Starting this fall, the English textbooks, called "Chinglish textbooks" for primary and secondary schools in Guangzhou, will be replaced by a brand-new version compiled by native English-speaking experts who are invited and organized by the city's education departments.

The set of Guangzhou Junior Middle-school English Textbooks (trial edition), compiled jointly by Guangzhou Teaching and Research Section and British Oxford University Press, consist of three books---basic book, listening and speaking practices and reading and writing practices---for every semester. Sources from the Teaching and Research Section said that this set of textbooks is very idiomatic compared with the traditional one.

Understanding of English highlighted

The dialogs, like "How old are you?", which violate the taboo in Western cultures and those sentences organized on the basis of Chinese thinking, can no longer be found in the new version. The books highlight the communicating means of the language and substantial information, covering the fields of Chinese and foreign history, geography, astronomy, environmental protection, traditional holidays, cultural customs, etc.

Research staff said the new version not only can enrich students' knowledge, but also can improve their understanding of English and enhance the applied capability in the course of learning English-speaking countries' culture and folk customs.

New English teaching method to be brought in

Meanwhile, the books bring in a new English teaching method differing vastly from the one presently being used in domestic primary and secondary schools. That is, it cultivates students' language ability by raising diversified topics and encouraging students to discuss them.

Sources also said another set of new English textbooks compiled by Guangzhou Teaching and Research Section and British Leeds University Course Research Center for primary schools are being put into use from this fall. Quite different from the traditional textbooks, the books for the first year contain only the listening and speaking part, with an aim to stimulate children's instinctive feel for the language and interest in studying. The books do not involve written English until the students advance to the third year and equal importance is attached to the requirement of literary language and study fun.

Moreover, a set of oral English textbooks, to be compiled by Guangzhou Teaching and Research Section and Canadian education experts for the first and second year students of primary schools, are expected to be completed within this year.

(People's Daily March 11, 2002)