china crackdown on english tuition

Last year, the Chinese government moved to limit the amount of out-of-school extra English lessons children could have, because is was causing them so much stress:

China passes law to reduce ‘twin pressures’ of homework and tutoring on children | China | The Guardian

A Is for Anxiety: Tutoring Clampdown Tests China’s Parents

However, it's been pointed out that the Chinese government is not concerned about the wellbeing of pupils, but the dangers of foreign influence:

Foreign language teaching firms had long tapped into a vast demand for English in China, where armies of parents are eager to get their kids ahead in a cut-throat education system in which a single exam can determine a life's trajectory.
That came to a crashing halt in August when Beijing announced education reforms that banned tutoring firms from hiring overseas teachers. The rules -- which also forced tutoring platforms to turn their businesses non-profit and barred some classes during weekends and holidays -- are framed by Beijing as necessary to alleviate stress on overworked students and reduce education costs.
Critics say they are also cutting off Chinese children from outside influences, as an increasingly nationalistic Beijing moves to reassert socialist ideology in the country's classrooms.

China's tutoring ban hits overseas teachers and cultural links - France 24

Chinese companies are doing better - as are 'Chinese values':

“A few years ago, English was supposed to be one of the most important subjects to learn, but today we are focused more on Chinese values,” she said, referring to a recent trend away from English-language learning in China.

China’s radically transformed tutoring market, one year after crackdown – The China Project

It's also about "trying to rein in the competitive excesses of market capitalism":

Dan Wang, a technology analyst, explained that Beijing has become disillusioned with the U.S. economic model, which it views as being driven by Wall Street on one coast and Silicon Valley on the other. He sees the Chinese leadership as “trying to discard capitalism with American characteristics . . .

The Larger Meaning of China’s Crackdown on School Tutoring | The New Yorker

Ultimately, it's about control:

The measures are also part of growing xenophobia in China. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) spends a lot of time worrying about ideological education. Measures restricting the study of U.S. and world history, for example, were put in place years ago. As the CCP sees it, banning foreign curricula and foreign teachers could prevent the creeping influence of foreign ideas and discourage Chinese students from applying to overseas universities.

Why China Is Cracking Down on Private Tutoring

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language and thought

How important is language for helping us to think?

Does language influence the way we think? Many have suggested that it does! It widens our perspective, deepens our knowledge, and changes the way we perceive the world. But how is that? 

If you’re familiar with the principle of linguistic relativity, it states that the way people think of the world is influenced directly by the language that the people use to talk about it. Or more radically, people could only perceive aspects of the world for which their language has words.
An easier way to explain this is with color perception. The number of terms we have for the colors we see varies from one language to another. For instance, English speakers name different shades of blue as dark blue and light blue. Russian speakers have two distinct categories for blue: it’s either siniy (dark blue) or goluboy (light blue). We do the same thing for another color: dark red and light red — the latter of which we call pink! With this, people who speak two or more languages are expected to focus differently regarding colors because different languages distinguish color in various ways.

There are so many more examples of how language influences perception, like with regards to gender and describing events. But the bottom line is the same: languages don’t limit our ability to perceive the world or to think about the world, rather, they focus our attention, and thought on specific aspects of the world.
Given the things we’ve tackled, it’s no surprise that those who speak more than one language see the world differently. Numerous studies have shown that a new language can change how the human mind pulls information together...

More Than Words: How Language Affects The Way We Think

The Sapir–Whorf hypothesis is a linguistic idea which claims that the language people speak changes the way they think and act.[1]

Sapir-Whorf hypothesis - Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The hypothesis of linguistic relativity, also known as the Sapir–Whorf hypothesis /səˌpɪər ˈwɔːrf/, the Whorf hypothesis, or Whorfianism, is a principle suggesting that the structure of a language affects its speakers' worldview or cognition, and thus people's perceptions are relative to their spoken language.
Linguistic relativity has been understood in many different, often contradictory ways throughout its history.[1] The idea is often stated in two forms: the strong hypothesis, now referred to as linguistic determinism, was held by some of the early linguists before World War II,[2] while the weak hypothesis is mostly held by some of the modern linguists.[2]

• The strong version, or linguistic determinism, says that language determines thought and that linguistic categories limit and determine cognitive categories. This version is generally agreed to be false by modern linguists.[3]
• The weak version says that linguistic categories and usage only influence thought and decisions.[4] Research on weaker forms has produced positive empirical evidence for a relationship.[3]

