China’s English language policy for primary schools

School A and BPresented by Hazhar Abdalla

The structureIntroductionMethodologySchool A

pastfuture

School Bpastfuture

School Cpastfuture

School Dpastfuture

DiscussionConclusion

School A

past

In fall 1999 it started offering English classes prior to release of the policy to fourth and fifth graders. In fall 2001 it upgraded its English programme: three full time teachers taught English to 4,5 and 6 graders. Three times per week for 40 minutes per period.

School A is a top primary school in an urban district, consisting of students from diverse family backgrounds. The average class size is 40-50 students

School A2004-2005 school yearStudents in grades 3-6 are learning English having three 35 minute classes per week.

Since 2000 school A has been recruiting one English teacher every year.

English teachers.

Place of English in the curriculum

In Ta1’s opinion, the quality of ELT cannot be improved unless students have at least one English class every day and teachers teach fewer students.

Ta4 says that students should have exposure ( experience ) to it every day.

English language learning environment

In School A, bilingual signs can be seen mainly in the following areas: 1-in restrooms2-in the stair areas3-in hallways

Save water 节约用水

靠右

Upstairs downstairs

楼上的照片 楼下

保持安静

School A’ radio station broadcasts English song such as ‘‘ Ten Little Indians’’ twice a day during breaks.

School A invites native speakers to attend extracurricular activities, to enhance students’ interests in learning English.

Parents’ attitudes towards English.

Both ( Pa ) and (Ta1) stated that parents take an interest in their children’s English education and support their children learn English in the following ways:-a- purchasing English language materialsb-enrolling their children in after school English programs and c- hiring a tutor

Ta4 thinks that there are basically three types:a-some parents are well educated, they are very supportive and do well.b- some parents, though they do not know English, they ask their kids to teach them.c-some parents do poorly, even they do not know their kids are learning English

Ta3’s opinion, most parents are aware of the importance of English, but they do not necessarily help their children learn English; instead they expect teachers to take full responsibility.

Facilities. A regular classroom in school A is equipped with

Challenges.

According to Pa School A is faced with two major challenges as far as ELT is concerned.

First , Pa thinks that it is challenging to help students consolidate what they have learned in class.Second, School A is facing pressure from counterpart schools which have introduced English to first graders and are accordingly perceived as better schools in terms of ELT

Future Pa announced in a staff meeting her intention to lower the starting age to the first grade in the near future, but she is uncertain whether lowering the starting age is an effective way to promote ELT.

On the other hand she is concerned that first graders may get confused between Chinese Pinyin and English alphabet when learning both languages at the same time.

School B

School B was one of 14 schools in county Z scheduled to implement the policy in fall 2001.According to (Pb) school B did not receive additional guidance from the Education commission of County Z to initiate the implementation of the policy. School B managed to recruit one temporary teacher and two permanent ones and teach to third and fourth graders three times per week for 40 minutes per period in fall 2001.

Past

School B

School B was one of 14 schools in county Z scheduled to implement the policy in fall 2001.According to (Pb) school B did not receive additional guidance from the Education commission of County Z to initiate the implementation of the policy. School B managed to recruit one temporary teacher and two permanent ones and teach to third and fourth graders three times per week for 40 minutes per period in fall 2001.

2004-5 school year

School B

English teachers

School B Goal for ELT

According to Pb ,school B has not yet articulated a general goal for ELT; a general guideline for English teacher is to follow textbooks.

School B Place of English in the

curriculum. Pb said that School B treats English as a key subject, whereas English teachers disagree with him.

School B English language learning

environment.

‘‘Phonic Room’’实验室房间Don’t push

不要推

Bilingual door signs are used in school B for classroom, restroom , teacher’s office. e.g.

School B

Keep clean, please请保持清洁

Don’t waste water

不要浪费水实

Parent attitudes towards English. Pb said ‘‘ parents have a favourable attitude toward English. But they are not so interested in it. Parents have difficulty in helping their children with English.

Parent attitudes towards English. Tb2 said that a large proportion of parents do not know English.

In Tb4’s opinion, parents have not given English sufficient attention because of Town x’s social environment as well as English language learning environment .

Facilities School B has one language lab designated for ELT . Like school A , classrooms for first and second grade are equipped with multimedia facilities, and the rest are scheduled to be upgraded into multimedia ones in the following three years.

School B started teaching English to first graders twice a week in fall 2004.It was Pb who first proposed lowering the starting age to the first grade, which was then approved by the school board consisting of School B’s nine major administrators.

Teaching English to first graders.

Tb2 is the only first grade English teacher, teaching 6 small pilot classes with 32 students in each and one large class with over 50 students.

Future Beginning in the 2005-6 school, all

students in School B will be learning English. School B plans to recruit another full-time English teacher for 2005-6. Pb and English teachers are optimistic about the future of ELT in School B.

The policy implementation in the two schools in the 2004 – 2005 school year

CONCLUSION The investigation of the four schools illustrated that in the 2004-5 school year, the policy was not universally implemented in school settings.

In terms of policy implementation , rural schools fall into three major categories:

1- schools that have fully implemented the policy, like school B.2- Schools that have partially implemented the policy, like School C.3- schools that have not implemented the policy, like School D.