A group of Malaysian education officials was in Taipei on Monday on an exchange program organized by the Ministry of Education (MOE) aimed at promoting greater cooperation on Chinese language instruction and expose them to language classes.The ministry is hoping to use the program to continue expanding cooperation with Malaysia in the field of Chinese language teaching, certification, and teaching material development, it said.Another key goal is to attract more Malaysian students to study in Taiwan and encourage Malaysians to recruit Taiwanese to teach Chinese in schools in the southeast Asian country.Speaking at the opening of the 2019 Malaysia Mandarin Training Program at National Taipei University of Education, MOE official Huang Wei-yu (黃薳玉) called Taiwan an ideal place for learning traditional Chinese characters because people get to connect with traditional Chinese culture in a free and democratic society.Taiwan currently has 60 Mandarin learning centers, and several of them also provide language proficiency tests for foreign nationals, said Huang, who is with the MOE's Department of International and Cross-strait Education.Huang expected that Taiwan's curriculum, faculty and teaching materials would be able to meet all of the Chinese-language education needs of Malaysia.The 13 officials, invited by the MOE, are currently in Taiwan on a week-long visit, where they also plan to visit the Wenshan School of Special Education, Jinwen University of Science & Technology, Yangmingshan National Park, and National Palace Museum.According to an MOE statement, there were 16,717 Malaysian students studying in universities or colleges in Taiwan in 2018.(origin from:CNA)

Have you ever felt unable to express yourself when visiting another country? Is Chinese really the most difficult language in the world? The Chinese language centers in Taiwan’s universities are working together with the tourism industry to offer visitors to Taiwan something new! Taiwan is a beautiful island in the west Pacific, with an abundance of natural scenery, local snacks that are renowned near and far, and sophisticated culture. Whether or not you’ve heard about Taiwan, and even if you know something about this fascinating place, a visit to Taiwan will definitely be unforgettable. Many university Chinese language centers and the tourism industry have recently created innovative tours that combine experiencing local culture with some language learning and let overseas visitors enjoy a trip to Taiwan that’s more than just sightseeing. The tours are designed to help visitors experience distinctive aspects of the local culture more intensely, from enjoying delicious foods to visiting historic sites, and make them want to linger longer. Here are just some examples; Tours in northern Taiwan:  Tamkang University’s Chinese Language Center offers a culinary tour. Participants buy ingredients in a traditional market guided by a professional Chinese teacher, and then cook them. The learning activities integrate [experiencing] the real local living environment. From cooking to enjoying popular snacks at the night markets, you can genuinely experience the tastes of Taiwan! The Mandarin Learning Center at Chung Yuan Christian University offers four quite different tours. One is for people who love visiting historical sites; one features exploring the aesthetics of modern and historical buildings; one features experiencing indigenous people’s culture; and another features characteristic local cultural celebrations, such as dragon boat rowing. Whether visitors love natural scenery or distinctive local culture, these interesting tours all offer experiences they’ll enjoy. Tours in southern and central Taiwan: Would you like to personally experience a creative cultural locality and Feng Chia night market, a popular tourist attraction? Feng Chia University’s Chinese Language Center combines Chinese language education with themed cultural tours. You start by learning something about where you’ll be going and some basic related Chinese, and you then enjoy different tours where you can put what you’ve been learning to practical use in real life settings. The Chinese Language Center at Wenzao Ursuline University of Languages has a strong focus on combining Chinese language courses with trips to enjoy Taiwan’s fine foods. Its Fo Guang Shan purification trip features a visit to the Fo Guang Shan Buddha Museum, a building that combines Chinese and foreign, traditional and modern architectural elements, where you can enjoy vegetarian food in this tranquil religious setting, with a peaceful mind. Another trip looks at Hakka culture and Hakka foods, and the participants can cook and eat some On this trip, the Hakka architecture and natural wetland scenery offer a feast for the eyes, to accompany the taste treats. And Taiwan is surrounded by ocean and there’s an abundance of fresh seafood, so if you’re a food lover who wants to try all sorts of foods that Taiwan has to offer, this is the tour for you!   