The end of English teaching in China?

Randy W · July 8, 2022

As part of an overall crackdown on after-hours tutoring

Teaching Centers Found To Be Offering Unapproved Training
Institutes offered family education instructor certification, which is yet to be approved by the government.

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Many people have fallen victim to unauthorized family education instructor certification programs since China enacted the Family Education Promotion Law this year, which made parents accountable for their children’s misbehavior, state-run Xinhua News Agency reported Tuesday.

Training institutions claimed that the new position, which authorities haven’t approved yet, was in high demand after the law came into effect on Jan. 1. Advertisers said a few weeks of training could fetch full-time jobs that paid as much as 300,000 yuan ($44,715) annually, or part-time positions offering 500 yuan per hour.

. . .

However, the ministry is yet to formulate standards on training and certification for qualified candidates.

The Xinhua investigation found that companies were seeking applicants with no educational enrollment requirements. They usually offered training programs for between 20 and 100 hours that cost as much as 10,000 yuan.

On Wednesday, a sales representative of one training institute that has hundreds of branches across the country told Sixth Tone that such programs were mostly attended by parents and educators. The institute would help graduates to connect with multiple hiring platforms to find jobs.

“Exams are not difficult, and everyone can pass,” the person said, without giving her name. “We will give you a question bank to prepare half a month before the exam.”

Several people who attended the training programs told Xinhua that the courses weren’t up to standard, and all course materials were available online for free.

Randy W · August 2, 2022

The incidence of adolescent depressive symptoms has decreased by 78.6% in China in the year since the introduction of the “double reduction” policy, which bans excessive homework and after-school tutoring. However, parental anxiety symptoms have increased by 12.8%.

Source: Renmin University of China study

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The incidence of adolescent depressive symptoms has decreased by 78.6% in China in the year since the introduction of...
Posted by Sixth Tone on Sunday, July 31, 2022

Edited December 16, 2022 by Randy W (see edit history)

Randy W · August 25, 2022

Last year, China outlawed private academic tutoring in a bid to promote social equality. The result: a thriving network of underground study centers, serving the children of wealthy, well-connected families.

“As long as there remain backdoors into desirable schools, the competition will not stop,” said a parent.

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China Tried to Ban Private Tutoring. It Created a Huge Black Market.
Last year, China outlawed private academic tutoring in a bid to promote social equality. The result: a thriving network of underground study centers, serving the children of wealthy, well-connected families.

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Fan desperately wants to find an underground tutoring center for her daughter, but that’s easier said than done. The illegal businesses don’t advertise anywhere, for fear of being shut down. And the other parents at her daughter’s school won’t help, Fan says.

“I think their children are attending tutoring classes, but the parents just want to stay low-profile,” she says. “Many families try to make others feel their children aren’t doing extra learning, but just easily get high grades at school.”

This attitude appears to be common. Several parents told Sixth Tone that they keep their children’s private tutors a closely guarded secret. In some cases, this is because they worry someone might tip off the authorities. In others, it’s because the competition at their children’s schools is so fierce: they don’t want other children to have access to the same tutor.

Cherng has also noticed a rise in anxiety among parents. For him, it’s another side-effect of the “double reduction” campaign’s failure to eliminate private tutoring completely.

“It just made middle-class parents more nervous,” he says. “In the short term, the most elite, upper-middle-class families have found a way out.”

Martin B · August 25, 2022

Not surprising. The online tutoring market is booming. I also know that there are English summer camps in Thailand, Philippines, etc. that well-off Chinese can send their kids to for 6-8 weeks. Like most bans, the market just becomes more expensive and goes further underground which locks out more lower/middle class families, while well-off families can easily find a workaround. If anything, schools should provide free after-school/weekend/summer tutoring to all students to level the playing field.

Randy W · August 25, 2022

There are plenty of VERY good English teachers in China - who can hardly SPEAK a word of English. The instruction is pretty much reading and writing, which is all the exams test for.

That was the gap filled by foreign born, native English teachers.

