Mind your language

A debate on the scrapping of English lessons in school is ongoing as some feel the language is not useful in their careers.

ENGLISH learning centres are mushrooming in Beijing with increasing number of companies offering language experts teaching various techniques and syllabus to master the language.

This points to one thing – the Chinese view English as an important language.

A Chinese lawmaker revealed that an average student spent 5,200 hours learning English in class and after school hours during the nine-year compulsory education period.

And yet, many are still poor in communicating in English, especially when dealing with foreigners.

There would be the occasional debate if English classes in school should be axed to ease the study burden of students.

China’s primary and secondary schools adopt the full-day education system, and studying is no joke.

Given the mass land area and long history of the country, two subjects – Geography and History – are enough “burden” for a student.

Throw in Science and Mathematics, you will have a fair idea what students go through.

English class came under the spotlight again at the recent Two Sessions, dubbed the Chinese parliament, when several representatives proposed to completely do away with the subject or pay less emphasis to it in the school curriculum.

Xu Jin, a member of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative

Conference, the political advisory board, said a grasp of 4,000 vocabulary was enough to pass the local College English Test Band-4 (CET 4) examination and find a job in China.

However, he noted that many children spent too much time on the subject, and in order to get into the prestigious primary schools, some of their English proficiency has reached the level of undergraduates.

“English lesson takes about 10% of the total class hours, but less than 10% of the graduates find it useful in their careers.

“Is it really important and relevant?” he asked.

English is among the three main subjects in the local schools, along with the Chinese language and Mathematics.

Xu pointed out that with advanced technology, translation devices and applications on the smartphone could do a better job than humans.

“Translator career will be one of the top 10 professions to be eliminated in the future, ” he said.

He has proposed for the English language subject to be dropped as a core subject in schools while urging the government to ban primary and middle school students from sitting for any non-official foreign language tests.

He felt that more time should be spent on physical education, music and art, as well as developing other skills in students such as creativity, innovative and independent thinking.

Another politician has proposed for English to be excluded from the national college entrance examination.

Liu Weichao, a representative of the National People’s Congress, the nation’s legislature, has suggested that English class be dropped from the primary and middle school curriculum.

He said that paying importance to mastering the language had added financial burden to many families, who had to enrol their children in extra tuition classes.

“The people have spent too much time, effort and money in learning it but the results are pretty dismal, ” he said.

Liu, who is also the headmaster of Changsha Yali Middle School in Hunan province, said primary education should focus on reading, writing, expressing and calculating while developing good habits and hobbies in children.

“The middle school education should emphasise culture, science and nurturing other skills of the students such as analysis and hands-on ability, ” he added.

He has no problem seeing foreign language courses taught in high school education.

These proposals have sparked a heated debate among netizens with the topic-related posts registering high views.

Many of the netizens objected to the suggestions, giving reasons that English is an international and most widely used language worldwide.

“We can stop learning if it becomes irrelevant one day, but not now, ” said a netizen.

They felt that the language should be taught as early as possible because they would then stand a better chance in the international arena.

However, some people felt they had wasted too much time learning English but never used it when they entered the job market.

They would rather put in more effort on the Chinese language, culture and other subjects.

The Chinese have a special technique in learning English – they memorise the vocabulary based on the Chinese-English dictionary – so it is normal to see them applying the wrong word in a particular context.

Even professional translators have such a problem.

Instead of dropping English lessons entirely, educationists have urged the government to review the exam-orientated syllabus to emphasise language skills.