Don't be puzzled if you visit a Chinese university campus and happen to hear a student speak in broken English to a computer about a first date.

He is just taking part in a multimedia course to sharpen those English-speaking skills.

Learning and teaching English, which has been popular in China for years as the country increases exchanges and trade with the rest of the world, got a high-tech face-lift yesterday when the Ministry of Education approved four multimedia systems aimed at improving university students' communication abilities.

The new systems, developed by the country's four leading publishing houses, will be on display at Tsinghua University in Beijing until December 25.

More universities are expected to adopt the systems next autumn as they try to meet new College English Curriculum Requirements expected to be released by the ministry soon.

The new requirements will serve as a guideline for teaching non-English major students in China which aims to cultivate comprehensive abilities, especially listening and speaking.

(China Daily December 17, 2003)