Li Yang (Crazy English)

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Li Yang (Simplified Chinese: 李阳, b. 1969) is the Chinese creator of Crazy English, an unorthodox method of teaching English. He claimed to have taught English to more than 20 million people in a decade.^[1]

Li Yang was born in Urumqi, Xinjiang Province. As a child, he was very introverted.^[2] He entered Lanzhou University in 1986. It was during his time in that University when he invented Crazy English. He graduated in 1990 and went on to work for the Northwest Electronic Equipment Institute in Xi'an, Shaanxi Province. He continued to practice English using this method, often standing on top of the office building where he worked and shouting English.

He began promoting his method on a large scale until 1994 when he founded Li Yang Cliz English Promotion Studio. Today, his method has gained a very large amount of popularity in China, even attaining celebrity status. The method has become popular in other Asian countries as well. He lectures to crowds of 20 to 30,000, and visits an average of 15 cities a month. The proceeds from a single lecture can gross a million yuan. ^[3] His company, Stone-Clitz, profits from the series of Crazy English books. He plans to open Crazy Chinese offices in the USA and Europe, to promote education of Chinese among Westerners.

His philosophy in language-teaching can be political. He believes that English learning is the most important step to making China the world's most powerful nation. ^[4] His personal motto is "stimulating patriotism, advocating national spirits, conquering English, revitalizing China." ^[5] He is critical of the Chinese educational system and how it gives children a lack of confidence. ^[6]

The 2000 documentary Crazy English by director Zhang Yuan followed Li on some of his travels. Li dislikes the film and believes it misrepresents him.^[7] Zhang Yuan claims that the film is neutral and portrays him fairly. ^[8]

[edit] Li Yang's method for teaching English

Li Yang's method starts with pronunciation rather than grammar. Li Yang has developed hand symbols to correspond with different vowel sounds. These are effective in teaching pronunciation, especially with large groups of people.

Once the students have mastered pronunciation, they begin to prepare short speeches. The speeches are usually not prepared by themselves, but taken from a book or other source. Speeches are always memorized.