Esl Education in China

International Education in China 22 chapters and 27,000 words plan China’s future educational initiatives. The pledges amongst these pages promise a future China that is more dedicated to quality education, available to all. Amongst the proponents of this large document, many seek to vastly change the face of “international education” programs that are present in public schools in China today. There are those that wish to abolish it entirely, but most merely seek to increase quality by developing standards, reforms and requirements to decrease the presence of inefficiency and corruption. With such vast changes taking place by the year 2020, programs, such as AEF, must have a competitive advantage. In order to create a more sustainable, long-term international education program, AEF must develop and implement a higher quality plan of action, based on sound educational theory and forward-thinking marketing practices.
At the foundation of any effective language program are good teachers. In the four years I’ve been working for AEF, it has struggled to find and keep good teachers, especially foreign teachers. There are three things that can remedy this problem. First, an effective interview process must be developed. An effective interview process includes comprehensive questions that accurately: distinguishes between different candidates, confirms confidence in the teacher’s ability, discovers motivation in their search for a job, and provides a detailed explanation of their teaching qualifications. Second, effective training methods must be used. Effective training methods instill confidence in teachers, giving them the exact tools they need to begin implementing proven teaching methods. Third, effective curriculum/course materials must be developed to more efficiently provide students with knowledge of English communication. Providing opportunities to practice isn’t enough; varying, fun, creative lessons must be designed to engage students in communication, giving them aim in their educational goals.
I’ve seen, time and time again, that AEF has fallen short in all three of these areas. The characters I’ve met among the foreign teachers AEF has hired in the last 4 years have been unconfident, unqualified, and their motivation for obtaining a teaching position has nothing to do with educating children. Those few teachers that were quality, AEF wasn’t able to keep them longer than one year because of poor management. There has also been zero training. AEF has wasted money flying teachers to Dalian, or flying “foreign teacher managers” to local schools, in order to “train”, but absolutely nothing was accomplished in any of these circumstances. Finally, the curriculum/course materials AEF uses are terrible. I’ve researched and read thousands of ESL textbooks, and AEF’s Go Beyond textbook series ranks among the worst books I’ve seen. They’re riddled with errors, improperly organized, and don’t provide students with the vital elements I talked about before that are needed in an ESL program. I realize they’re very profitable, but should only be used as a supplement to something of higher quality if AEF wants to improve the educational quality, and in turn, the speed at which their students improve in English communication.
In contrast to this, let’s look at the best language program in China today, Wallstreet English. I’ve researched this program thoroughly, as I know many teachers that work there. I’ve been able to attend their classes, talk about their program and study their course materials. This very successful program has an accurate, comprehensive interview process, proven, in depth training program and the best materials you will find in the field of ESL. They are so successful because they have developed these things using international standards, and leading research in the English education.
In managing teachers, AEF must continue to make sure these theories are being practiced throughout the school year. After finding and training good teachers with good materials, the teaching methods should be standardized to include the common elements of effective educational programs worldwide. All AEF’s classrooms should include the following elements:  Teachers are engaging students – Students must be daily using the language. This is achieved by creating lessons that promote communication. This is also achieved by forbidding students to use Chinese in the ESL classroom. Students should be defining terms in English, NOT translating to Chinese. A simple example of this is available in an attached video. This can’t be stressed enough… Even AEF’s Chinese teachers need to be encouraged to use more English, in and out of the classroom. I’ve seen every day, for 4 years, students come into the office and speak Chinese, even when I know they know the simple phrases in English. If AEF wants to gain a competitive advantage, make itself special and set itself apart from other programs, it needs to be special… the constant use of English in the program is one way this can be achieved.
 Ground rules set the tone for respectful behavior – too many foreign teachers don’t know how to implement proper discipline in the classroom. It is impossible to have a classroom conducive to learning and communication without rules and standards set in place from the beginning. This area, in particular, is extremely easy to train, yet AEF’s teachers continue to have students falling asleep, not doing their assignments and disrupting class.
 Structured daily and classroom routines that provide stability and direction – Like AEF’s Go Beyond series, many lesson plans are too random. If the teacher does not have a routine for presenting the curriculum to the student, the randomness will have a negative effect. In any subject, students should always understand what they’ve learned, what they’re learning and where they’re going with it. A proper routine for teaching should include presentation, group practice, class practice, and then individual practice… with checking for understanding at every step along the way.
 High expectations and clear consequences are articulated to students frequently – Another way to distinguish AEF as a quality program is to require more of the students. Students must not be allowed to do anything less than their best in class. For example, if I ask a student to write a page about his best friend, I would never accept 10 sentences that looked something like “My best friend is nice. My best friend is great. My best friend is handsome” etc. I’ve seen AEF falling short in other areas. The attractiveness and profitability of AEF relies on its ability to set itself apart from the competition. I’ve already mentioned a few ways to gain a competitive advantage as an international program. Some simple and easy ways that should be implemented right away are higher quality activities during the school year. The organization of the activities AEF currently has is mediocre at best. Every western holiday can be taken advantage of as a new activity. They’re great opportunities for learning and advertising the program. However, the activities must be managed properly. The Halloween festival I planned this year for example was a great success, but wasn’t managed correctly. There was no time schedule, so no matter how fun and educational the activities planned were, it was a mess because the students didn’t know when to be where. After activities are complete, the opportunity doesn’t end. Our office should have examples of the students work and pictures from past activities all over the walls to exemplify a successful, quality, valuable program to every person who ever walks in. English corners can also be considered another opportunity to increase the value of the program. I suggest standardized, creative, fun English corners be planned ahead and given to foreign teachers at each school. Doing so will ensure a successful English Corner program.
