VIP Class Notes (Mike)

Vocabulary

butt dial 

spam (v/n)
eg. Stop spamming me!

house arrest (n) 

supply chain (n) 

high-end 

cutting-edge 

creative  

innovative 

semi-conductor (n) 

business trip (n)

hukou – registered residence

less-developed

impoverished: poor, struck by poverty

mediocre (adj) just so so, normal

less bright 

after-school/class tutoring 

plummet (v) drop sharply

Children at schools across China will be pleased that policymakers are asking teachers to cut back on their homework. The government is clearly concerned about the academic pressures on students – hence its campaign against the private schools that offer extra tutoring. The aim is twofold: reduce some of the workload stresses for kids, as well as reinforce the primacy of the state as a provider of education.

Against this backdrop there is the question of where the teaching of English is going to fit in – a subject that many students find frustrating and which, by its very nature, is viewed as potentially ‘pro-foreign’ in every sense.

One possibility is that the teaching of English will be downgraded in importance. This month the education authorities in Shanghai announced they were dropping it from the list of examinations in the final two years of primary school, leaving only Chinese and mathematics. “It is necessary to integrate Chinese traditional culture, revolutionary culture and advanced socialist culture into elementary and middle school education,” the government’s notice said by way of explanation.

Some parents were happy with the announcement because they want more emphasis on Chinese and maths. But others questioned the wisdom of the move, especially as pupils are expected to be examined on their English capability at the end of middle and high school.

“This move is fine if you also cancel English as a gaokao subject as well,” one parent warned.

China reduced some of the importance of English in the gaokao (the national set of college entrance exams) in 2013 but a suggestion by a legislator that it be removed completely was met with pushback by state media earlier this year.

It is undoubtedly true that many Chinese are reevaluating the need to excel in English – after years of what academics have dubbed ‘English Fever’.

Twenty years ago it seemed everyone wanted to learn the language: children of all ages (hoping to go to university abroad); adults who hadn’t been given the chance to study it themselves at school; and even pensioners who wanted to pass the time acquiring a new skill.

May I go to the bathroom/restroom?

pee  – No 2 – urine 

poop  – No 1 

fart – break the wind 

elimination (n) 

constipation (n)