Taiyuan, capital of Shanxi, produces a weekly publication in China. It circulates around 16 million publications every week which focuses to boost English language skills through its worksheets and exercises. Although there are many other newspapers and books available for English learning, this weekly publication works at communication and vocabulary skills of senior high school students. Almost one-third of all children in China’s senior school are frequent readers of this.
Why this publication is so famous?
- The main reason for its acceptance among the masses is that it prepares the students for the national college entrance exam, Gaokao, a national level exam conducted in China for entrance to the undergraduate courses. So, this publication gives an edge to all the aspirants of this exam and helps them to sharpen their skills for this competitive exam.
- The weekly publication has been designed in a very systematic way so as to cover all the important aspects of the language. Like in one of the editions of eight pages focusing on the language, five pages contained tests, two were based on after-school reading and the rest contained words and expressions which are helpful to take the test in a better way.
- It covers the syllabus from text books as well as other materials beyond the text books.
Cao Yu, editor-in-chief of the senior high school edition said “We always want to include more extracurricular material that will broaden the students’ horizons and introduce more of the culture of the English-speaking world. But I’m afraid the teachers won’t be happy, because their priority is to prepare the students for the gaokao”.
As per the revised rules of English for the Gaokao, the significance of English as a subject has been increased. Furthermore, the English exam has been designed in a way which will test the students on the basis of their communication instead of the grammar.
So, this publication prepares its students to face the communication challenge confidently and become fluent English language speakers instead of simply focusing on rules.