On 8th November, Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Australia and the ACT Government Education Directorate co-hosted the 2019 Mandarin Presentation Contest Awards Ceremony at the Hedley Beare Centre for Teaching and Learning in Canberra. The ceremony was participated by above 160 students, teachers and school executives, where 1 university and 11 schools’ Mandarin teachers and students were awarded with certificate of excellence to highlight their achievement to Mandarin learning.
This year, there were 1,134 students of all school levels who registered to participate in the contest. Some 81 winners were nominated from one university and 11 schools, including Mulwaree High School from Goulburn NSW joining ACT schools for the second time.
Presenting the awards ceremony this year were Mr Ken Wei-Chung Lai, Deputy Representative of Taiwan in Australia, and Mr Ross Hawkins, Executive Group Manager Service Design and Delivery of the ACT Education Directorate. Mr Hawkins expressed his gratitude toward the long standing relationship with the Ministry of Education on enhancing resources of Chinese language learning and teaching in the ACT.
Executive Director Dr Aaron Chen on behalf of the Ministry of Education congratulated the winner students as well as the teachers for their dedication taking part in the ceremony. Yet, he encouraged students to take on the generous scholarships offered by the Ministry: Taiwan Scholarship and Huayu Enrichment Scholarship to study in Taiwan.
The ceremony was concluded with 13 showcases designed by Mandarin learning students supervised by Mandarin teachers. The highlights of which showed the students capability to engage in a broad range of language knowledge with creativity. Highlights included:
- Dickson College students Emily Gilding and Cathy Lin took on the role as the master of ceremonies; their well-prepared and confidence kept the program schedule flow smoothly;
- Mawson Primary School Year 5/6 students performed a play “Dragon Boat Festival” to introduce how Chinese commemorate the patriotic poet Qu Yuan;
- Telopea Park School newly established Chinese language program led by Chinese teacher Ms Siew Lim to attend the ceremony for the very first time; and
- ANU student Elijah Buchli gave an inspirational presentation demonstrated his belief that before learning Chinese, students should focus on How to learn Chinese with the assistance of revolutionary applications.
Group photo of the 2019 ACT Mandarin Presentation Contest Awards Ceremony held in Canberra