Irvine Chinese School & South Coast Chinese Cultural Center — Attraction in Irvine

My Bad TOCFL Test Experience とても悪かった華語（中国語）能力テストの経験について 엄청나게 안좋았던 화어 (중국어) 능력시험 경험대해서

I feel compelled to write about my experience in order to warn others about taking the TOCFL at the Irvine Chinese School. I will try to keep this review short and sweet.

I signed up for the TOCFL test through the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office. Irvine Chinese School was the testing venue. My test was at 1:50 PM. I showed up to the Irvine Chinese School at 1:00 PM. A volunteer at the front entrance, near the stairs told me that I could not go into the classrooms until 1:50 PM. At 1:45 PM, I felt that something was wrong so I went into the classroom. They had already started the test without me. Fortunately, the proctor allowed me to retake the first part of the test after everybody was done. The volunteer (Caucasian male) who gave me the wrong instructions should be removed.

During the test, the testing environment was really loud because of the children next door. The children next door were talking extremely loudly and banging the walls. I was unable to concentrate and hear the listening portion of the test. In addition, the test takers themselves were being disruptive after they finished their listening sections. The testing environment at Irvine Chinese School felt like a zoo… It made me wonder how the TOCFL test would be accredited in the eyes of other organizations/governments…

After this horrible experience at Irvine Chinese School, I wrote a letter to the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Los Angeles and asked for a refund and/or a retake. They refunded me by sending me a check, but did not process my test scores! It was incredible. I drove 80 miles (129 kilometers) in total to take the TOCFL test at the Irvine Chinese School, which happened to be a school full of loud, disruptive children, and this is the treatment that I get? Okay… They could have at least processed my test scores…

The Taipei Economic and Cultural Office went the extra mile of conducting an investigation into my complaint, which I am very thankful for, but their conclusion of their investigation was somewhat insensitive and insulting. They concluded that it was apparently my fault for not voicing my concerns during the test and indirectly faulted me.

Directly taken from the investigation notes that this office had sent me, the Irvine Chinese School proctor (Surname: Yeh) invalidated my concerns by saying verbatim: “I am PRETTY SURE that those students went to restroom in a quiet and polite manner after the listening section completed.” The proctor assumed that the students taking the test were well-behaved, even though she was not in the room when the disruption took place. What kind of justice is this?

The Taipei Economic and Cultural Office interviewed a few students who took the test with me. In the email that they sent me, the students all stated that the noise was not a big problem for them. I would like to add that the students who took the test with me were most likely raised in a Chinese-speaking environment-I was not. The fact that the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office used excerpts from their interview to invalidate me is very hurtful and insulting. I was not raised in a Chinese-speaking home so I do not think that it is wrong of me to want to take the TOCFL in a quiet, civilized environment.

In the light of my experience, I would strongly urge other students of the Chinese language to reconsider taking the TOCFL. If you do decide to take it, do not go to the Irvine Chinese School. Save yourself the time, money, gas, and headache. May I suggest that the New HSK test (Mainland China) might be...

The Lantern Festival 2023 held by this organization (Pacific Symphony?) at Segerstrom is a total failure. There are hundreds of empty seats in the VIP area and hundreds of none VIP audiences with tickets had to wait outside for hours to get in. But once inside the concert hall after climbing long stairs, they were shuffled out. People kept coming out (from VIP entrance too), but none were allowed to go in. This total mess indicates the incapability of the organization which manages the process. Handicapped people were also standing in line for a long time and were sent away to watch the show on small monitors....

I’m truly shocked that someone like Julieanna Weng would be hired as a director. When a student or parent had an urgent need to use the restroom, she simply said “no” and told them to go across the street to the plaza to look for one. I find it hard to understand how someone who shows such a lack of basic empathy can be expected to teach and care for students...