English Education for Rural Children in China

As 2026 begins, we take time to reflect on the past year — a journey marked by learning, collaboration, innovation, and meaningful impact. We are proud to celebrate the milestones achieved throughout 2025.

In 2025, we continued our commitment to improving the English proficiency of disadvantaged students in China through high-quality educational interventions. Over the course of the year, our online English programs reached 4,132 students across a wide range of provinces and municipalities, including Henan, Shanghai, Ningxia, Yunnan, Guangxi, Anhui, Jiangxi, Fujian, Shaanxi, Gansu, Guangdong, Tianjin, Beijing, Hubei, Shandong, Shanxi, and Inner Mongolia — demonstrating the truly national reach of our programs.

To deliver this impact, we recruited and trained more than 350 volunteers, who collectively delivered 4,158 English lessons. In virtual classrooms, volunteers and teachers used engaging methods such as picture books, text–image dialogues, games, competitions, and songs, strengthening students’ language skills while building confidence and enthusiasm for speaking English.

One of the highlights of 2025 was the successful launch of our Phonics classes during the winter break, followed by the expansion of intensive Phonics courses throughout the year. These courses helped students develop a stronger understanding of pronunciation rules, significantly improving phonemic awareness, vocabulary acquisition, and reading fluency.

The impact of these programs is evident in feedback from students and parents. One parent shared that when she went to pick up her child, the child excitedly said, “My teacher told me to hurry back and tell you the good news — I did well on my exam and have improved again.” The parent added that after just two or three Stepping Stones classes, her child told her, “Mom, this is actually really helpful. Words I didn’t know before — I’ve learned them all here.” This testimony highlights not only measurable academic progress, but also growing confidence, curiosity, and motivation.

We extend our sincere gratitude to our volunteers, donors, and partners for their unwavering support. Your commitment makes this work possible. As we look ahead to 2026, your continued support is more important than ever to ensure the sustainability and growth of our programs. We wish you good health, continued success, and happiness in the year ahead, and we look forward to working together to create even greater impact.

Links:

• Read more about our programs on our website

As the fall semester begins, we are pleased to share that our online English interventions have continued to play a central role in 2025, empowering thousands of disadvantaged students across China with essential 21st-century skills.

From January to September 2025, our online English programs reached 2,663 students nationwide. To support this effort, we recruited and trained over 280 dedicated volunteers, who together delivered more than 2,050 interactive lessons. Our students came from a wide range of provinces and municipalities, including Henan, Shanghai, Ningxia, Yunnan, Guangxi, Anhui, Jiangxi, Fujian, Shaanxi, Gansu, Guangdong, Tianjin, Beijing, Hubei, Shandong, Shanxi, and Inner Mongolia — demonstrating the truly national reach of our programs.

In the online classroom, volunteers and teachers used a variety of engaging activities — picture book reading, text-image dialogues, games, group competitions, and songs — to make English learning dynamic and enjoyable. These interactive methods not only helped students practice vocabulary, sentences, and dialogues, but also fostered confidence and enthusiasm for speaking English and encouraged them to apply their learning to real-life situations.

Building on the success of our pilot during the 2025 winter break, we expanded our intensive Phonics Courses over the summer, helping students strengthen foundational pronunciation rules. This improved their phonemic awareness, vocabulary acquisition, and reading fluency. In addition, our English Corner sessions have continued to attract more middle school students, giving them valuable opportunities to practice oral communication in informal conversations with volunteers.

We are especially excited to have welcomed more than 2,300 students into the fall 2025 semester. This growth reflects both the demand for high-quality English education among disadvantaged communities and the dedication of our volunteers and supporters.

None of this would be possible without the commitment of our volunteers, the generosity of our donors, and the encouragement of our partners and supporters. Together, we are giving children across China the tools, confidence, and opportunities they need to succeed. Thank you for being an essential part of this journey.

Links:

• Read more about our programs on our website