English mania

There is a brief video, titled “The world’s English mania,” in the TED talks online about how English has become the world’s second language and what purpose it serves. There are some clips of Chinese students studying for and taking the “gao kao” – the Chinese university entrance exam. The gao kao takes place every year for three days in early June. A few weeks ago, on two consecutive days I ran into a huge crowd of parents and grandparents huddling outside a school while I was on my way to teach English. When I returned a few hours the students had just finished and were heading home with their parents. Some were in tears, some looked exhausted, but most seemed happy just to be done.

The speaker in the video, Jay Walker, states that ¼ of the gao kao score is based on English. Several recent college grads and professors that I’ve asked all say that it changes every year, and recently nearly one of the three days of the exam is taken up by English. A large minority of students don’t not score high enough to enter any university – spots are limited – so they work, attend a private school or a technical school, or wait a year to take the exam again. The pressure to learn English is immense.

In the video there are some shots of English camps where thousands of students practice and recite English together. The largest class I’ve taught was about 100 students in a primary school gym, so it was a little bit like that. I’ve also gone to outdoor events where, on stage using a microphone, I say a few things, sing a Chinese song and an English song, or do tongue twisters, in front of 100+ people. The purpose of those classes at local schools or appearances at other events is to promote my school and get students to attend, where our classes have 5-10 students. Our classes meet several times a week with both Chinese and foreign teachers, and provide activities on weekends and holidays, and a language camp and trips in the summer. The tuition for an eight month long course is more than a semester’s tuition at a public university.