30 September 2017 - Ag Ku Afiq Ikhwan Bin Ag Jaafar (AA15164) represented Universiti Malaysia Pahang (UMP) in “The 4th Mandarin Singing Competition for Malaysia Non-Chinese Undergraduate Students” at Kong Zi Institute, University of Malaya.

The competition was organised by Kong Zi Institute, University of Malaya. The aim of the competition is to inspire non-Chinese students from Malaysian universities to learn Chinese and encourage them to learn Chinese by singing. After an intense online preliminaries match, a total of eighteen participants from eight universities (UITM, UNIKL, UPM, XMUM and UMP) were selected to participate in the final round of the singing competition.

All non-Chinese participants were required to sing a Mandarin song. Contestants were evaluated by three professional judges based on criteria such as vocal, stage performance, lyric pronunciation and the appearance.

Language teacher from Centre for Modern Languages & Human Sciences (CMLHS), Mdm Kang Mei Feng was appointed as trainer for the UMP candidate in this competition. Three non-Chinese students from UMP to participate in the online preliminary round, but only Ag Ku Afiq Ikhwan Bin Ag Jaafar (AA15164) was selected to compete in the final round. Ag Ku Afiq Ikhwan Bin Ag Jaafar was given the consolation prize in “The 4th Mandarin Singing Competition for Malaysia Non-Chinese Undergraduate Students.

Written by: Kang Mei Feng

20 September 2017 - Learning Mandarin through QR code application is a research product of Mandarin for All: Book 1 by Ms. Yong Ying Mei (Director of Mandarin Language and Culture Centre, MLCC) and Ms. Cheng Ching Yee (Mandarin language teacher). The book has been awarded the Gold Medal in Technical and Vocational Education Training (TVET) Exposition 2017 at Sports Complex, Universiti Malaysia Pahang (UMP).

TVET Exposition is a platform to showcase inventions and innovations starting from primary schools up to the tertiary level, such as universities, educational institutions, college, research institutions, polytechnics, MARA institutes, corporates, government bodies, primary & secondary schools, and individuals both local and overseas. TVET themes include green technology, energy conservation technology, digital technology, creative technology, education technology, automotive technology, mechanical technology, electrical &electronic technology and other vocational technology. The evaluation elements of TVET Exposition included originality of design, usability of invention, creation stage, commercial value and presentation.

Director of MLCC, Yong Ying Mei said that education technology is essential for language learning. The language learning through QR code turns out to be an on-the-spot learning strategy as it provides direct access to a website without time-lag. The convenience usage of learning Mandarin through QR code anywhere and anytime increases the interest of the students to continue learning the language. In addition, learning Mandarin through QR code for audio has proven its effectiveness in assisting students to practice and master the Mandarin language in a short term. Miss Yong also expressed her gratitude to Jessie Ooi, the research assistant who designed and build up the QR code website.

Prepared by: Yong Ying Mei