Disney English (?????) is a subsidiary of Disney Publishing Worldwide's Disney Learning division that specializes in English language training for young learners, ages 2 to 12, in China using Disney characters. Classes use a curriculum put together by teaching professionals from China, Europe, and the United States. The program uses the "Disney Immersive Storytelling Approach" which creates an immersive environment incorporating Disney characters to make learning more fun for children.
The first Disney-operated learning center opened in Shanghai, China in 2008.
Video Disney English
History
Since the mid-1980s, Disney had licensed its characters out to other English-language training programs. The first center, located on Maoming Road in Shanghai, China, was opened in September 2008. By July 2010, the company had 11 schools in 2 cities, eight in Shanghai and three in Beijing. While the English language instruction market had double since 2005 to $3.1 billion, 30,000 organizations or companies offered private classes in 2010. Addition outlets for the curriculum were under consideration in 2010, distance learning program and a retail language training package.
The opening of additional learning centers coincides with the development of the Shanghai Disneyland Park. The entry into the English teaching market is expected to provide Disney with additional growth opportunities.
With the launch of the Disney owned program, several unauthorized schools using the Disney name or characters have been closed.
Maps Disney English
Program
The program is designed to help extend Disney's brand in China through childhood marketing and coincides with the development of the Shanghai Disneyland Park.
Disney English uses an immersive environment approach that focuses on the claims of Multiple Intelligences and Experiential learning while focusing on communication. The program incorporates singing, interactive games, role-play and other activities aiming to engage children with the language. Classes average only 12 with a maximum of 15 and are given 1.5 to 2 hours per week. The program costs about 12,000 yuan for 96 hours of instruction.
An advisory panel of 19 international educators and early childhood experts to the program include Dr. Jun Liu, head of the English Department at the University of Arizona; Dr. Renee Cherow-O'leary, Professor, English Education, Teacher's College, Columbia University; Dr. Peiya Gu, Professor of English at Soochow University (Suzhou); and Dr. Dilin Liu, Professor of English and Coordinator of the TESOL/Applied Linguistics Program at University of Alabama.
Classes are taught by native English speaking foreign trainers and local bilingual assistant trainers. While teaching, Disney English's foreign trainers are trained in TEFL-C.
Each classroom is equipped with an interactive whiteboard, an additional projection wall, and a sound system. A typical center will have 5 to 10 classrooms, each themed with a specific Disney property. The flag ship center on Maoming Road in Shanghai, China Snow White, The Lion King, Cars, Peter Pan, Tinker Bell, Winnie The Pooh and Toy Story.
The program has been criticized as an effort to market Disney in China. "US entertainment giant Disney saw this as a unique opportunity to teach English to small children, while at the same time establishing an extention [sic] of its branded products and characters across the country." Shang Yang, chairman of Shangyang Enterprise Management Consulting has stated that "They're [Disney] starting years early, brainwashing Chinese children and cultivating them as potential clients in a very indirect, yet penetrating fashion." Mary Bergstrom, founder of Bergstrom Group, a Shanghai Consultancy stated "What Disney is doing now in China is growing a future consumer base." As Wang Bing, an analyst at Philip Securities Research in Shanghai puts it, "Being surrounded by all sorts of Disney products and characters, it's almost impossible for parents and their children not to love Disney."
References
External links
- Disney English Official Website
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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