Both Taiwan Center for Mandarin Learning (TCML) in New Jersey- Murray Hill and Princeton Chinese Schools (PCLS) held an End of Year Presentation together at Murray Hill Chinese School (MHCS) on December 18th. Many delicious Taiwanese snacks and food were prepared, and people felt the strong taste of their Taiwanese hometowns. The adult students of the TCML used daily conversations in the Taiwanese restaurant and puppet shows to show their three-month learning achievements and won the warm applause and encouragement of VIPs and their families. Finally, with everyone singing the wonderful Taiwanese song "The Moon Represents My Heart", the End of Year presentation came to a warm and successful conclusion.
The Director of Culture Center of Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in New York (TECO-NY), Forrest Chen, chairman of the Association of New Jersey Chinese Schools (ANJCS), Nelson Tai and vice president of the National Council of Associations of Chinese Language Schools (NCACLS), Cindy Chiang were all invited to attend. Forrest Chen said that Murray Hill and Princeton were the first TCML into operation this year. Next year, there will be six TCMLs in the Greater New York area, where every center can exchange their own experiences and learn from each other.
Director of MHCS-TCML, Jessica Lee, gave a detailed introduction of MHCS-TCML’s history, vision and mission, as well as TCML's course introduction, marketing strategy and enrollment promotion, and excellent teachers and administrative team. Director of the PCLS-TCML Justine Hsieh also reported on the allocation of teachers and the teaching mode, reviewed the difficulties since its establishment, and the long-term plan for the future. Participants all expressed the interests in their useful experience and they have benefited a lot.
Then, the students under the guidance of Ms. Winny Su, held the " Murray Hill Taiwanese Restaurant" menu. Some played the role of the waiter, and some played the guests. They began to perform in Mandarin to order food in the restaurant. The interesting dialogue made the audience laugh. It showed the learning results of this semester successfully. The students under the guidance of Ms. Vicky Chang adapted the story of the Pili puppet show. The descendants of Shi Yanwen and Su Huanzhen came to the United States and had a humorous dialogue. It successfully added elements of Taiwanese culture.
Three newly established TCMLs in 2022, including Jersey Shore Chinese School, Northern New Jersey Chinese Association, and Mid-Hudson Chinese Language Center, came to this End of Year Presentation to learn the experience. They would like to develop into a local Mandarin learning center for 18-year-old adult and promote Mandarin teaching with Taiwanese characteristics. We hope more people will sign up to learn Mandarin and get to know more about Taiwan.
