Taiwan’s Ministry of Education has dipped into pop culture for some of its additions to the list of English words that elementary and junior high students are expected to learn. Among the new additions are “Batman” and “Spiderman.”
Yes, students will be tested on these — but not until 2011.
Three professors and three junior high English teachers compiled the new list of two hundred basic words; this will be added to the existing list of one thousand words.
Here are some of the other new additions:
- bat
- bug (computer)
- Easter
- French fries
- gate (airport)
- guy
- Halloween
- hippo
- kangaroo
- koala
- marker
- MRT (the mass rapid transit systems of Taipei and Gaoxiong)
- PIN (personal identification number)
- scooter
- slim
- spider
- surf
- temple
- T-shirt
- yummy
- zebra
sources:
- MOE adds slang, pop culture terms to junior high basic exams, China Post, April 3, 2007
- MRT yummy Batman guózhōng, guóxiǎo dōu de huì (MRT yummy Batman國中小都得會), China Times, April 3, 2007
edited to add a link to the Ministry of Education’s list of 1,000 words
Ah, you’ve gotta love the China Times. Who else would consider French fries “pop culture”?