Linguistic relativity - Wikipedia

The claim that Eskimo words for snow (specifically Yupik and Inuit words) are unusually numerous, particularly in contrast to English, is often used to support the controversial linguistic-relativity hypothesis or "Whorfianism". That strongest interpretation of this hypothesis, which posits that a language's vocabulary (among other features) shapes or defines its speakers' view of the world, has been largely discredited,[1]

Eskimo words for snow - Wikipedia

Does language shape how we think? Linguistic relativity & linguistic determinism -- Linguistics 101 - YouTube

The Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis - YouTube

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"the shortage of teachers is matched only by the surge in student numbers"

More and more people want to learn English - especially online:

Jay Doubleyou: learning english online - a massively growing market

And especially since the pandemic - and yet there are not enough teachers to fulfil the demand:

Jay Doubleyou: "this has been a dire, dire situation for the industry since the pandemic started"

The front page of the latest EL Gazette makes it very clear what the state of the ESOL/TEFL industry is in:

ELG2210 Oct Issue 482

Liz Granirer reports inside:

There’s a worldwide English teacher shortage

As the world has opened up post-pandemic, it’s seeing a drought when it comes to certain professions. Certainly hospitality has taken a hit, as anyone in the restaurant or hotel business will tell you. It’s not just the UK, which is suffering from foreign workers leaving in droves after Brexit came into effect, and it’s not just servers and chefs who are needed. The English language market has seen a massive dip in those who are prepared to get back in the game and teach in person...

You could be forgiven for thinking there’s never been a better time to be an English teacher and you wouldn’t be far wrong, but the shortage of teachers is matched only by the surge in student numbers, which is having a negative effect when it comes to housing, particularly in Ireland. Its pull – aside from being a beautiful country with welcoming denizens – is that it’s both English speaking and part of the EU, meaning Ireland is particularly popular with Europeans, and it’s now bursting at the seams when it comes to accommodation.

There’s a worldwide English teacher shortage | E L Gazette

It's a problem in the UK made worse by Brexit:

Jay Doubleyou: brexit's impact on uk language schools

But it really is happening everywhere:

Demand for native English-speaking teachers zooms post-Covid - VnExpress International

Teachers opting for early retirement reason for shortage, says deputy minister | Malay Mail

Meanwhile there seems to be a shortage of English teachers generally:

Facing Shortage of Teachers, US States Ease Requirements

Australia's teachers are burnt out and fed up. Here's why - ABC News

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issues around school and education

What are the typical 'issues' at school?

You might have 'school problems':

Problems at school | How To Deal With Problems At School | YoungMinds

Sorting out school problems - Citizens Advice

Issues at school - Family Lives | Family Lives

And there are also ''education problems':

The 65 BIGGEST Issues In Education, Right Now? Part 2 - TeacherToolkit

Major Issues in Education: 20 Hot Topics (Covering Every Level)

Schools and education are very much in the news:

Absenteeism from school is storing up problems for young people for "decades to come", a senior MP has warned. Education Select Committee chair Robert Halfon said more than 100,000 "ghost children" had not returned to school since the coronavirus pandemic began. In March, the committee warned of an "epidemic" of inequality, exacerbated by the loss of learning due to Covid.

School absentees storing up problems for decades - Halfon - BBC News

A wave of new state laws meant to alter how students learn and the rights they have at school has taken effect across nearly half the country, a Washington Post analysis has found, as part of the rising battle over cultural values in American education.
Over the past three academic years, legislators in 45 states proposed 283 laws that either sought to restrict what teachers can say about race, racism and American history; to change how instructors can teach about gender identity, sexuality and LGBTQ issues; to boost parents’ rights over their children’s education; to limit students’ access to school libraries and books; to circumscribe the rights of transgender students; and/or to promote what legislators defined as a “patriotic” education.

These 64 education laws are now part America's culture war - The Washington Post

Five students of color in Ankeny told district officials about the difficulties they've faced in school and implored them to do more. During public comment at a school board meeting on Monday, they told the board that they've experienced bullying, stereotypes and other students using slurs against them.
"This has gone on throughout my whole time being a student at Ankeny," said Layla Martinez, now a senior at Ankeny Centennial High School, who said she's fought a constant battle for her identity. "Students constantly talk disrespectfully about my culture and other students of color, and I know what people say. 'Why don't you speak up?' But the thing is, I do."

Ankeny students of color tell school board about issues with bullying

A new skirmish is emerging in education reform.
Some want students to not only learn how to solve problems, but also how to find them. Others fear that training students to seek out problems is creating ruinous pessimism.
There’s a better way forward that splits the difference between the two camps. It relies on ensuring that students develop agency—not learned helplessness—by seeking to make progress in the mold of an American ideal.
My new book, “From Reopen to Reinvent,” makes the case that schools need to help students learn coherent sequences of content, as well as habits of success and skills like problem solving. One of the first pushbacks on the skills I listed, however, was from a friendly critic who said I had left out the importance of students learning to be “problem seekers” or “problem finders.”

