The global Covid-19 pandemic is continuing to spread rapidly, and plans to ease restrictions on the entry of students to study Mandarin in Taiwan are currently still under careful assessment. Any changes will be announced on the Ministry of Education’s News Updates page: https://english.moe.gov.tw/cpview-117-24173-6539f-1.html .

Today the Ministry of Education (MOE) released the “2020 Application Guidelines for the Certification Examination for Proficiency in Teaching Chinese as a Second/Foreign Language,” the examination will be held on July 25 and 26. Receiving the certification is the key to unlocking opportunities for teaching and interning overseas.According to released information, the application date for the exam will begin on May 15 to June 1. Applicants are required to mail print material to the “Graduate Academic Affairs Division, Office of Academic Affairs, National Taiwan University” after applying online, and overseas applicants may send their application form to nearby consular.The Certification Examination for Proficiency in Teaching Chinese as a Second/Foreign Language is coming to its 15th session since it was first held; around 26,470 teachers have taken the exam and 4,795 have been certified. Certified teachers have priority when applying for overseas teaching positions or internships. By the year 2019, MOE has dispatched 247 Mandarin teachers and 145 teaching assistant instructors to 17 countries. This certification exam consists of written tests in the following four subjects: Chinese Language and Literature, Chinese Linguistics, Chinese Language Teaching, and Chinese Society and Culture, and an hour for the oral test.Examinees need to pass all four written tests and the oral test, plus proof of foreign language proficiency that meets the standard as required (e.g., score above 785 for TOEIC), to receive their certification. For information and more details, visit the Ministry of Education’s website.(origin from:CNA)

Thai students was awarded THB 200,000 (about NT$ 192,400) by the representative Tung Chen-Yuan (童振源) of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Thailand. These students will take courses in the Mandarin Chinese program at the National Chengchi University this summer to deepen the exchange in education between Taiwan and Thailand.The representative office in Thailand released news today about the Praksa Withedsuksa School (PWS), a trilingual school of Samut Prakan Province, Thailand celebrating its 8th anniversary today. Representatives of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Thailand, National Chengchi University, and Zu How Industry Co. Ltd. were in attendance to celebrate with PWS. The Zu How Industry Co. Ltd. also supported the school with THB 200,000 for the scholarship, which was awarded by Mr. Tung Chen-Yuan to the 10 outstanding students from the trilingual school.The representative office in Thailand shared that the National Chengchi University (NCCU) has provided free language programs for these 10 students to take Mandarin courses at NCCU during summer. With the expectation to have the bilateral educational exchange rooted deep, the school looks forward to attracting more students from Thailand to study at NCCU. The former governor of Samut Prakan Province, Mr. Somboon Suksamran has expressed in his speech that the primary policy to eliminate poverty for a nation is education; whereas the founder of PWS, Mr. Yongyut Suwanabut, who’s also the MP from Samut Prakan Province, expressed his gratitude to Mr. Tung Chen-yuan for providing the opportunity for students to study in Taiwan.(origin from:CNA)

The National Chengchi University (NCCU) forged a strategic partnership with Thailand’s Thammasat University after it had established a Bangkok Office a while ago. The two schools talked about issues of academic cooperation, increasing the quota for exchange students, and promoting teaching in Chinese.Today the NCCU stated in the news that President Ming-Cheng Kuo led a delegation to visit Thailand. The first stop of his itinerary was to visit NCCU’s sister school, the Thammasat University, which is a renowned university, ranked second in Thailand. The university is well known for its school of law and Political Science, and has 260 collaborated institutes in 46 cities all over the world. Its Ta Prachan Campus boasted 90% of its international programs being taught in English.The Vice-Rector of the Thammasat University, Kitti Prasirtsuk, and the Head of School of Information, Computer and Communication Technology Chalie Charoenlarpnopparut made a proposal in the meeting with NCCU. The proposal included increasing the quota for exchange students, exchanging more teaching fellows, to have more cooperation of academic research in fields of Asia Studies, and technological innovation management, and to jointly host international conferences.The NCCU remarked that through the profound and extensive exchanges of suggestions, both sides reached several consensuses, including increasing the quota for exchange students, commencement of teaching fellows exchange, and to promote teaching professionals of Chinese as a second language. Both schools look forward to having a breakthrough in the international program and training of interdisciplinary talents, and to carry on the existing relations for a profound strategic partnership.(origin from:CNA)