Another area, I believe, that needs improvement is the Summer/Winter camps that AEF has organized for the students. First, AEF’s recruitment methods for these activities are horrible. They need to create a much better incentive plan for AEF teachers, Chinese and foreign, in order to increase the number of students that want to attend. When it comes to advertising these programs, I’ve never seen any teachers motivated to help AEF recruit students, or any reason for them to be motivated. I believe Zen Yi (Paul), for example, could’ve recruited many more students this year… it used to be his job to do recruitment! Second, during the winter camp itself, the students need to be encouraged to speak English. All my students told me they never spoke English while in America. Imagine how bad it looks to their parents, who just spent 40,000 yuan, when their kid comes back and tells them they never spoke English while they were there. Word easily spreads among students and parents in an international program, so they will soon realize there is little educational benefit to send their kids on the next trip. AEF should send staff that is willing to encourage English speaking, and speak English themselves!
Another competitive advantage is the use of more advanced programs, such as A-level, AP classes, TOEFL Junior, TOEFL, IELTS and SAT. From four years ago, AEF has been toying with the use of programs similar to these, but has yet to establish a truly effective one. The first two (A-level and AP) can increase the value of AEF drastically. The high school in Hainan, that was once considering AEF as a partner, chose a British program that costs double AEF (60,000 yuan plus a year) because it was more professional. It had “contacts” to a British University, and it used the A-levels program. AP course teachers are not difficult to find. Every year, in deciding whether I should continue to work for AEF or not, I’ve obtained jobs in these types of programs for Biology teaching, based merely on my Biology degree. For TOEFL, IELTS and SAT, it’s just a matter of finding proper teachers, effective training programs, and finding the best materials. I’ve researched hundreds of books for all these tests, and have found the best materials. I know how to teach these subjects well, giving the students valuable skills, NOT just giving them a chance to practice. Even the training program in Beijing that AEF uses is inadequate. Designing courses in this way (the New Oriental (a horrible company) way for example), is not effective. I’ve started my own programs, outside of the schools I’ve worked in, that have brought students from below a 60 (can’t go to university anywhere abroad) to above a 100 (can go to any university they want). Most recently, I worked with a student who could not seem to get above a 100. He had taken the TOEFL test twice in two weeks, and scored a 94 and a 95. His reading and his listening were amazing, but his speaking and his writing were bad. I only spent one week (12 hours) with him, teaching him the basic skills (not just giving him practice), and he scored a 105 the following weekend. Giving him practice wasn’t working. He needed to learn HOW to write and speak. I’ve also trained many teachers in the last four years who went on to teach successful TOEFL, TOEFL Junior and IELTS courses. Many of AEF’s students are searching elsewhere for their IELTS/TOEFL education. While on the topic, I’ll mention that these programs should be created so that foreigners are teaching writing and speaking… Chinese teachers should teach listening and reading. Finally, the TOEFL Junior could be a very effective marketing tool for AEF, and, again, it provides an aim for students… it doesn’t just give them practice, but teaches them test-taking skills, and teaches them HOW to listen, read, speak and write. It is a rapidly growing program, one which I have developed materials for: a 2.5 hour exam, a 175 page book, lots of supplemental material and tons of promotional material. I’ve successfully implemented this program on a small scale, at a local language school, but believe it would be much more effective in AEF’s wide-reaching program. It is perfect for middle school students, but can also be used for high school students.
Finally, the management of foreign teachers in AEF is obviously nonexistent. Foreign teachers are the company’s assets, the most expensive ones in fact. If they are not properly managed, they are useless, and can even impede AEF’s advancement in the industry. An effective manager (probably foreign) must be chosen to utilize these assets to their full potential. An effective manager will realize the key elements in proper management (listed above), but will also know the finer details that must be paid attention to. Every teacher I’ve ever worked with was left with the impression that AEF was a joke; an unqualified, unorganized, illogical company. Providing proper training and materials can effectively remedy this problem, but the constant presence of management must also be there, the most important element of which is proper communication. Howard and Athena of last year’s Quanzhou program were good teachers. They would’ve stayed with AEF another year if they were happy, but they weren’t. Petty things, like having to pay for a broken washer (150 yuan) or last minute schedule changes caused them to leave AEF. There are many examples like this among the few good teachers, and many bad teachers hired by AEF. In order to utilize their expensive and most valuable assets, AEF must hire a manager that knows how to communicate the requirements of an effective program to its foreign teachers.
The last thing I’ll say (really, the last thing) is that AEF is not utilizing their program to its fullest profit potential. I’ve helped my past students, for free, apply for university. It is the easiest thing to do, and students are willing to pay up to 60,000 yuan for this service, but AEF has yet to create an effective program that sends their students abroad. I know this because students that I once taught in the AEF/CACE program told me. I keep in contact with most of my old students, and have found them searching outside of AEF, paying between 30-60,000 yuan, just for another company to apply for university for them. The whole process is not difficult. I already have the ability to counsel, collect information and apply for Chinese students. I’ve done so on numerous occasions, of which I’ve successfully gotten students admitted to the world’s top universities, including Harvard. Many AEF students also want to study abroad in American/British high schools. I’ve also been involved in research and counseling other companies in how to go about this.