B2 Listening and Speaking: The Bright and Dark Side of the Gaokao

This week, I have opted to examine the Gaokao, China’s university entrance exam. By doing so, I aim to stimulate conversation about higher education qualifications, students’ expectations and the justness of competitive tests, like the Gaokao.

As a warmer, you can have a look at the slides and think about your own answers.

Now, you can listen to a video from GLOBALink on YouTube on how the Gaokao, which is considered the most challenging university entry exam in the world, can help students from remote areas as well as poor families overcome their disadvantages and change their destinies. This is a sentence completion activity where you must fill the blanks with one or two words.

Created by

blogdeserena

B2 Listening The Gaokao Journey

You are going to watch a video from Globalink on Youtube. Fill the blanks with one or two words according to what you hear.

The part of the video where speakers use Chinese will obviously not be included in this listening activity.

Read the text before you play the video.

Activity by Serena

The main reason behind Zhang's participation in the Gaokao is to change her ________ through education.

Zhang Hui is one of the ________ students that are going to sit this year's Gaokao.

Gaokao, an exam that will determine whether a student can be enrolled for _______/______ and climb up the social ladder.

Zhang stays attends classes at a ______/_________ in Jingzhai County

The speaker said he took the Gaokao in 2011 and is now a ___________.

Zhang starts her day at six and doesn't finish studying until midnight because she wants to get a ___________/____________.

The majority of Chinese students feel that the Gaokao is the fairest way for universities to select _____________ even though many people criticize it.

Your score is

However, as usual, there is a darker side to everything and therefore in the video below you will hear controversial issues related to this highly competitive university admission test.