Schools Should Focus On Progress, Not Finding Problems

With more issues for debate:

There is "hostage to parental ambition"

7 Tips for Dealing With Parents Who Want to Control Your Life

And there is teaching young people to think:

philosophy for kids bseh - Google Search

Here is one way to get children to think in the classroom:

Jane Elliott Brown Eyes vs Blue Eyes 1 - YouTube (incl intro)

Jane Elliott “Blue Eyes - Brown Eyes” Experiment Anti-Racism - YouTube (incl subtitles)

Finally, there are the alternatives for education:

> Homeschooling: Jay Doubleyou: homeschooling and deschooling

> Self-directed learning: Jay Doubleyou: self-directed education

> In India: Sugata Mitra: The child-driven education | TED Talk

> Getting outside and experimenting: Jay Doubleyou: tinkering school

> Socratic method: Jay Doubleyou: questioning and problem-solving

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discussing gender in the esol/tefl classroom

Here are some lesson ideas for discussing issues around gender in the English language classroom - with all ages.

Firstly, how should we 'frame the debate'?

This election cycle, right-wing extremists have made the LGBTQ+ community broadly and the American trans community in particular a flashpoint. Framing the debate in the name of protecting children from LGBTQ+ people is an old, bigoted (and effective) tactic that creates a reliable social wedge issue in the American political ecosphere.
The movement for acceptance and inclusion has undoubtedly made significant strides in the last 20 years, with 71 percent of Americans supporting marriage equality, according to a recent Gallup poll.

What Do Americans Think About Trans Rights?

This was one incident, at one school, at a particular moment in time. It blipped more loudly on my radar because it happened to take place at our local school. But what was instructive about the incident was the way it was immediately framed, especially in media coverage, as an example of “toxic masculinity.” If that is really the case, the term has acquired such a broad definition that it can be applied to almost any anti-social behavior on the part of boys or men.

Toxic masculinity is a harmful myth - Big Think

Before leaving Iran as a child in 1979, Naraghi Anderlini recalls seeing women in a range of attire, from miniskirts to full body coverings — the bottom line being that they had a choice. During her grandmother’s generation in the 1920s, the shah rendered hijabs illegal in an effort to modernize the country, which resulted in women having their head coverings ripped off against their will. Her mother’s generation, during the 1979 revolution, was up against a more authoritarian that shut down opposition and framed the earlier modernization efforts during her grandmother’s organization as a threat to traditional, Islamic family values.

Today, girls and women in Iran have picked up gender equality fight of the generations before them - The San Diego Union-Tribune

No matter the issue being discussed, media plays an important role in forming public opinion. How the media cover events and stories has the potential to shape and reinforce not only opinion among the general public but also how governments address events and issues.
In coverage of gender-based violence, the public is most frequently exposed to episodic framing, which is described as the tendency to report on events and issues as though they are unconnected, deviant and solely about individual actors and circumstances. Thematic framing, on the other hand, makes clear connections of how events and issues are impacted by and fit into societal trends and patterns.

How media frames stories on gender-based violence matters | StCatharinesStandard.ca

What d' y' feel about:

• 'typical' male/female roles/behaviours: Classroom Activities on gender stereotypes and equality.pdf and Meet the super-smart women checking the quality of our water - Devon Live

• sharing public toilets with someone of another gender: Toilet provision for men and women: call for evidence (now closed) - GOV.UK and Nicola Sturgeon is “destroyer of women’s rights”, says JK Rowling - Islam21c

• the current demonstrations in Iran: Iran: A really simple guide to the protests - BBC News and Iran's Defiant Protests Persist After One Month and Iran faces dilemma as children join protests in 'unprecedented' phenomenon | CNN

So, how do we discuss the issues?

Expanding the #MeToo Conversation: Discussion Prompts for Tweens and Teens About Gender, Boundaries, and Respect | Free Spirit Publishing Blog

It's very much in the news:

How an urban myth about litter boxes in schools became a GOP talking point

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learning english online - a massively growing market

Liz Granirer reports in the latest E L Gazette:

The online English language learning market is forecast to be worth a staggering US$31.81 billion within seven years’ time. According to the Online Language Learning Market research by meticulousresearch.com, the huge growth predicted for this field is being driven by the following factors...

