In 2014, in the wave of educational reform for secondary and higher education English exams in China, Xueersi, a subsidiary of TAL Education Group, took an important step forward by teaming up with the global renowned education publishing institution, Cambridge University Press, to custom tailor and develop the English proficiency course "Hello English" (HE) for Chinese students. This practice represents the proactive participation of private educational institutions in China in global language education and cultural exchange during the process of promoting the shared use and co-construction of educational resources by the state in the 21st century.

On May 17th, the strategic cooperation between Xueersi English and Cambridge University Press and the fifth-anniversary celebration of the launch of HE was held at the British Embassy. Xueersi released an upgrade plan for its English product system, and jointly announced a new in-depth strategic cooperation with Cambridge University Press. Richard Burn, the British Ambassador to China, Daniel Hutchinson, President of Cambridge University Press Asia, Yuan Jiang, CEO of Cambridge University Press Greater China, Yang Fuguang, President of Xueersi, and Li Lin, Head of Xueersi English, attended and witnessed the event.

Signing ceremony of the strategic cooperation agreement between Xueersi English and Cambridge University Press for the next five years

Joint efforts of Sino-British educational enterprises to establish an exemplary model of international education co-construction

"The partnership between Cambridge University Press and Xueersi has established a successful example for the promotion of language education and Sino-British cultural exchange," said Mr. Richard Burn, the British Ambassador to China, in his opening speech, highly praising the cooperation between the two parties over the past five years.

As one of the oldest publishing houses in the world, Cambridge University Press is renowned in the global academic and educational communities for its profound academic heritage, vast and valuable corpus resources, and professional research teams. With 16 years of deep involvement in Chinese education, Xueersi has accumulated rich practical experience in English teaching, and in recent years, has made frequent efforts in the field of English education for primary and secondary school students.

English is not only a tool for communication but also an important subject for cultivating students' abilities, emotions, attitudes, values, and basic qualities. English learning not only enhances students' language communication and comprehensive English application ability, but also cultivates their independent learning ability, cross-cultural communication ability, and flexible and innovative thinking, thus helping them develop global competencies and become internationalized talents.

Yang Fuguang, President of Xueersi, delivering a speech

Regarding the original intention of the cooperation with Cambridge University Press, Yang Fuguang, President of Xueersi, said, "We hope to base our open language education on international excellent teaching concepts and educational resources, to cultivate children who possess an international perspective, cultural confidence, and are future-oriented. Let English go beyond just a language and truly become a lifelong skill for children."

From introducing original teaching materials to customizing development courses, from jointly cultivating teaching staff to co-building overseas academic research institutes, Xueersi English has always adhered to its brand philosophy of endowing children with "lifelong skills," and has continued to deepen its cooperation with Cambridge University Press, jointly exploring innovative and personalized English teaching.

In 2014, the two parties collaborated to launch the HE primary school curriculum, which is the first set of age-level stratified teaching materials specifically tailored for English international ability standards (European standards) for grades 1 to 6 in China. The Continued Professional Development (CPD) teacher development program was launched in the same year. Up to now, more than 100 Xueersi English teachers have obtained the authoritative CELTA certification, and this training has also become a cradle for delivering excellent backbone teachers for Xueersi English. In 2017, the two parties jointly released the "White Paper on the Current Situation of English Learning for Chinese Primary and Secondary School Students," which provides valuable insights into the development trends of English education for Chinese students. In 2018, taking the opportunity of the visit to China by the British Prime Minister Theresa May, the Xueersi English Overseas Development Academy was established in Cambridge, UK, to further expand cooperation in teacher training, teaching content, research and development, theoretical research and application areas. In addition, a research project centered on Xueersi's six major abilities graph is also underway and will provide a more scientific learning path and ability development reference for K12 students and parents in the future.

Technology empowerment to integrate teaching scenarios and promote personalized and inclusive education

According to Li Lin, Head of Xueersi English, over the past five years, more than one million students nationwide have achieved long-term improvement in language proficiency through the HE course, with over 40 students achieving full marks in the global Cambridge Language Ability Test. At the 5th-anniversary celebration, representatives of outstanding Xueersi students were also invited to attend and receive the "Cambridge Excellent Ambassador" certificate from Mr. Richard Burn, the British Ambassador to China.

Li Lin stated that Xueersi English will continue to expand its dimensions of personalized matching to make high-quality resources more accurately stratified. At the same time, it will further extend diversified teaching methods, leverage technological power to integrate teaching across all scenarios, and build a more complete learning solution based on individual learning situations, allowing high-quality courses to cover more children with different ability levels and learning needs.

It was introduced that in the summer of 2019, Xueersi English will launch the "Excellent System" for primary school English and the "Double Excellence System " for junior high school English. Through more refined stratified teaching, it will help children steadily improve their abilities while studying in school, and provide students with a complete English learning plan from primary school to junior high school. In addition, Xueersi English will also launch the HE online course nationwide, providing high-quality educational resources to more families in a more inclusive way. By integrating "offline teaching, double-teacher classrooms, and online courses" and covering the entire learning scenario, more choices will be provided to children and parents, achieving comprehensive development of abilities and comprehensive education for the future of Chinese society.

At the celebration, representatives of both parties also signed a strategic cooperation agreement for the next five years, announcing the next phase of their cooperation plans. Xueersi will continue to work with Cambridge University Press to not only upgrade its current course products but also expand the scope of resource cooperation, improve teacher training, innovate teaching content, and optimize teaching methods. At the same time, they will actively practice social responsibility and provide more low-threshold, low-priced high-quality educational resources to help achieve educational balance.

Looking at this transcultural education exchange, Xueersi not only "imports" but also actively "goes out," continuously expanding the boundaries of cooperation, standing in the line of global high-quality educational resources, testing its teaching level against global standards, and sending its own education concepts, experience, and resources to the world, demonstrating the strong vitality of Chinese local educational enterprises.