In 2023, the open day of Taiwan Center for Mandarin Learning in Ireland was held on February 5th, sponsored by the Overseas Community Affairs Council (OCAC), at the Masonry which is the Dublin classroom of Taiwan Center for Mandarin Learning in Ireland. It was the period of the Lantern Festival, several activities about the Spring Festival were held to let potential learners experience traditional culture.
The event was kicked off by Evan Furlong, OCAC advisor and Director of the TCML Ireland, who introduced the center and the textbook and workbook "Let’s Learn Mandarin" 1 and 2, curriculum planning and expected goals. Furlong said that people generally feel it is difficult to learn Mandarin, but she used photos and puns to help everyone learn to recognize and read more than 30 Mandarin characters and phrases in just a few minutes and the participants could play a competition game.
Syue-Ping Ma, an instructor from TCML Ireland, demonstrated calligraphy. By writing Spring Festival couplets and reading the auspicious words on the Spring Festival couplets themselves, they immersed themselves in the festive atmosphere of the Lunar New Year and felt the joy of traditional culture.
Furlong introduce the origin of the Lantern Festival, supplemented by guessing lantern riddles and money games that have been popular for two years (using NT$1,000 toy banknotes), then the participants immersed themselves in the excitement festive atmosphere of the Lunar New Year with fun and laughs.
To continue the celebration of World Bubble Tea Day, bubble tea and various refreshments were provided to let the participants experience Taiwanese culture, then the event ended with laughter.