Online English learning to fill coffers | E L Gazette

Here's that report in full:

The growth of this market is driven by globalization and the growing need for cross-border communication, the growing E-learning market, and the penetration of artificial intelligence in E-learning. However, data security and privacy concerns are expected to restrain the growth of this market to some extent. The increasing spending on the education sector, the rising Internet and smartphone user base, and the growing preference for a multilingual workforce by multinational companies are expected to provide significant growth opportunities in this market. However, the high implementation cost is expected to pose a major challenge to the growth of this market. The flexible pricing structure and introduction of wearable technologies are some of the major trends in this market.

Online Language Learning Market Worth $31.81 billion by 2029 | Meticulous Market Research Pvt. Ltd.

There's been quite a bit of interest in the report:

English Language Learning Market to Reach $69.62 Billion by 2029 - Market Sizes, Shares, Forecasts, and Trends Analysis Report with COVID-19 Impact by Meticulous Research®

English Language Learning Market to be Worth $69,623.1 Million by 2029 - Digital Journal

As the research shows, the market has been expanding for some time now:

These 3 charts show how online learning is growing globally | World Economic Forum

Online Language Learning Market Share and Growth Outlook 2022-2027 Business Research by Demand, Global Size, CAGR Status, New Technologies, Key Dynamics, and Prominent Players Analysis - Digital Journal

Duolingo: On The Path To Massive Profitability (NASDAQ:DUOL) | Seeking Alpha

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short texts for fun dication

You can have lots of fun with dictation:

Jay Doubleyou: dictation in the esl classroom

Jay Doubleyou: dictation can be fun

Jay Doubleyou: practical dictation > online texts and audio

Here are some good places for texts:

50-Word Stories | Brand new bite-sized fiction every weekday!

50-word Mini Sagas - English ESL Worksheets for distance learning and physical classrooms

50 word short stories

And:

WHO INVENTED RADIO? Your answer probably depends on where you’re from.
On 7 May 1945, the Bolshoi Theater in Moscow was packed with scientists and officials of the Soviet Communist Party to celebrate the first demonstration of radio 50 years prior, by Aleksandr S. Popov. It was an opportunity to honor a native son and to try to redirect the historical record away from the achievements of Guglielmo Marconi, widely recognized throughout most of the world as the inventor of radio. Going forward, 7 May was declared to be Radio Day, celebrated across the Soviet Union and still celebrated in Russia to this day.

Who Invented Radio: Guglielmo Marconi or Aleksandr Popov? - IEEE Spectrum

Invention of radio - Wikipedia

Researchers studying the aftermath of a gargantuan black hole collision may have confirmed a gravitational phenomenon predicted by Albert Einstein a century ago.
According to new research published today (Oct. 12) in the journal Nature, the phenomenon — which is known as precession and is similar to the wobbling motion sometimes seen in a spinning top — occurred when two ancient black holes crashed together and merged into one. As the two massive objects swirled closer together, they released enormous ripples through the fabric of space-time known as gravitational waves, which surged outward across the cosmos, carrying energy and angular momentum away from the merging black holes.
These findings vindicate Einstein, who predicted that such effects were possible in some of the universe's largets objects.

Monster black hole merger proves Einstein right (again) | Live Science

‘We’ve Never Seen Anything Like This Before:’ Black Hole Spews Out Material Years After Shredding Star | Center for Astrophysics

And:

When I Heard the Learn’d Astronomer

When I heard the learn’d astronomer,
When the proofs, the figures, were ranged in columns before me,
When I was shown the charts and diagrams, to add, divide,
and measure them,
When I sitting heard the astronomer where he lectured with
much applause in the lecture-room,
How soon unaccountable I became tired and sick,
Till rising and gliding out I wander’d off by myself,
In the mystical moist night-air, and from time to time,
Look’d up in perfect silence at the stars.

— Walt Whitman

Love Is a Lot Like Physics

Love is a lot
like physics:
it takes study

to understand
how masses —
yours, his —

attract; how his body
heat conducts and
your heart rate

accelerates before
either has had time
to evaluate impact.

You think you
understand velocity,
assume his speed

at takeoff matches
yours. You fail to
account for force

or Newton’s third
law of motion.
The outcome of that

one wrong electrical charge
leaves all the circuits
broken. You begin to

oscillate, fall from orbit,
finally calculate the variables
of just so much hot air.

— Maureen Doallas, author of Neruda’s Memoirs

Top 10 Best Science Poems - Tweetspeak Poetry

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what are the elements of 'british humour'?

