Shanghai People Learn English for APEC Meeting

Shanghai residents of all ages will soon be able to conduct simple daily conversation in English within a year, according to a program of the Shanghai government.

The Shanghai government will soon organize all residents to learn about 100 simple English sentences to create an international atmosphere for informal Asian-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) leadership conference, due to be held in October 2001.

A spokesman for the Shanghai government said that English is especially important to people in the hospitality industry as well as taxi drivers, conference attendants and policemen. They will be required to pass a certain test before taking up jobs at the APEC meeting.

Besides formal classroom teaching, the city will also have English teaching programs on the radio, TV and columns in newspapers.



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