English Craze in China : Documentary – Mad About English

If you have seen this movie, go find it. I just accidentally bumped into Mad About English (我为英语狂) by Singaporean Lian Pek during late night on channel 8 and found it to be absolutely brilliant. See China and ways of learning English like you’ve never imagined before

Here’s the synopsis :

Since winning the bid to host the Olympics, China’s citizens have been stricken with what they call ‘ying wen re’ – English fever! Beginning a passionate love affair with what was once the forbidden tongue of the ‘decadent’ West, "Mad About English!" follows the inspiring and heart-warming efforts of a city preparing to host the world by learning English. With half a million or more visitors expected during the games, the stakes are high for our endearing cast of characters for whom speaking English is now national service!

 

 

Have you ever seen 10,000 students learning English from one teacher – all at the same time?
Have you ever met a detective whose ‘mission impossible’ is to arrest bad grammar? Or encountered a 74 year-old retiree who thinks nothing of ambushing foreigners on the streets just so he can practice his English? Or heard a Chinese policeman speak English in a New York Bronx accent?
If you haven’t, catch Mad About English! – the amazing story of 1,000,000,000 people and their MAD MAD MAD rush to learn English! As the clock ticks down to next month’s Olympics, China’s love affair with the English language has reached feverish proportions. With half a million or more visitors descending on Beijing for the Games, can the Chinese pull it off with their newly-acquired English? Mad About English! follows the inspiring and heart-warming efforts of a city preparing to host the world by learning a once-forbidden tongue.

 

 

Shot entirely in China by Singaporean filmmaker Lian Pek, Mad About English! is the first locally-made documentary feature that’s making its premiere as a full theatrical commercial release. As a genre, it single-handedly conjures up the word “docu-comedy”, screening more like a comedy than a traditional documentary.

 

[I don’t understand how come it’s on Israeli TV when it’s not out in China and Singapore yet. Strange.]

In an odd nationalist-fascist kind of way, it made me think I’m not doing enough to better my Chinese