A group of eleven students at Sir Arthur Lewis Community College (SALCC) is now pursuing a course in Mandarin, with the hope that learning the foreign language betters their chances of gaining scholarships.
The students signed up for the Functional Mandarin 101 Course, which aims to help learners with no prior Mandarin background acquire basic Mandarin skills for regular verbal communication.
The class is facilitated by Mr. Andres Chi, a Mandarin teacher from Taiwan who is based at the Taiwan Technical Mission (TTM) in Saint Lucia. Mr. Chi uses various methods – including listening exercises, dialogue practice, group discussions, role-play, and problem-solving – to engage the students in Mandarin. Through the exercises, the students improve in the following areas: vocabulary, grammar knowledge, and speaking confidence.
The students, who enrolled in the Functional Mandarin 101 course this semester, are mostly interested in securing scholarships to study in Taiwan. By taking the course, they also hope to acquire enough knowledge about the language to pass the Mandarin proficiency test (TOCFL) in the new year.
On Tuesday, December 12, 2023, the students had their final presentation for the semester. They were encouraged to express and introduce themselves in Mandarin. The students also engaged in role-play, using a script they wrote.
“In general, the students showed enthusiasm and interest in the course,” said Mr. Chi. “As the course is composed of many interesting linguistic tasks for them to complete and solve, they found it challenging and amusing at the same time in learning the process.”
Mandarin is the official language in Taiwan, but it is more than a language, as it also opens the door to a huge job market in all of the countries where Mandarin is the language used in commerce.