Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences (FAS) Bachelor of Social Science (Hons) Psychology alumna Faiezah binti Ahmad Fauzi shared her insight and experience of teaching the Mandarin language.

Faiezah who is from Johor Bahru stated that she started learning the Mandarin language at the age of three. She said, “My parents sent me to learn the Mandarin language in the Chinese school because they wanted me to be able to communicate in the Mandarin language and become a businesswoman to assist my father with his business in the future.”

Sharing how studying at UTAR has helped her career and interest, Faiezah said, “I majored in Psychology while I was at UTAR and the learning method I adopted helped me to build up my confidence in my teaching career. I was already accustomed to communicating in the Mandarin language so it was pretty easy to mingle with everyone especially during the group discussions.”

Faiezah first started her Mandarin class in the year 2014 with only three students. They were the parents of Malay students from a Chinese school. However, in the year 2015, she received a lot of application requesting for her to teach full-time Mandarin classes.  And, her class had grown bigger since then. Faiezah also hopes to teach as many students as possible and she hopes her students will receive a good learning experience from her. She also wants her students to be able to communicate in Mandarin fluently.

According to her before the Covid-19 period, she conducted physical classes alternatively during the night after preparing the Mandarin course with her team during the day. She also conducted online classes on Facebook, YouTube and Instagram. However, due to the pandemic period, Faiezah has been conducting classes online.

Sharing her successful career, Faiezah said her journey is still far and advised, “Education is very important since it will determine our future. For me, UTAR is a great university, with good environment and professional lecturers, so I truly enjoyed my journey of learning at UTAR. You should never stop learning even after graduating. Try to grab any learning opportunity and never give up. Always challenge yourself with new knowledge, upgrade yourself and be an outstanding person in the society, and always be proud to be a UTARian.

Faiezah received recognition as an International Certified Mandarin Teacher from the Beijing Language Culture University (BLCU), where she received the permit to teach the Mandarin language all around the world. In addition, she had also received a certificate from the International Profession Association (IPA) to become an International Certified Senior Mandarin Teacher. Currently, Faiezah is pursuing her studies in Master of Arts in Chinese Studies at Southern University College (SUC) at Skudai, Johor Bahru.