The Ministry of Education on Friday encouraged people with Mandarin competency who are interested in teaching the language in foreign countries to sign up for the certification test it is to conduct in July and to become part of a “goodwill ambassador team” to promote Taiwan’s culture and language worldwide.
“The Certification Examination for Proficiency in Teaching Chinese as a Second/Foreign Language” is to take place on July 27 and 28, the ministry said in a news release.
The ministry each year on average picks 300 people among the exam takers, along with about 100 teaching assistants, to go to one of more than 20 countries in North America, Europe, Southeast Asia and Northeast Asia for Mandarin teaching jobs.
Photo: Rachel Lin, Taipei Times
This year’s exam is conducted by National Taiwan University (NTU) and it is open for online registration from May 15 to 31, the ministry said.
To apply for the test, people must fill in all the required personal information and send a printout to NTU Office of Academic Affairs Graduate Academic Affairs Division, it said.
The exam would include a section testing English skills.
Results of the test are valid for three years, which means those who get a passing grade this year would need to retake the test from the end of 2027, the ministry said.
Validity period of the tests taken in 2020 and 2021 were extended to the end of 2025, as they were conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic, it said.
Mandarin teachers overseas are also expected to contribute to Taiwan’s international cooperation programs and promote the nation’s culture to foreigners, the ministry said.
Those who would like to take the test can apply for it at: https://gra103.aca.ntu.edu.tw/cpt/apply/.
An undersea cable to Penghu County has been severed, the Ministry of Digital Affairs said today, with a Chinese-funded ship suspected of being responsible. It comes just a month after a Chinese ship was suspected of severing an undersea cable north of Keelung Harbor. The National Communications and Cyber Security Center received a report at 3:03am today from Chunghwa Telecom that the No. 3 cable from Taiwan to Penghu was severed 14.7km off the coast of Tainan, the Ministry of Digital Affairs said. The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) upon receiving a report from Chunghwa Telecom began to monitor the Togolese-flagged Hong Tai (宏泰)
A cat named Mikan (蜜柑) has brought in revenue of more than NT$10 million (US$305,390) for the Kaohsiung MRT last year. Mikan, born on April 4, 2020, was a stray cat before being adopted by personnel of Kaohsiung MRT’s Ciaotou Sugar Refinery Station. Mikan was named after a Japanese term for mandarin orange due to his color and because he looks like an orange when curled up. He was named “station master” of Ciaotou Sugar Refinery Station in September 2020, and has since become famous. With Kaohsiung MRT’s branding, along with the release of a set of cultural and creative products, station master Mikan
Actor Lee Wei (李威) was released on bail on Monday after being named as a suspect in the death of a woman whose body was found in the meeting place of a Buddhist group in Taipei’s Daan District (大安) last year, prosecutors said. Lee, 44, was released on NT$300,000 (US$9,148) bail, while his wife, surnamed Chien (簡), was released on NT$150,000 bail after both were summoned to give statements regarding the woman’s death. The home of Lee, who has retreated from the entertainment business in the past few years, was also searched by prosecutors and police earlier on Monday. Lee was questioned three
RISING TOURISM: A survey showed that tourist visits increased by 35 percent last year, while newly created attractions contributed almost half of the growth Changhua County’s Lukang Old Street (鹿港老街) and its surrounding historical area clinched first place among Taiwan’s most successful tourist attractions last year, while no location in eastern Taiwan achieved a spot in the top 20 list, the Tourism Administration said. The listing was created by the Tourism Administration’s Forward-looking Tourism Policy Research office. Last year, the Lukang Old Street and its surrounding area had 17.3 million visitors, more than the 16 million visitors for the Wenhua Road Night Market (文化路夜市) in Chiayi City and 14.5 million visitors at Tainan’s Anping (安平) historical area, it said. The Taipei 101 skyscraper and its environs —
RSS