God Bless Taiwan

Disaster Report of Taiwan Hit by Typhoon Morakot on 8 August 2009

The death toll from Typhoon Morakot in Taiwan could reach more than 500, Taiwan leader Ma Ying-jeou said today at an emergency meeting. Disaster-relief authorities said the death toll was 117 people at 10 am. Another 59 people are missing and 45 were injured, they said. In addition, latest reports say about 380 people are feared dead in a southern Taiwan village in the wake of the typhoon. The 380 people are from Kaohsiung's Hsiaolin village which was buried in mudslides on August 9.

Property losses caused by the typhoon so far total 50 billion New Taiwan Dollars (about 1.5 billion U.S. dollars). More than 7,000 people have been left homeless. Ma said Morakot was an even worse disaster than floods that killed more than 600 people in 1959, Ma urged the whole island to mobilize to contribute to disaster relief and reconstruction work in affected areas.


TV News report: falling of 6-storey hotel on 9 August 2009 at 1138hrs in Taiwan due to typhoon Morakot

Singapore Centre for Chinese Language

[新加坡华文教研中心]

The establishment of Singapore Centre for Chinese Language (SCCL) was announced by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong on 6 September 2008. This Centre was subsequently set up together by the National Institute of Education (NIE) and Ministry of Education (MOE). Located next to the MOE Language Centre at Ghim Moh Road, SCCL started its operation since January 2009 and has begun its in-service training courses on 1st June 2009.

Leveraging on Singapore’s unique bilingual environment for the teaching and learning of the Chinese Language (CL), this centre is established for the training and development of the current CL teachers. The Centre forcus to enhance the effectiveness of teaching Chinese as a second language in a bilingual environment and to meet the learning needs of students from non-Mandarin speaking homes.

SCCL is enhancing the teaching literacy, competency and professionalism of Chinese language teachers through the provision of quality training. It also strives to promote the development of Chinese culture and language in Singapore.

The Centre also conducts extensive researchs on innovative teaching and learning strategies, and through the promotion of effective Chinese language pedagogy in a bilingual environment, the Centre is looking forward to develop unique and effective teaching methods to strengthen the position of SCCL as the regional teaching and research centre for Chinese as a second language.

[SCCL Website] [Press Release by MOE]

新加坡华文教研中心由新加坡共和国总理李显龙准将于2008年9月6日宣布成立。教研中心成立的主要目的是为了加强双语环境下华文作为第二语言的教学成效，并满足华语为非主要家庭语言学生学习华文的需要。教研中心通过提供优质的培训课程，提升华文教师的教学素养、教学能力与专业水平，并尽力促进华族语言文化在新加坡的发展。教研中心也着重创新教学与学习策略的研究，致力在双语环境中推广行之有效的华文教学法，期望开拓出独特、有效的教学方式，以加强中心作为本区域华文第二语言教研中心的地位。教研中心已于2009年6月正式开课。

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