Tokyo school life or gaokao love series#

I want to go to a foreign language university after Gaokao. Though I still love learning English, because I am interested in western culture, not out of any other force. My niece told me her opinion on this reform:РІР‚СљIt is a good one. Though the role English will play in Gaokao in the future is still disputable, many students, and their parents could relieve themselves from the high pressure of learning English for a while.

Many people view this Gaokao reform as a milestone, bringing the focus back on Chinese and cooling down English fever.

For example, in Jiangsu, the NMET has been changed from once-a-year to bi-annual, and only the higher score is recorded. After encountering fierce public opposition, the reform did not go through successfully in 2017, but the English score has been reduced each year-120 points in 2015 with the reduced 30 points added to the Chinese subject, and 100 points in 2016 (except some provinces). At the same time, studentsРІР‚в„ў scores in Chinese were adjusted from 150 to 180 points.Р”Р„n additional proposal suggested that NMET be removed after 2017, but this reform was not that easy for Chinese students who have become accustomed to taking the NMET for a long time. Students could also take the English test twice a year, and the highest score would be included in their total Gaokao scores. It states that the NMET marks in Gaokao would be decreased from 150 to 100 starting in 2016.

Tokyo school life or gaokao love series#

To respond to these worries, a series of NMET (National Matriculation English Test) reform came out. Is this really a healthy environment for students to learn English? Does English fever threaten our Chinese language and culture? Is this a problem, that there is a hidden hierarchy associating English with talent and value (Gil & Adamson, 2011)? This fear is not groundless: there has been stressed among parents that their children will lose the chance of having a promising future if they do not start learning English at a very young age, and in early childhood education, РІР‚СљEnglishРІР‚Сњ has long been the most popular class for many years. Recently, there has been some concern that РІР‚СљEnglish feverРІР‚Сњ has developed in an unbalanced way. It is a common Chinese perspective, though, at that time I realized how terrible this ideology is.Р”Р„dmittedly, ideas about English language education are influenced by the language/exam policy in our country, especially by the Gaokao policy. I still remember when I asked one of my Japanese friends why they are not so enthusiastic about English learning, they asked me instead, РІР‚СљWhy are Chinese students are so crazy about learning English?РІР‚Сњ She told me she only needs English when she goes abroad for travelling, and thatРІР‚в„ўs just one or two times a year! And in the future, her master major has nothing to do with English research, so why bother to achieve a high-level? It was from her words that I realized I was asking her under the premise that you РІР‚Сљwould, should, and mustРІР‚Сњ learn English, and to learn as much as you can. You can often get an answer like РІР‚СљNot really.РІР‚Сњ, РІР‚СљI never have the chance to use it after graduation.РІР‚Сњ, or even РІР‚СљIt is a waste of time.РІР‚Сњ It depends on their majors, positions and personal interests, etc. However, if you ask university students or office workers in China, РІР‚СљDo you think English is important to you? РІР‚Сњ, the answers are quite different. Moreover, the globalization since 21st century, along with hosting the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games and 2010 Shanghai Expo has also made РІР‚СљEnglish feverРІР‚Сњ sweep the nation over the last decade or so. The incomparable status of Gaokao in China, and the status of English, as one of the dominant subjects, has stirred a passion for learning English across the country. Here is a video of the interview about Chinese Gaokao: You may have no idea how much a Chinese family values the Gaokao, but I can tell you that many of them view it as the only hope to change their destiny. The other two dominant subjects are Chinese and Mathematics. РІР‚СљEnglishРІР‚Сњ has long been a dominant subject in Gaokao following the introduction of the РІР‚ВReform and Opening-upРІР‚в„ў policy in 1978 (gaige kaifong). РІР‚СљGaokaoРІР‚Сњ, the college entrance examination, is a once-in-a-lifetime exam and for high school students to enter a college or university in mainland China. When you ask a Chinese high school student РІР‚СљWhy are you learning English?РІР‚Сњ, the most frequent answer would be nothing more than РІР‚СљIt is a required by school and, most importantly, I need to attend GaokaoРІР‚Сњ. It is reported that the number of English learners in China has reached approximately 400 million, which goes beyond the total population of the UK and the US in 2010 (Fang, 2018).Р’В This numberР’В isР’В largely thanks to the compulsory learning of English from primary school to university in China.