Over the years I have spoken with many bright young Chinese (17-19 years old) applying to foreign universities for their undergraduate education. I am always stunned by one particular group: kids who, between the ages of 6 and 12, were taken overseas for one or two years and who now, years later, still speak the English of an American or British 10-year-old -- fluently, to be sure, but inappropriately. In other words, after acquiring a solid base in English and returning to China, they have done little or nothing to build on that base. These are kids who seldom read.

　　There is another, equally amazing group: kids who go abroad, learn to speak a very natural and fluent English and then are reinstalled in Chinese schools, where local English instruction rapidly degrades their English -- or who are penalized for their natural English. Typically they do poorly on the exams set by Chinese educational institutions; in my opinion these tests are far more oriented to bureaucratic goals than to promoting effective teaching or learning. Youngsters who speak excellent English learnt abroad tend to receive low marks on Chinese state exams, while classmates with little ability to use the language can become experts in taking multiple-choice exams testing obscure grammar points and little-used vocabulary. This often sets the stage for the degradation I mentioned earlier, as the Chinese child back from abroad focuses on the unreal English taught in school -- to the detriment of his authentic spoken English.

　　Reading is the key to avoiding many of these distortions. Parents worried about the fading Chineseness of a child taken abroad should encourage him to read interesting books for young readers in Chinese; importantly, the child should also see his parents reading at home. China should be a constant topic of unforced conversation. The child should not simply sink into, say, his welcoming new American environment while his parents turn their attention elsewhere: among children a superficial cultural americanization can take place within just months. America should become an object of explicit observation (not thoughtless imitation) while China remains a topic of concern and memory. Films can help; a weekly Chinese film, watched on DVD and then discussed by the family, will help to keep the child thinking of himself as a sojourner in America and not as an immigrant. Children need to be helped to form a picture of themselves as independent visitors from abroad, and the best way to do that is to encourage them to have opinions of their own instead of just fitting into the world around them. Thinking, talking and assessing are obstacles to social remolding.

　　And when a Chinese child is brought back from overseas? Reverse the process: keep the child reading English -- forfun,notforinstruction. Watch films in English and discuss the content. When the child reaches adolescence, encourage him to read articles from major foreign newspapers on line and relate the contents for discussion over the dinner table. And it is extremely useful for the child to stay in touch (most obviously via e-mail) with friends and teachers from his foreign school.

　　Apart from the access it offers to major foreign newspapers, the internet is not an ideal source of reading material for adolescents. There is much of great value and interest on line, but bobbing in a vast ocean of trivia, irrelevancies and garbage. Stimulating books and magazines are what the young person needs. For example, a subscription to the NationalGeographic Magazine or, for the scientifically inclined, the ScientificAmerican, will keep teenagers with a rising level of literacy in English abundantly supplied with horizon-widening articles.

　　Sad to say, Beijing does not, so far as I know, have a general-purpose English library that Chinese kids can use to build a taste for reading in English. The offerings on the third floor of the Foreign Language Bookstore on Wangfujing are certainly valuable, but this city very much lacks a true English bookstore of the sort found in Hongkong. Parents must therefore take it upon themselves to see that children returning from abroad continue to have access to good reading material in English.

　　One thing I have never understood about Chinese parents is the extent to which they will neglect this. A Chinese adult goes abroad; at home there is a bright son or daughter or niece or nephew or grandchild. Does the adult take a swing①through a good bookstore and pick out three or four fascinating books for that child?

　　Why on earth not?

　　If a bright Chinese child reads only what his teachers dictate when his teachers dictate it, then that the child will grow up to be a creature of the school, dependent on a matrix of control. Is that what education should mean? (tobecontinued)(听英文51179,文章注释511791,作者简介511792)