If you want a trip that will make a deep impression on you and leave you with lifelong memories, why not try a tour that combines language learning with hands-on local experience. This is immensely more satisfying than a short sightseeing tour , and you’ll learn to speak some of the language used by 1.2 billion of the world’s people. To find out more about the tour courses outlined above, and for Mandarin education-related information, please visit the website of the Office of Global Mandarin Education: https://ogme.edu.tw/Home/tw and https://ogme.edu.tw/ Have you ever felt unable to express yourself when visiting another country? Is Chinese really the most difficult language in the world? The Chinese language centers in Taiwan’s universities are working together with the tourism industry to offer visitors to Taiwan something new! Taiwan is a beautiful island in the west Pacific, with an abundance of natural scenery, local snacks that are renowned near and far, and sophisticated culture. Whether or not you’ve heard about Taiwan, and even if you know something about this fascinating place, a visit to Taiwan will definitely be unforgettable. Many university Chinese language centers and the tourism industry have recently created innovative tours that combine experiencing local culture with some language learning and let overseas visitors enjoy a trip to Taiwan that’s more than just sightseeing. The tours are designed to help visitors experience distinctive aspects of the local culture more intensely, from enjoying delicious foods to visiting historic sites, and make them want to linger longer. Here are just some examples; Tours in northern Taiwan:  Tamkang University’s Chinese Language Center offers a culinary tour. Participants buy ingredients in a traditional market guided by a professional Chinese teacher, and then cook them. The learning activities integrate [experiencing] the real local living environment. From cooking to enjoying popular snacks at the night markets, you can genuinely experience the tastes of Taiwan! The Mandarin Learning Center at Chung Yuan Christian University offers four quite different tours. One is for people who love visiting historical sites; one features exploring the aesthetics of modern and historical buildings; one features experiencing indigenous people’s culture; and another features characteristic local cultural celebrations, such as dragon boat rowing. Whether visitors love natural scenery or distinctive local culture, these interesting tours all offer experiences they’ll enjoy. Tours in southern and central Taiwan: Would you like to personally experience a creative cultural locality and Feng Chia night market, a popular tourist attraction? Feng Chia University’s Chinese Language Center combines Chinese language education with themed cultural tours. You start by learning something about where you’ll be going and some basic related Chinese, and you then enjoy different tours where you can put what you’ve been learning to practical use in real life settings. The Chinese Language Center at Wenzao Ursuline University of Languages has a strong focus on combining Chinese language courses with trips to enjoy Taiwan’s fine foods. Its Fo Guang Shan purification trip features a visit to the Fo Guang Shan Buddha Museum, a building that combines Chinese and foreign, traditional and modern architectural elements, where you can enjoy vegetarian food in this tranquil religious setting, with a peaceful mind. Another trip looks at Hakka culture and Hakka foods, and the participants can cook and eat some On this trip, the Hakka architecture and natural wetland scenery offer a feast for the eyes, to accompany the taste treats. And Taiwan is surrounded by ocean and there’s an abundance of fresh seafood, so if you’re a food lover who wants to try all sorts of foods that Taiwan has to offer, this is the tour for you!   If you want a trip that will make a deep impression on you and leave you with lifelong memories, why not try a tour that combines language learning with hands-on local experience. This is immensely more satisfying than a short sightseeing tour , and you’ll learn to speak some of the language used by 1.2 billion of the world’s people. To find out more about the tour courses outlined above, and for Mandarin education-related information, please visit the website of the Office of Global Mandarin Education: https://ogme.edu.tw/Home/tw and https://ogme.edu.tw/

A great annual event of the Chinese education - ACTFL (American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages) has been held on November 16th to 18th at New Orleans Ernest N. Morial Convention Center. Office of Global Mandarin Education established by the Ministry of Education organized the exhibition space for the Taiwan pavilion. The pavilion was joined by 10 Mandarin educational institutes and units including “Steering Committee for the Test of Huayu Proficiency”, “Hanzi Face Cultural Group Limited”, “International Chinese Language Program of National Taiwan University”, Mandarin Training Center of National Taiwan Normal University, Chinese Language Center of National Cheng Kung University, Mandarin Learning Center for Adults of Tamkang University, Wenzao Chinese Language Center of Wenzao Ursuline University of Languages, Feng Chia University Chinese Language Center, Center of Chinese Language and Culture, Fu Jen Catholic University, and Mandarin Learning Center of Chung Yuan Christian University. We took the learning experience of “Mandarin in Taiwan” to the global spotlight.The exhibition promoted culture in a lively way by arranging Chinese staff who wore traditional Chinese costumes to invite foreigners of non-Chinese origin to learn about the special characteristics in Mandarin. Activities like Happy Hour were introduced to attract more Mandarin educators understanding Taiwanese Mandarin. Application policies were also being explained at the exhibition. Many interactions focused on Taiwanese and American way of Mandarin education, bringing up a lot of intriguing discussions that show the uniqueness of Taiwanese Mandarin.   