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Plan B · Joined: 11 Jan 2005 Posts: 266 Location: Shenzhen

It's been a crazy month...........

I have always sort of known about the existence of Crazy English, but had not realised how prevalent it is amongst both Chinese students and teachers.

Some Chinese absolutely SWEAR by it as the most successful method of learning English. It is the Atkin's diet of language learning.

I know little about the methods other than stressing the importance of speaking out, even if the grammar is incorrect. I have also heard various stories about the founder - Li Yang - mocking the accents of English speaking Koreans and Japanese.

What I do have some understanding of however, is the level of English for most people who study through Crazy English. I find that they are unable to pronounce consonants at the end of words, and they use a lot of "filler" words, like "yeah", "you know", etc........

Could someone with a closer understanding of Crazy English enlighten me to the methods used, and how successful they are? How well does Li Yang himself speak English?

Super Mario · Posted: Sat May 13, 2006 3:44 am Post subject:

7969 · Joined: 26 Mar 2003 Posts: 5782 Location: Coastal Guangdong

cant speak too much about li yang or his crazy english program, but the couple of students i know at my school that use crazy english are awful at pronunciation. however, they're not afraid to speak, which is a plus.

Super Mario · Posted: Sat May 13, 2006 5:52 am Post subject:

halroach · Joined: 04 Oct 2005 Posts: 43 Location: Beijing

I find local people can be very protective of local brands. Crazy English is a scam, a joke, whatever you want to call it. Yet it has the cache of being a successful local brand. It's the same with New Oriental (the 500 people-in-a-class test prep school). Local people all know it is a glorified scam, but they always defend it.

It must be that strong local brands are so rare. Maybe there's a kind of patriotic defensiveness at work.

Roger · Joined: 19 Jan 2003 Posts: 9138

I have my opinion on them but that's not what's been asked for; I think Li Yang is merely cashing in on the gullibleness of his compatriots and he himself enjoys a protected species sort of status.
ASnyway, he does no worse than others though he focues on something different; in a society where learning a language or learning artistic skills do not really enjoy as much respect as, say, sciences or maths, one must not wonder that he can win his bread selling his pronunciation drills.
In fact, he seems to be highly competent although he doesn't apparently care for English as a means of communication. What he does is to help his compatriots do what their own CHinese English teachers failed to do with themn - utter it.

Of course, ideally their teachers would talk to them, and elicit responses from them, in ENglish; this is why there are FTs: we are supposed to do this job, and Li Yang is now a serious and patriotic competitor. That's why he is successful.

By the way, his wife has been in this forum. You will find a thread in which she refuted a few criticisms lobbed against her Chinese husband (she is American).
IT's worth knowing his thoughts on teaching English pronuncatio.

7969 · Joined: 26 Mar 2003 Posts: 5782 Location: Coastal Guangdong

Plan B · Joined: 11 Jan 2005 Posts: 266 Location: Shenzhen

My experience with Crazy English goes something like this........

We had been wondering for a long time why students from one Chinese teacher were never reaching the level of English necessary to progress to the next level. I observed one class, and noticed that he was speaking very quickly, and the students did not understand the classroom instructions. I later found out that when he was not being observed, he was using much more Chinese, and had introduced Crazy English textbooks into the classroom.

Anyway, he left soon after, and we were left with the job of finding a new Chinese teacher for the beginner level. Suddenly, it seemed like every teacher interviewed spoke unnaturally quickly, despite their bad pronunciation, and most admitted to being "followers" (a think the word is appropriate) of Crazy English.

My knowledge about this method of teaching might be soured by recent experience. I think, as foreign teachers, we also have a duty to encourage the students to open their mouths, and I believe we are generally more proficient at doing so than our Chinese counterparts. In my opinion, a responsible teacher should both encourage the students to speak without being afraid of making errors, but also devote a resonable amount of time to "correct speech".

I am now also wondering if Crazy English is one of the major factors in the lack of care that students approach the English language.

latefordinner · Joined: 19 Aug 2003 Posts: 973

I've less direct experience with CE than some of the others, but the little I've had has led me to similar conclusions. It does help shy people overcome their fear of making mistakes, and that is a largely a good thing. Unfortunately, CE adherents almost universally have little to no idea what they're saying. I'd rather students speak up than shut up, but I'd like them to know what they're saying once in a while too.