by terroir Posted on January 19, 2013
With all the emphasis placed upon learning it in school as well as its ubiquitous nature upon signs and T-shirts, it’s not with a whiff of fancy to say that ESL (English is the unofficial second language) in China. However, with so much time and money spent upon learning this language, obstructions still exist that prevent Chinese from properly learning and
using the English language, usually just called foreign language for clarity by Chinese.
As any foreigner who has had an extended-vacation in China will know, teaching English to Chinese has its own unique challenges – among the most challenging being: how to convince Chinese students to learn English for speaking rather than for taking tests. Certification in China isn’t a path towards greater knowledge and skill; rather, it’s a destination in itself — like a highway
hummer in the driveway with the car idling the whole time.
As an education system that exists only to churn out graduates, the competition between students for certification is as tight
as the pants on a hermetically-sealed mint Def Leppard action figure. In order to ensure a bell curve of results among a class of students that already study
rigorously, these tests have become more and more difficult even though this does not produce a level of English student that
is likewise more and more fluent.
With this in mind, Sinopathic would now like to challenge you: are you better at English than a Chinese ESL Student? You may be a native speaker of English, but you haven’t studied and tested in English exams in the extremely high standards of
the Chinese education system.
Good luck!