The exhibition arranged many activities such as Taiwan pavilion policy introduction and Q&A with prizes, handmade mini sky lantern, and offering prizes for gathering points from individual booths. These activities offered opportunities for the Mandarin educational institutes to share their experience in Mandarin teaching to visitors, show the excellent courses available in Taiwan for Mandarin education, qualified teachers, resources, etc. These discussions might have triggered related cooperation opportunities. In order to establish a communication and relationship between Taiwanese Mandarin educational institute and overseas educational institute, an oration with dining event has been joined by Chen Chia-yen, Director of Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Houston and his team, held by the National Chinese Language and Culture Coalition (NCLCC). The event intended to improve communication between the institutes. The ACTFL Association of Chinese Schools president has been invited by Vice President Yeh Chin-huei of the Chinese Language Association of Secondary-Elementary Schools (CLASS) to join the dining held by CLASS. The meeting with CLASS presidents of various associations, NCLCC association representative, ACTFL director, and other educational institute representatives established a successful communication between researchers in Mandarin educational organizations of Taiwan and the United States, and improved the knowledge of the global market in understanding the current market and resources available in Taiwanese Mandarin education. Taiwan has joined ACTFL for many years. With the rich experience we have, we found that every year the mainstream schools and language institutes in the United States contact us through this platform to establish a cooperative relationship with Taiwan educational institutes. The theme for 2018 was “Where Language Educators Meet”. Taiwan representatives took this opportunity to promote the excellence in Taiwanese Mandarin education along with over 8,000 educators, over 800 types of educational courses, over 250 language related product manufacturers. The exhibition was heated up by the lively sales activities that highlighted Taiwan. The reputation of Taiwanese Mandarin education has been improved and expected to further develop, being promoted to the rest of the world and create more cooperative opportunities.

In order to encourage high school graduates to listen, speak, read, and write in languages other than English, the United States introduced “The Seal of Biliteracy” to high school students, which fulfilled the requirement in a few states. The award is a recognition in learning and capable of using a second language other than English. This is especially useful for the students applying for university or seeking job opportunities in the future. The State Seal of Biliteracy, also known as SSB, was first introduced by the California Department of Education in the 815 Assembly Bill and passed by the legislative counsel in 2011. The bill has been approved by the governor as an instructional program in California Education Code sections 51460-51464. The bill has been revised in 2017 according to AB 1142, and has been effective since January 1st, 2018. California has received the highest number of awards from the United States Department of Education in 2016 and considered as the leader of encouraging multi-language education in the country. Today, over 27 states including Washington DC has joined the program after California. In 2017, the California Department of Education started to use vertical analysis to collect student academic performance data for SSB. Educational institutes (LEA, including public schools, private schools, or charter schools, etc) may use choose to use these data as an index for them to enter universities or make progress in career. The purpose of SSB is to encourage students in learning different languages, for employers to easily determine their multicultural capability, increase team relationship, as recognition of magnitude and respect to multicultural community and language. The State Seal of Biliteracy is granted by the Superintendent of the California Department of Education according to the standard listed in the legislation. When the plan was first introduced in 2012, 10,685 students had received SSB in the first year. In 2017, 46,090 students have been awarded the SSB. The number of students received SSB has grown four times since the SSB seal certified by the California Department of Education has been applied to the high school transcript.   Although the educational institutes willingly participate in the SSB scheme, being able to speak multiple languages has always been a respected skill. While globalization causes great influence in the world, the bilingual ability has become an important skill in seeking employment opportunities. Regarding standard requirement in SSB please visit the website of the California Department of Education for more details. www.cde.ca.gov/sp/el/er/sealofbiliteracy.asp Source: Ministry of Education Epaper  

