English education focuses on students in rural areas

Practical reasons

Magowan said on a trip to Guilin in the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region two years ago, he met a street vendor selling honey who spoke no English.

"She tried to describe the merits and flavor of the honey with hand gestures. Just imagine how much more honey she would be able to sell to foreign tourists if she was able to speak English," he said.

Learning English to sell specialty products to the world, especially via the internet, could be a motivation for rural people to learn English, he said.

Sending rural English teachers overseas for short-term study programs and exchanges helped them gain exposure to international counterparts and resources, and boosted their confidence.

Over the past three years, EF has given 1,000 English teachers from underdeveloped areas six months of online language training.

Those who perform well take offline workshops with EF teachers about teaching methods and skills and 10 of them are sent overseas for two weeks of further language training.

Liu Lin, a teacher from Leibo, a poverty-stricken county in Sichuan, was sent to London last year.

"The kids will be inspired by the teacher's experience to see the opportunities behind English learning, which is confidence in communicating and expressing themselves and breaking down barriers within themselves and geographically," Magowan said.