Rebecca Lan, Director of the Education Division of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office (TECO) in Los Angeles spent the weekend with the Taiwan Tourism Bureau at the Taiwan Booth at the annual Los Angeles Travel & Adventure Show at the Los Angeles Convention Center February 15–16. She took advantage of this ideal opportunity to promote Taiwan as a perfect study destination for learning Mandarin Chinese: learners can boost their language skills and experience some of Taiwan’s beauty and cultural life at the same time.

Another option for learning Mandarin Chinese offers some similar features closer to home. In the last two years, the Ministry of Education of Taiwan worked with National Taiwan University to develop two online Chinese courses: Learning Chinese: Start from Scratch, an introductory level course, and Who is Speaking: The Lovely Taiwan, an intermediate level course. Both incorporate some of Taiwan’s beautiful natural scenery and culture, and game components into the lessons to enhance learners’ interest and enjoyment. The courses are fully online, free of charge on Coursera, so why not try them out?   

As well as promoting Chinese language learning, the Education Division also works with several mainstream universities and schools, and Chinese schools to conduct the Test of Chinese as a Foreign Language (TOCFL). TOCFL is Taiwan’s Chinese language proficiency test. TOCFL is widely recognized across corporate and government sectors as a reliable language proficiency credential, and it’s also a requirement for students applying for many scholarships or degree programs in Taiwan.

You can check out the webpage at http://www.tw.org/tocfl/ for more information about TOCFL Tests were scheduled to be held at Chapman University on April 10, the University of California at Santa Barbara on April 18, and Pasadena City College on April 25, but the corona virus pandemic will almost certainly prevents this. If so, there’ll definitely be regular opportunities, so in the meantime, please follow all the health recommendations and stay healthy.