

But this enthusiasm for English has some strong critics.

Among them, Professor Liao Xinhao, he says too much English too early will stunt students' first language, their critical thinking and their academic performance.

He also sees Taiwan's local languages, including Mandarin, withering away.

And you know, countries like Holland, I mean the Netherlands, Norway and Denmark, they are becoming aware of the pitfalls of this whole policy.

So, Holland, I think in June this year, the Ministry of Education has put out this regulation that the university should limit—should, at least—provide two-thirds of the courses in Dutch.

You know, for fear that the Dutch language would become obsolete one day.

The campaign to become bilingual is going ahead all the same.

So what does it look like on the ground?

Here at Neli High School in the northern city of Taoyuan, students can choose an experimental biology class taught in English.

Though the English teachers here see a boost in language skills, they say it's come at a price.

It requires a massive amount of work for them to be really proficient in English and to like to connect with different vocabulary, those technical terms in different fields.

So at first, I feel very stressful.

Teenagers stayed up all night because of abundant assignments.

And the students clearly feel the same way.

What the hell is this education?

Stressed teachers, stressed students and a tense political debate.

It doesn't have to be this way, some experts say.

Doctor Stephen Krashen who has spent decades studying language acquisition is one of them.

He has found that with gripping stories and a lot of free reading, stress-free bilingualism is not only possible but inevitable.

kids need libraries filled with good books, both in English and their native language.

And the rest will take care of itself.

What we have found.

If you, for every hour of reading you do, you gain about a half a point actually a little more on the TOEIC Test,

which means a couple of years, you're way up there; not from doing flashcards, not from studying grammar, just from reading.

And the best thing we can do is supply kids with lots and lots of interesting books.

Testing will not even be an issue.

They're gonna score very high on all kinds of tests of comprehension and on tests of speaking because that's the result of getting this input.

Now, conventional language classes are still the norm and packed schedules leave students little time to read for fun.

But Taiwan's people and government do have a choice to make.

Is English really Taiwan's future, and is the current plan the right way to get there?

As 2030 inches closer, time is running out to decide.

Howard Zhang and John Van Trieste for TaiwanPlus .