The internship course of an English Department in Taiwan provided students real-life work experience before graduation. The diverse internship jobs included English teachers in language institutes, workers in service industries, interns in trading or technology companies, receptionists in international exhibitions, and others. The interns obtained favorable evaluations from their employers.
To prepare students for future career development, the English Department of Chinese Culture University in Taiwan, traditionally with main focuses on linguistics and literature, has incorporated an internship program into the curriculum as an elective course for students to gain real-life work experience before graduation. The objective of the course is for students to apply what they have learned in school to a professional environment so as to develop communicative and professional skills. As a course starter, a list of companies and institutions that have an agreement with the department was provided for students to choose a workplace for the internship. Meanwhile, students were free to choose the companies that they were interested in and that passed the evaluation of the department as a legitimate workplace for interns. Since 2017, there have been 36 students taking the course. The jobs the students did were diverse, falling into five major categories according to the percentage of the interns involved. They included English teachers in language institutes (31%), workers in food or service industries (22%), interns in trading or technology companies (19%), receptionists in international exhibitions (14%), employees in art or fashion industries (6%), and others (8%). In general, the students obtained favorable evaluations on their work performance from their employers. The employer poll showed that 97% of the employers were satisfied with the students’ professional capability, 94% agreed that the students had good English ability, 94% were satisfied with their communicative skills, 94% approved their work attitude, and most significantly, 97% of the employers were willing to recruit the interns to be a formal employee if there were vacancies available. Most of the students also considered the internship important and relevant for them to realize their interests and work preferences, and develop communicative skills and professional competence for their future career.
