Zhang Mao, vice mayor of Beijing, says the municipal government will hold a series of activities to encourage more residents to learn and speak English.
Zhang said Beijing as the country’s political and cultural center should popularize English among its residents. Government officials, taxi drivers, travel agency staff, waiters and waitresses are the focus of the activities.
Young Beijingers often go to English corners on the weekends or surf English websites to improve their English. Some 15 percent of the Beijing residents can speak English.
Beijing is now bidding to host the 2008 Olympics Games. To boost its chances of securing the event, the Chinese capital have already launched a package of programs to popularize English among its citizens early in May.
Beijing Television Station has started a regular program "Gateway to English" to popularize English among Beijingers. Broadcast six times a week, the programme focuses on the basic of English and daily conversation.
Professor Hu Wenzhong from the Beijing Foreign Studies University is the chief writer of the teaching material. He says to enhance Beijing’s bid, people at large should be able to communicate at least at a basic level with athletes and spectators from all over the world. "I hope after following the course, people will have grasped a vocabulary of around 3,000 words and be able to communicate at a basic level in English."
