On May 21, 22, 28, and 29, Asia University Indonesia Surabaya Taiwan Education Center held the 9th online Mandarin Teacher Training. A total of 145 Mandarin teachers in Indonesia participated in the training.
Ying-Huei Chen, Dean of International College Asia University, said that Mandarin Teacher Training is one of TECSID's main annual agendas, which is held in May and November every year. The event was opened by William C. Jiang, Deputy Director of TETO Surabaya, praising TECSID for having experience in conducting teacher training in terms of designing materials and selecting presenters that suit the needs of Mandarin teachers in Indonesia today. In his speech, Imam Haryawan, Ph.D., Director of the International Affairs Office of Universitas Airlangga, said that it is an honor to be a partner of Asia University. Asia University is a key sister school for Universitas Airlangga.
One of the instructors, Ling-Chun Liu, Director of Marketing and Operations of SC-TOP TOCFL, introduced the Test of Chinese as a Foreign Language and test preparation to teacher participants. Yu-Ming Chen, a lecturer from National Tsinghua University, who was invited to become an instructor again, said that this year's training was very well structured, according to the needs of teachers in Indonesia. Lecturers prepare lessons carefully, teacher participants learn enthusiastically, and staffs are always ready to help for the smooth running of the training. Even though it was a full day of intensive training, he was deeply touched by the teachers' active participation and took advantage of every learning opportunity. Ping-Wei Fang, a lecturer from the National Kaohsiung University of Hospitality and Tourism (NKHUT) who was invited as an instructor for the first time, said this training was an excellent experience. She was able to know the needs of the participants in advance. She was delighted to bring the methods and attractive digital learning presentations to teachers.
The closing ceremony of the training invited participants to share their learning experiences. Elisa Endang from Surabaya has attended this training eight times. She described learning Mandarin as a process of falling in love. She believes that they can be willing to learn Mandarin only when participants fall in love with it. She is very grateful to have learned the many "secrets of love" from each study session, which makes the class interactive and fun as she teaches the participants. Felita from Sidoarjo said, "I am delighted to have this valuable opportunity to learn from experienced professional instructors. I learned a lot from this training, especially in teaching. I get a lot of inspiration from how to design diverse teaching content, how to be an effective teaching method, and even how to make excellent and beautiful teaching aids.
Participants filled out a questionnaire of suggestions and criticisms for this training. Participants stated that the instructors were very good, and the training content was diverse and practical, which helped improve teaching skills, and should be shared with teachers who did not know it.
Dean Chen said that Asia University has always provided the best and unrelenting service, handling various academic and cultural exchanges and cooperation between Taiwan and Indonesia, such as the Taiwan-Indonesia Higher Education Forum, Higher Education Exhibition, etc. Moreover, high-quality Mandarin teacher training is important to Taiwan's higher education.
William C. Jiang Deputy Director of TETO Surabaya
Dr. Imam Haryawan, Director of Airlangga Global Engagement Universitas Airlangga
Group photo at the training opening ceremony
