Our Story
Our Story
The National Taitung University Humanities School set up the Language Center to build language teaching resources, offer specific language skill training and improve school students' overall language abilities, with a long-term goal of reaching international level proficiency.
The Centre was established on October 2, 2006, with the Chinese and foreign language sections to respectively handle Mandarin and other language training courses. Their mandate is as follows:
(1) to assist with university-wide English, Chinese and other language teaching and training activities and operations.
(2) to promote language teaching and learning, to offer language training courses, and to assist or be commissioned by various organizations to create language training or learning programs or courses.
(3) to conduct TOEIC, GEPT and TOEFL testing services as well as provide Minnan, Hakka and aboriginal language testing services for NTTU students and residents of Taitung County.
(4) to provide Chinese language courses to exchange students at NTTU as well as expatriates in Taitung County.
To achieve these goals the two sections completed several projects during the first few years. In March 2007, the Chinese language section gave their first Mandarin Course. From September 2007 to July 2010, we offered trainee teachers at the Department of Chinese Language and Literature Education an opportunity to teach international exchange students.
The Foreign language section, on the other hand, successfully completed their first English Camp in the summer of 2006. The camp was organized by English department instructor Jeff Bachiu, who teamed up with English department students and English language teachers in the community. More than 50 students along with the teachers and assistants experienced the natural beauty of Taitung while learning typical, everyday English dialogues in an exclusively English-speaking environment. The university campus, Zhiben forest park, the Puyuma cultural park, the waterfront park and lake Biwa were woven together to make for a memorable language learning experience.
The Center then underwent some transformation. After budget cuts to the department, the original Chinese language section took on additional duties starting in August 2010. Despite the lack of manpower, the Center is still being well-run. The office has moved to a bigger room and is now located on the first floor of the Language and Education Building on Taitung Campus with three classrooms sorted alphabetically by name: Acorn, Breeze and Coral. The Center plans to develop further and continues to advocate for additional classroom capacity.
Because the Language Center is responsible for planning Mandarin courses and providing Taiwan scholarships, we have many different visitors to our office, including full-time students, residents of Taitung County and foreign exchange students. If you have a chance to see our foreign visitors, please welcome and greet them enthusiastically! They would certainly appreciate opportunities to practice their Mandarin speaking.
With the total population of language students and city residents being much less than that of other cities, to accommodate the learners’ needs the language center started offering small group classes in September 2011.
The small group class (one-to-one or two-to-one classes) is very flexible and depending on the teacher and students’ schedules, can start at any time.
The Center also offers a language exchange program. Anyone who is interested in finding a partner to learn a new language and gain a deeper understanding of its culture can apply for this program. For a minimal fee we can provide classrooms and teaching equipment.
If you are interested in any of our courses please check them out on our website or come by the office! We look forward to having you join us!
