Citizen English ABC: Textbook for the Education Program of China Central Television

Author: He Minzhi
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2002-01-01
Features: What makes this book unique:
1. Content: The book is written by Chinese authors for practical English in a Chinese environment. Currently, a significant portion of English speaking textbooks teaches Chinese people how to survive abroad, such as going through customs, filling out forms, exchanging money at banks, or using laundromats—what is often referred to as survival English. However, based on current conditions in China, only a minority of people have the opportunity to study or work abroad, while most Chinese still interact with foreigners in domestic settings. This means the scenarios mentioned above, being far removed from our daily lives, can easily make people lose interest in learning. To address this, this book selects dialogue scenes set in domestic environments—familiar to Chinese people but still potentially involving interactions with foreigners, such as business meetings in foreign-invested companies, hotels and restaurants, shopping, tourist groups, fast-food restaurants, parks, fitness centers, taking taxis, classroom learning, dating, studying abroad, employment, interviews, etc. It focuses on practical English in a Chinese environment.
2. Language: Simple language to express deeper thoughts. The target readers of this book are elementary-level English learners. Based on the compilers' years of teaching spoken English to beginners, these learners may have low English proficiency but mature thoughts, and they tend to lose interest in overly simple and repetitive sentence exercises. Therefore, this book does not follow grammar as a guideline but prioritizes expanding vocabulary and phrases, using simple language to convey fundamental thoughts and emotions.
3. Format: Adopts dialogues suitable for beginners, making them easy to practice and memorize. The book maintains a consistent level of difficulty throughout, with no significant gradient. The storyline may progress sometimes but the content remains relatively independent, allowing learners to progress lesson by lesson without falling behind if they miss a few. Each chapter includes simple exercises primarily for reviewing the vocabulary and expressions taught in that lesson. Reading exercises are for reference only and can be used for self-study.