Charity Chairman of Sohu.com Zhang Chaoyang recently held a live in-person event in Beijing to celebrate the 10th anniversary of his streaming program, "Zhang Chaoyang's English Class." The session, which promotes learning authentic English through reading international news, was also broadcast live on the Sohu Video "Focus Stream," bringing together online and offline audiences for a decade-long knowledge journey.
Reflecting on the gains from a decade of live English classes, Zhang Chaoyang admitted, "Compared to ten years ago, I have become more knowledgeable, with a greater curiosity about the world. By witnessing countless stories across the globe, my understanding of life has also been elevated to a new level." He emphasized that the English world is a treasure trove of knowledge, with much cutting-edge social science and health theory research first published in English. English is not just an exam subject; it helps build diverse thinking, rational and logical reasoning, and allows one to experience a context and understand a culture.
Since its debut on August 6, 2016, "Zhang Chaoyang's English Class" has used current hot international news as learning material, reading news articles word by word and sentence by sentence, and analyzing key vocabulary and authentic English expressions in real-time. Over the decade, the program has completed more than 2,000 live sessions, totaling over 110,000 minutes, with cumulative viewership exceeding 52 million people. Over these ten years, Zhang has read tens of thousands of news articles for class preparation and live sharing.
Where to Begin
Zhang Chaoyang stated that mastering English helps find more connections and a deeper understanding of the world. Addressing the common parental anxiety about children's English learning and how to establish an efficient learning path, Zhang believes that memorizing words in isolation, detached from interest, is the least effective method. He suggested that if someone is interested in a particular field, they can start learning English from that area. He summarized a learning mantra: "Persist in writing, speaking, and practicing more." In China, one can also create a mini English environment by listening to English audio during commutes or cooking, or talking to oneself in English while running. He shared his own bilingual memory method: "When something happens, I immediately describe it in English. Sorting and recording it once strengthens the memory."
Why a Full Decade?
"The sense of ceremony in life is very important! Ten years is a special number. Completing over 2,000 live sessions and reading tens of thousands of news articles, this milestone is worth celebrating properly," Zhang Chaoyang reflected. He said that a decade of persistent reading and live streaming has brought him great rewards, not only blurring the line between reading in English and Chinese but also allowing him to learn more about world events. "When you do anything to the level of tens of thousands, miracles do happen."
Regarding how to become a successful knowledge-based content creator, Zhang Chaoyang believes that imitating something that has been successfully done by others is not the way forward. Instead, it should come from an inner idea. For example, in self-media, if you are interested in something, you express it in your own way, find it particularly suitable, and continuously refine it as you go. This is how you create your own new track, a unique track. He emphasized that content creators, whether for his physics or English classes, are purely driven by intuition, without imitating anyone. They are polished bit by bit, feeling that this way or that way is more appropriate. One thing leads to another; today's in-person class might lead to more in-person events, or even start a trend of English speeches.
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