The Confucius Institute Metropolis Ruhr Successfully Holds the New Chinese Proficiency Test and the Youth Chinese Test

On October 23 and November 12, 2011, the Confucius Institute Metropolis Ruhr succeessfuly held the New Chinese Proficiency Test and the Youth Chinese Test, respectively. These were the Confucius Institute's last two exam sessions scheduled for the year, and saw the participation of more than 70 students from the Ruhr Region in the seperate written and oral examinations. The total number of examinees taking the Chinese Proficiency Test at the Confucius Institute Metropolis Ruhr reached 156 people this year.

Despite being the first time for the Confucius Institute Metropolis Ruhr to hold the oral examination, all of the test proceedings went smoothly and were a complete success. Due to the addition of the oral exam in this test session, officials at the Confucius Institute took the event especially seriously, and they made meticulous preparations.

In order to enhance the quality of examination management of testing administration officials, ensure a precise and smooth testing process, the Confucius Institute convened a special conference on test administration, providing training for relevant personnel. It requires all examiners and proctors to understand his or her own tasks and responsibilities, and to become familiar with testing procedures and the operation of relevant technology. If an examiner or proctor for some reason could not attend the conference, various methods were adopted to provide guidance and make sure that no one is left out. Before test day, the Confucius Institute bought four sets of voice recording pens and performed numerous hardware tests. Director of the Confucius Institute Prof. Xu Kuanhua and Managing Director Dr. Senz personally came to the testing venue to administer each oral testing room.

The majority of examinees taking the Youth Chinese Test were elementary and middle school students, some only seven years old. The Confucius Institute was worried that they would be nervous while using the voice recorders and unable to speak, developing a dislike for the exam. In order to save time for the most of students before the exam, before the official start of the oral examination, Director Xu Kuanhua patiently explained all of the testing rules and relevant procedures to the students in the local language. At the same time, he also answered students' questions regarding the different types of questions of the oral examination, which helped reduce students' test anxiety. Since the students were made clear on the testing procedures, the testing process went extremely smoothly, feedback from examinees was positive, and caused examinees to become more active in studying Chinese and taking Chinese tests.

The Confucius Institute was meticulous throughout the arrangements and work of organizing the test, which was praised by relevant schools and numerous parents. After seeing the children's relaxed expression and positive responses after finishing the exam, they were delighted and stated that they would organize higher level examinations for the students next year.