Randy W · October 1, 2022

This is an interesting article, but I'm not sure what strata of society it is about. The people it talks about can obviously afford to go to other countries, but the article talks like they are also very budget-concious.

Some international schools in Thailand, as well as bilingual elementary and secondary schools, provide elite English-language education. But the tuition there is less expensive than their counterparts in China, and the rat race less intense. It’s why more and more parents are choosing to leave home and rededicate themselves to their children’s education in a foreign country.

Though the interviewed mothers aspired to give their children an international education and thus broaden their cultural horizons, their decision was, in part, also motivated by the fact that their children didn’t have a good time in Chinese schools.

But, though the move to Thailand alleviates some problems in the short term, it sometimes ends up creating new ones.

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Some international schools in Thailand, as well as bilingual elementary and secondary schools, provide elite...
Posted by Sixth Tone on Friday, September 30, 2022

Thai School: For These Chinese Moms, the Future Is Foreign
Options abroad solve some problems but sometimes, create new ones.

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Peidu, which literally translates as “accompanying education,” is a common practice across China, in which a parent, often the mother, abandons their careers to devote themselves to supervising school-age children.

Before moving to Thailand, however, Yezi did hesitate, and to this day, she still isn’t completely convinced about her decision to join her daughter. She recalls that, on the way to pay tuition at the international preschool, she did consider just turning around and taking her daughter back to China.

Some international schools in Thailand, as well as bilingual elementary and secondary schools, provide elite English-language education. But the tuition there is less expensive than their counterparts in China, and the rat race less intense. It’s why more and more parents are choosing to leave home and rededicate themselves to their children’s education in a foreign country.

Though the interviewed mothers aspired to give their children an international education and thus broaden their cultural horizons, their decision was, in part, also motivated by the fact that their children didn’t have a good time in Chinese schools.

But, though the move to Thailand alleviates some problems in the short term, it sometimes ends up creating new ones.

Edited December 16, 2022 by Randy W (see edit history)

Randy W · December 16, 2022

More than a year after banning private academic tutoring, Chinese authorities have found that their efforts are still inadequate — and they’re trying to fix that.

Read more: http://ow.ly/g3GP50M43Bo

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More than a year after banning private academic tutoring, Chinese authorities have found that their efforts are still inadequate — and they’re trying to fix that. Read more: http://ow.ly/g3GP50M43Bo
Posted by Sixth Tone on Thursday, December 15, 2022

China Is Cracking Down on ‘Hidden’ Tutoring Schools
Authorities are adamant on getting rid of private after-school classes, which they say add an academic and financial burden on students and parents, respectively.

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Twelve government departments, led by the Ministry of Education, published a new guideline Tuesday, targeting underground tutoring activities and pledging to stamp out the trend by June 2024. The plan aims to set up a “basic mechanism to prevent, locate, and punish” offenders in the next six months.

“The various forms that hidden tutoring comes in, compounded by the unsound tackling mechanism and lack of collective efforts, have to some extent undermined the ‘double reduction’ reform,” the guideline said.

. . .

The new regulation also urged local officials to curb illegal academic tutoring hidden in venues such as residential compounds, commercial buildings, hotels, and cafés through “community management.” Additionally, the ministry also called for supervision of online job websites to be strengthened, and job ads related to after-school tutoring to be banned.

Authorities have asked schools to discourage students and parents from supporting private tutoring activities, calling upon guardians to instill “correct educational values.” But parents, who were already anxious over the closure of private classes, said they are still willing to pay for such services, even if they were illegal.

“The ‘double reduction’ policy hasn’t made us less anxious about our kid’s education at all,” a mother of four surnamed Xu from Guangzhou told Sixth Tone. “It’s not just about wanting them to be the best. It’s more about the fact that we feel incapable of teaching our children and need more professional support.”

Randy W · March 16, 2023

For decades, English has been a compulsory subject in Chinese schools alongside Chinese and math. But there are growing calls for this status to be rolled back.

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Proposals to Downgrade English in Schools Stir Debate in China
For decades, English has been a compulsory subject in Chinese schools alongside Chinese and math. But there are growing calls for this status to be rolled back.