The first Taiwan Education Center in India of the Punjab Province was officially established at the Chitkara University, in the hope to increase the number of Indian students to learn traditional Chinese and promote the mutual communication between Taiwan and India. The first Taiwan Education Center was opened on the 12th this month at Punjab’s Chitkara University. The Deputy Representative Chen Chi-Hao and Head of Education Division Chen Li-Ying of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Center (TECC) in India were invited to attend the opening and ribbon-cutting ceremonies.The Ministry of Education (MOE) established the Taiwan Education Center to offer Indian students the opportunities to study the Chinese language, by which they could have a further understanding of Taiwanese culture; therefore, it may promote cooperation and communication between Taiwan and India. To select and dispatch Chinese as a Second Language teacher to India, the MOE has fully subsidized the National Tsing Hua University since 2011 to support its collaboration with Indian schools and the establishment of the eighth Taiwan Education Center. With the endeavoring of the Education Division of TECC, there are currently 18 Education Centers in India.Ashok Chitkara, the founder of Chitkara University who is fluent in Chinese, said in the opening speech that he was delighted to see students were learning Chinese with teachers of excellence at the Center, which was also the platform to provide bilateral exchange and communication.Chen Chi-Hao then pointed out in his speech, that this was the first time that MOE has dispatched teachers of Chinese as a Second language to teach Mandarin Chinese at Chitkara University in Punjab. The Taiwan Education Center would also provide firsthand information of higher institutes in Taiwan, including information on study programs and scholarships, in the hope, there would be more students of Chitkara University or from the province of Punjab choose to study abroad in Taiwan.According to the MOE statistics, the number of Indian students studied in Taiwan had reached 2,390 in 2018, the mainstream media of India, the Times of India also reported that Taiwan had provided one of the best environments for the choice of higher education for Indian students. Chen Li-Ying remarked, Taiwan Education Center served as the education platform between India and Taiwan, education has become the most significant affair in Taiwan-India mutual exchange and collaboration. The Center would be the starting point for Indian students to get to know Taiwan and further made the place to become one of the best choices to study abroad.In the opening ceremony, Chitkara University had arranged Indian students to read poetries by famous poets such as that by Li Po of the Tang Dynasty, and Yang Shen of the Ming Dynasty, which filled the opening ceremony of the Taiwan Education Center with the aura of Chinese culture.(origin from:CNA)

Even among polyglot foreign diplomats, Matthew O'Connor, chief of the American Institute in Taiwan's (AIT) Kaohsiung branch office, may be one of the few able to greet an interviewer in fluent Taiwanese.A 47-year-old Maryland native and alumnus of Georgetown University's Graduate School of Foreign Service, O'Connor has spent a total of eight years in Taiwan since arriving in 1994 to study Chinese at National Taiwan Normal University (NTNU).In addition to his two years at NTNU, O'Connor worked in the Economic Section of AIT Taipei from 2006 to 2010, and assumed his current position in Kaohsiung in August 2017.During a recent interview with CNA, O'Connor described the changes he has witnessed in Taiwan over the past quarter century, which he said included impressive strides in everything from public transport to air quality.However, he said, his tenure in Kaohsiung has been special, for having introduced him to a totally new side of Taiwan -- something aided in no small measure by his knowledge of the Taiwanese language, which is widely spoken in the south.O'Connor said he began learning the language back in 2006, simply because "many people's mother tongue is Taiwanese."After learning the basics at the AIT language school on Yangmingshan, O'Connor said he made up for the relative lack of Taiwanese-language learning materials by developing study habits which he has continued up to the present, such as listening to Taiwanese-language news broadcasts, making conversation with taxi drivers and bus passengers, and working with a tutor.More recently, O'Connor has marshaled these skills for AIT's Kaohsiung branch office by releasing Taiwanese-language holiday greetings, including videos for Lunar New Year and American Thanksgiving.Studying Taiwanese, O'Connor said, has allowed him to "overcome the linguistic and cultural gaps" he might otherwise face in his work, and experience the "warmth" and "hospitality" of Kaohsiung residents, which he described as one of the highlights of a two-decade career that has taken him from Australia to Japan and Iraq.Asked about his enthusiasm for southern Taiwan, O'Connor recalled accompanying Taiwanese Major League Baseball star Lin Tzu-wei (林子偉) on a visit to his elementary school in Namasia District, a mountain indigenous district located in rural Kaohsiung."The natural scenery and cultural sites there felt a world away from urban Taiwan, and made a really deep impression on me," he said.As he approaches the end of his term next summer, and with his wife and five children waiting for him in Michigan, O'Connor said there are still several things he would like to do before leaving Taiwan, including visiting Meinong District, a famous center of Hakka culture in Kaohsiung, and climbing Yushan, Taiwan's highest mountain peak.That, and continuing to improve his Taiwanese. So if you see O'Connor on the streets of Kaohsiung, don't be afraid to say "Li ho!" (origin from:CNA)