TAIPEI: British missionary Sister Ellen Mary Elizabeth Mylod has been awarded Taiwanese citizenship in recognition of her contribution to educating students in the English language.

Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chu presented Sister Mylod her citizenship award at Catholic-run Wenzao Ursuline University of Languages in the southern city of Kaohsiung on Sept. 18.

The mayor said Sister Mylod is the first foreigner in Kaohsiung to be granted citizenship since the Nationality Act was amended last December.

At the ceremony, Sister Mylod said she had for a long time identified as Taiwanese and that she had long belonged to Kaohsiung.

Sister Ellen has worked at Wenzao Ursuline University of Languages for four decades and during that time she devoted herself to teaching students the English language. Her teaching mottos are "Simplest is best" and "Morality is the basis."

The nun thanked those who helped her obtain her citizenship and the Order of St. Ursula, a community which she has been living with for more than 40 years.

Mayor Chen said that Sister Mylod was one of the important figures in the foundation of the university.

The mayor added that there are many foreign Catholic priests and nuns in Taiwan who dedicated their love and youth to the country. They are more like Taiwanese than Taiwanese, she said.

Archbishop Peter Lau Cheng-chung of Kaohsiung, who witnessed the ceremony, said for more than 40 years Sister Mylod made friends with young people and now has students everywhere.

Archbishop Lau said Sister Mylod shared the same fate as local people, the same prosperity with the community and the same growth with the land.Sister Mylod is currently writing books on English education and about the Catholic Church in Taiwan.--Ucanews.Com