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Chen Weizhi, a member of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, an advisory body, suggested reducing the role of English in schools in several ways, as the subject is poorly taught and given an excessive emphasis in the curriculum.

These proposals included scrapping English classes for first and second graders, and making English an optional rather than a compulsory subject in China’s most important national exams: namely, the high school enrolment exams, or zhongkao, and college entrance exams, known as the gaokao.

Tuo Qingming, a deputy to the National People’s Congress, China’s top legislative body, also proposed reducing the importance of English in the gaokao.

He said that since most people don’t use English in their daily lives, learning the language was unnecessarily adding to the pressure on students. Scaling back English teaching would also help combat inequality, as urban children find it easier to access language learning resources than those in rural areas, he suggested.

“The weight (given to English) in college entrance exams should be lowered to ease the pressure on students, especially those from rural schools,” Tuo said.

It is unclear whether any of these proposals will be taken forward and become official policy. Similar ideas have been discussed repeatedly at the “two sessions,” with a proposal to cancel English exams in the gaokao in 2017 also generating heated debate online.

In 2017, polls suggested that the Chinese public was split down the middle over the issue, with some surveys showing a slender majority in favor of downgrading English in the gaokao.

Edited March 16, 2023 by Randy W (see edit history)

Randy W · July 19, 2023

Cracking down not just on English . . .

Education influencers are tapping into parents’ anxieties about their children falling behind during the summer holiday to sell textbooks and learning courses. Douyin, China’s hugely popular short-video app, is cracking down on the practice.
Read more: https://ow.ly/kHgV50PclK3

from the Sixth Tone on Facebook

China’s TikTok Launches Campaign to Protect Parents From ‘Anxiety Marketing’ During Summer
Education influencers are tapping into parents’ anxieties about their children falling behind during the summer holiday to sell textbooks and learning courses. Douyin, China’s hugely popular short-video app, is cracking down on the practice.

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At the beginning of the summer holiday, which lasts from early July to late August this year, several education influencers on Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok, posted videos about the importance of the summer holiday for children. A viral screenshot shows different influencers stressing the importance of the summer holiday for children of every grade.

“The summer holiday of second grade students is the most terrifying one,” an account named “Primary Student Parent” selling online classes and textbooks wrote in one video. In other videos, he explains why the summer holidays for fourth and fifth grade students are the most terrifying.

The “anxiety marketing” has sparked outrage online, with a related hashtag viewed over 66 million times on microblogging platform Weibo. It even elicited a response from China’s state broadcaster CCTV strongly condemning the actions of these “so-called education experts.”

Randy W · August 22, 2023

. . . and just generally CRACKING DOWN

Studying machines: China secondary schools impose ‘don’t look up’ rule in class to stop distractions and improve study

Intense competition means schools in China are seeking ways to force better performance from students to secure top results
Some schools get teachers to spy on classes with eye-peeping holes to check if students are sleeping or playing with pens

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Most schools in China retain a rigid view that students must attend a reputable university to get a good job if they are to have any hope of a decent future. Photo: Shutterstock

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Intense competition means schools are compelled to develop more solutions to force them to study more diligently than ever to secure university placements for their students.

This is where measures like the recently popular “heads-up rate” come into play. This behavioural measure has been adopted in many secondary schools across China. It counts how many students raise their heads in class when unexpected noises occur to measure their concentration levels.

Wang Yimei, a secondary school student from northern China’s Hebei province, told online news site Meiri Renwu harsh punishments had accompanied the implementation of the heads-up rate in her school.

“If you’re caught looking up, it’s considered a violation of rules. Once caught, you have to stand as a punishment for the entire day. From 8am until 10pm.”
Some teachers reportedly test students’ concentration by deliberately making noises, such as door knocks and other sounds and students caught looking up will be punished.

Randy W · October 28, 2023

The ChatGPT-based video app Call Annie has unexpectedly found a large user base in China, where parents are sharing tips on how to turn the chatbot into a makeshift language tutor.

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