The British consider their sense of humour is special:

Understanding British Humour | EF English Live Blog

British Humour Explained (with examples) - YouTube

British Humour Explained with Examples - Sarcasm, Puns and Much More! - YouTube

The British consider themselves as having a sense of humour - which others don't have:

Jay Doubleyou: british vs german humour

Humour! British VS American - YouTube

Certainly the British consider their royal family to have a sense of humour:

Jay Doubleyou: the royals have a sense of humour

Here are some examples:

The latest example in cinemas:

All My Friends Hate Me (Official UK Trailer) - Exclusively streaming on BFI Player from 29 Aug | BFI - YouTube

All My Friends Hate Me Clip - in cinemas 10 June 2022 | BFI - YouTube

Taking down cultural icons:

Shakespeare Live! From the RSC on Vimeo

Black humour:

Monty Python - "Not Dead Yet" Scene (HD) - YouTube

Monty Python: The Dead Parrot - YouTube

Comedy of manners:

The Prawns Are Off | Fawlty Towers | BBC Comedy Greats - YouTube

S1E1.A Touch of Class - Video Dailymotion

Satire:

Jay Doubleyou: political satire on film

Cringe comedy:

Jay Doubleyou: what 'the office' can teach you about how to do business

But the British certainly don't have a monopoly on comedy:

Ättestupa Norsemen - YouTube

Jay Doubleyou: there is no such thing as 'national humour'

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“we are experiencing higher than normal call volumes…”

On the phone...

The Best Way To Handle High Call Volumes – While Still Delighting Your Customers

With some discussion:

We are currently experiencing a high volume of calls.... | Gransnet

From the Guardian's readers:

Does anyone still believe that any of the companies they call or email are labouring under higher-than-normal call volumes – especially given that that they all seem to have it “higher than normal” all of the time. Does anyone know how long ago the baseline “normal” might have been? Robert Cullen, Härryda, Sweden

Send new questions to nq@theguardian.com.

Readers reply

Because they are experiencing lower than normal staff levels. Isanyonelistening

I once asked a technical service representative why his company was always having “higher than normal” call volumes every time I called. He replied that it was really just a marketing and sales ploy to exaggerate the popularity of their products. It was also a cover for inadequate staffing. Sara Owen, Pensacola, Florida

I used to work in a hotel call centre and yes, we did get “higher than usual” call volumes. We would look for trends and call peaks over the previous five years and attempt to get staffing right, however, it would just take a casual mention in a newspaper about our hotels to get calls queueing. It’s all too easy to assume the worst about how companies staff departments, the one I worked for did its absolute best to maintain good staffing levels and still we got caught out. ONscotland

It’s the glib prerecorded reassurance that “you are a valued customer” that really bugs me. PlausibleDenier

The words they use are interesting – “Your call is important to us.” Not you, your call. Bill01

How about: “This call may be recorded for quality control purposes”? Really? Don’t most of them already know how abysmally poor their service is? madhusa

I work in customer services for a small energy firm and it’s almost always a cover to manage expectations, although the whole edifice is surely undermined if every company says it. Last year we had four permanent customer service staff, but we have seven this year after investment from the company and the shift in attitude is indescribably better. Our procedures are infinitely better and our customer satisfaction levels are through the roof. Nurnsy97

I used to work in a call centre for a large company when I was a university student. When it got to a point that there were too many calls in the queue, we went to “systems down” where we told customers (untruthfully) that our systems were down and we were unable to help them, please call back later. The aim of this was to clear the queue – needless to say, it did not go down well with the customers, some of whom had been waiting in the queue for an hour just to be lied to. IndigOh

Contact centre manager here. We make a prediction on call volumes for the coming year based on a number of factors (historic calls, sales targets, product releases and marketing campaigns) and these are usually pretty accurate, but lots of things can cause unexpected increases in traffic even without factoring unplanned absences or staff attrition. That said, if you’re regularly not meeting service levels for a sustained period, it’s probably a good indication that the company doesn’t value (and aren’t investing in) either their staff, their customers, or both. Arnoldsbiggerbrother

...

Readers reply: why are companies always experiencing higher-than-normal call volumes? | Call centres | The Guardian

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how others see us: home news from other countries

How does the English-speaking media report on, say, Germany?

UK:

Germany | World | The Guardian

Germany - All the latest news and pictures - The Sun

Germany: Latest news, breaking stories and comment | Daily Mail Online

Germany - BBC News

USA:

Germany - The New York Times

Germany news - breaking stories, video, analysis and opinion - CNN

Germany | Fox News

And:

Germany | Today's latest from Al Jazeera

Germany — RT

And how does the the German media report on the English-speaking world?

UK and USA:

Search | DW.COM

English News - WELT

AND:

SZ international - SZ.de

Breaking news and analysis in English - FAZ.NET

ZEIT ONLINE in English | News, analysis, and debates | ZEIT ONLINE

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