Primary schooling in China will take up English teaching from next school term in the fall of this year. This is aimed to foster pupils' interest in learning English, cultivate their language sense for laying a good foundation of pronunciation and intonation, and start to talk in this Occidental language.
It is learned that primary schools' English teaching will apply to no phonetics or syntax course. In fact, it will focus merely on situational English teaching or practicing in the way pupils' listening, speaking, acting, singing, playing and performing abilities are to be cultivated and raised. Pupils to be given the course will start from the third grade and training of writing ability in the fifth and sixth grade year.
English is to be learned by pupils in primary schools in cities and towns in the fall of the year as is told, and villages next year. Meanwhile, no examination results of the course for a linkup with any form of making appraisal or emulation activities should be allowed according to the Ministry of Education.
(People’s Daily 02/09/2001)
