The Olympics are coming to China and the locals are getting ready. Mad About English is a 60 minutes documentary about Chinese people learning and speaking English. It’s going to be a hit.

Mad About English! - Official Theatrical Trailer 2008

Release Date:   7th August 2008
Language:  English
Running Time:  90 mins
Rating:  G
Genre:  Documentary
Starring:  Dr David Tool, Li Yang, Jason Yang, Qi Qi, WenLi Liu,
Directed by:  Lian Pek
Local Distributor:  Shaw Organization

Movie Plot 

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! (Yahoo Movies)

Synopsis:

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. (Moviexclusive.com)

MAD ABOUT ENGLISH
Monday June 7 at 10pm ET/PT on CBC Newsworld

Since its successful bid to host the 2008 Summer Olympics, China has been stricken with what the Chinese call yingwen re or 'study English fever'. The goal is to have hundreds of thousands of English speakers ready to greet international visitors when they arrive for the Games.

Mad About English reveals the frenzy as English fever spreads to policemen, taxi drivers, waiters, official dignitaries, even elderly matrons involved in community services. Textbooks can be found in bookstores across Beijing, and each morning audio lessons of conversational English can be heard at the city's supermarkets. Parents send their children to special boot camp-style English training programs where, in a unique teaching method, instructors encourage their pupils to scream out their English lessons at the top of their lungs.

Mad About English is directed by Lian Pek and produced by Siok Sian Pek-Dorji .

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