The National Academy for Educational Research (a.k.a. NAER) applied “Establishment of Sinica Corpus and standard system” of the Hanyu Eight years plan in 2013. Starting from 2014, the Sinica Corpus database has been kept updated, along with the addition of new researches in Huayu ability standard, Chinese characters, terms, and grammar standard. In order to share the fruit of our project, NAER organized the event “2019 Sinica Corpus and standard system application workshop” on April 26th (Friday) at Taipei Hospital 11F Great Hall. Click here to apply.  https://goo.gl/5Sr5n8   08:30-09:00 Report for the morning session 09:00-09:10 Opening Ceremony 09:10-10:40 Workshop basic lecture (1) Speaker: Pai ming-hung assistant researcher 10:50-12:20 Workshop basic lecture (2) Speaker: Wu chien-cheng assistant researcher 13:30-14:00 Report for the afternoon session 14:00-14:50 Workshop advanced lecture (1) Speaker: Pai ming-hung assistant researcher 15:00-15:50 Workshop advanced lecture (2) Speaker: Wu chien-cheng assistant researcher 15:50-16:30 Comprehensive forum and Closing Ceremony

Ever have a problem because of language barriers when you visit other countries? Is Chinese the most difficult language in the world? The Chinese language centers in Taiwan’s universities are cooperating with the tour industry to offer a new choice for visitors to Taiwan! Taiwan is a beautiful island in the far west of the Pacific, where tourists would be interested in the natural scenery, renowned local snacks, and sophisticated cultural background. No matter whether or not you have heard of, or even know about this place, visiting once will be enough to leave you with an unforgettable memory in life. Recently, many Chinese language centers in universities have been cooperating with the tour industry by introducing custom tours that combine the local cultural experience and language learning. Foreign visitors may enjoy the trip to Taiwan and naturally speak for themselves. From delicious food to historic sites, visitors can now experience the culture inside out. For example, Tamkang University Chinese Center offers a culinary tour. With the guidance of a professional Chinese instructor, the visitors can buy ingredients in a traditional market and cook for themselves. Visitors learn how to actually get involved in the actual living environment by experiencing making self-cooked meals to eating night market food. Experience with real local Taiwanese taste! Chung Yuan Christian University Chinese language center introduces four sets of itineraries, including historical site tours, aesthetics in modern and historical structures, native tribe cultural experience, and other special cultural ceremonies such as dragon boat paddling. Whether or not you love the natural scenery or special local culture, visitors will be satisfied with the intriguing arrangement. Now we take a look at the South Central part of Taiwan. If you want to experience the cultural creative base and Fengjia night market, join the tour offered by the Feng Chia University Chinese language center that combines themed cultural tour and Chinese language education. The visitors will first be taught with the basics and related words, and they will be able to apply what they learned on different tours and situations. Wenzao Ursuline University mainly focuses on combining the Chinese language course with Taiwanese local food. Taiwan is surrounded by the ocean with very rich and fresh seafood. The Fo Guang Shan purification trip takes you to the Buddha memorial hall that combines Asian and foreign cultures in its traditional but modern architecture. Enjoy the vegetarian food in religious tranquility with a peaceful mind. We also look at the Hakka culture and local food where people cook for themselves. The Hakka architecture and natural scenery of wetland offer great food and nice views. You don’t want to miss this if you are a food-lover who wants to try all sorts of different food while in Taiwan. If you want to make lifelong memories for your visit, try the combined learning and local experience tour program. Sightseeing will no longer be a browse-and-leave tour, and you can learn to speak a few sentences of the language that 1.2 billion of the population on earth is using. Other than learning Chinese while visiting Taiwan, the Ministry of Education officially cooperates with universities in training Chinese educators. They also connect with overseas universities and academies to recommend excellent Chinese educators teaching in the overseas campus. People living overseas may have the opportunity to learn Chinese with Taiwanese culture without leaving their country. To know more about the above tour courses and Mandarin education-related information please visit the website. https://ogme.edu.tw/