A foreign language is an important tool for academic study,
for obtaining information and for international communication...
Foreign language is listed as one of the required school subjects
for Chinese high schools. English is a widely used language and
is also the most commonly taught language for the subject.
a. to reinforce and extend the students' basic knowledge of
English,
b. develop their skills in listening, speaking, reading, and
writing, so that they have the basic proficiency in using the
language both orally and in its written form, with an emphasis
on reading,
c. to help the students develop the skills they need to further
study the language independently and lay a solid foundation for
further developing their proficiency in the language,
d. to expose the students to patriotism, socialism and moral/idiological
education in the process,
e. to help the students increase their knowledge of the countries
where the language is used, and
f. to help develop the students' intellectual abilities such
as thinking, observation, attention, memory, imagination and
association.
1. Class Hours for the English Subject:
High School Year 1: 5 hours x 34 weeks =170 hours
High School Year 2: 4 hours x 34 weeks =136 hours
High School Year 3: 5 hours x 24 weeks = 120 hours
2. Objectives:
1) Listening
The students are expected to be able to
a. understand classroom instructions and explanations of new
language phenomena through the use of the language they have
already learned,
b. understand the instructor's summary or retelling of the texts
and the questions about the texts,
c. understand others in conversations about daily life spoken
at a slow than normal speed and with occasional requests for
repeating.
d. understand stories or discourse on familiar subjects that
have no new words or with new words explained, spoken at a speed
no faster than 110 words a minute, with a comprehension rate
of no less than 70 percent...
2) Speaking
The students are expected to be able to
a. ask and answer questions about the texts,
b. with some preparation, retell a text with some coherence,
c. carry out conversations using the words and expressions listed
in "Daily Communication Expressions" on topics such
as greeting, request, suggestion, invitation,
d. use simple languages for description and narration about topics
such as one's own experience, family, class, school, a place,
a person; use more than 6 sentences in connected speech, with
occasional pauses and repetitions, to express oneself in a clear
and fluent way.
3) Reading
a. can understand the materials that are slightly less difficult
than the texts learned with a unknown-word rate of less than
3%,
b. can read and understand texts about people, events, culture,
humanities, and popular science that have a unknown-word rate
of less than 3%, at a reading speed of 60 words per minute, with
a comprehension rate no less than 70%,
c. can read and understand simple technical writings such as
letters, invitations, notices, notes, instructions, tables, diagrams,
figures, and symbols,
d. can understand logical structure of a text regarding the order
of events, time, and space,
e. can see the author's attitudes, views, and implications,
f. can infer the implied meaning based on the known facts.
4) Writing
a. can write with correct format, connection, letter space
and punctuations legibly and fluently,
b. can take dictation on texts without unknown words, at a speed
of 120 words per minute,
c. can answer questions about and retell the learned texts in
written form,
d. can write simple letters, notes, and notices, fill out personal
data forms with no serious problems in format, language, and
style.
e. can make sentences; can write a passage of 80-100 words within
30 minutes that is clear in meaning and with no serious grammatical
errors.
5) Pronunciation
a) can use the International Phonetic Alphabet and basic phonological
rules to pronounce new words,
b) can read texts aloud with correct pronunciation and intonation.
6) Vocabulary
a) have a productive vocabulary of 1200 words and a receptive
vocabulary of 2000 and a certain amount of expressions and idioms,
b) can use the phonological/orthographic rules to spell and remember
words,
c) can use the morphological rules learned to judge and remember
the meaning and part of speech of derivational and compound words,
d) can tell, by using the context, the meaning and part of speech
of words with multiple meanings or more than one part of speech.
7) Grammar
The students should have a good command of the grammatical
rules listed in the Table of the Grammatical Rules.
1. Follow sound pedagogical principles and integrate idiological
education in language teaching...
2. Focus on the development of the students' communicative
competence...
3. Give due attention to all four skills (listening, speaking,
reading, and writing) with an emphasis on reading...
4. Use English wherever possible; Use Chinese only when absolutely
necessary...
5. Consider cultural factors in language teaching...
6. Students should be encouraged to take an active role in
learning, but with the teacher's guidance...
7. Make an effective use of both classroom hours and extracurriculum
activities...
8. Use visual aids and technology to create a desirable learning
environment...
