The College Entrance Examination Center (CEEC) yesterday announced it would launch an English listening proficiency test for high school students on a trial basis in the fall next year.
CEEC deputy director Hung Tung-kuei (洪冬桂) told a press conference at the center that the first test was scheduled to be held in September.
BI-ANNUAL
Under the plan, the 50-minute test would be held twice in a year — in April and September — in Taipei, Hsinchu, Greater Taichung and Greater Kao-hsiung, Hung said.
Students will be tested on picture interpretation, question-and-answer sections, short dialogues and listening comprehension of short articles, all of which will be sourced from current high school English curriculum guidelines, she said.
Students are not obliged to take the test for now, Hung said, adding that the test result can serve as a reference source for students’ college applications.
ELECTIVE COURSE
This will be the first time high school students in Taiwan are tested by a government-related organization on their English listening proficiency for college entrance purposes.
The government has been considering adding listening and speaking proficiency as thresholds for college entrance requirements.
Minister of Education Wu -Ching-ji (吳清基) has on a number of occasions expressed support for the idea, saying that high school students do not care about their English listening and speaking ability because the two categories have never been included in the official entrance examinations.
At present, test-takers are only examined on their reading, grammar and writing proficiency.
Mou Tsung-tsan (牟宗燦), director of the center, said the listening proficiency test could be included in the official college entrance examinations by 2014 at the earliest.
Considering that most countries issue more than five denominations of banknotes, the central bank has decided to redesign all five denominations, the bank said as it prepares for the first major overhaul of the banknotes in more than 24 years. Central bank Governor Yang Chin-lung (楊金龍) is expected to report to the Legislative Yuan today on the bank’s operations and the redesign’s progress. The bank in a report sent to the legislature ahead of today’s meeting said it had commissioned a survey on the public’s preferences. Survey results showed that NT$100 and NT$1,000 banknotes are the most commonly used, while NT$200 and NT$2,000
The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) yesterday reported the first case of a new COVID-19 subvariant — BA.3.2 — in a 10-year-old Singaporean girl who had a fever upon arrival in Taiwan and tested positive for the disease. The girl left Taiwan on March 20 and the case did not have a direct impact on the local community, it said. The WHO added the BA.3.2 strain to its list of Variants Under Monitoring in December last year, but this was the first imported case of the COVID-19 variant in Taiwan, CDC Deputy Director-General Lin Ming-cheng (林明誠) said. The girl arrived in Taiwan on
ANNUAL EVENT: Two massive Pokemon balloons are to be set up in Daan Park, with an event zone operating from 10am to 6pm This year’s Taipei Floral Picnic is to be held at Daan Park today and tomorrow, featuring an exclusive Pokemon Go event, a themed food market, a coffee rave picnic area and stage performances, the Taipei Department of Information and Tourism said yesterday. Two massive Pokemon balloons are to be set up in the park as attractions, with an exclusive event zone operating from 10am to 6pm, it said. Participants who complete designated tasks on-site would have a chance to receive limited-edition souvenirs, it added. People could also try the newly launched game Pokemon Pokopia in the trial area, the department said. Three PokeStops are
South Korea is planning to revise its controversial electronic arrival card, a step Taiwanese officials said prompted them to hold off on planned retaliatory measures, a South Korean media report said yesterday. A Yonhap News Agency report said that the South Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs is planning to remove the “previous departure place” and “next destination” fields from its e-arrival card system. The plan, reached after interagency consultations, is under review and aims to simplify entry procedures and align the electronic form with the paper version, a South Korean ministry official said. The fields — which appeared only on the electronic form
RSS