New Oriental teachers now bilingual live broadcasters promoting products
Given everyone is routinely online shopping because of the pandemic, it's an opportunity to learn some English using the former after-school tutoring service giant New Oriental's live-streaming sales room.
Like other tutoring providers, New Oriental suffered from the for-profit tutoring crackdown in China last year.
But its founder Yu Minhong has found a new way for his team – building an e-commerce platform Dongfangzhenxuan, which aims to help farmers sell their agricultural products, and provide education during the live-streaming sales time.
The New Oriental teachers' bilingual live broadcasters promote various products.
When selling the honey peaches from Shaanxi Province, the live broadcasters took out a board and wrote down relevant words and terms such as "honey peach," "seasonal," "sweet & juicy" and "fragrant."
Two live broadcasters promote honey peaches from Shaanxi Province.
For canned luncheon meat, the broadcasters brought the tongue twister "Can you can a can as a canner can can a can?"
Viewers left comments such as: "I came here mainly for having an English speech rather than making an order," and "I've learned so much and that deserves an order."
Some newcomers were surprised about this mode.
"I'm confused and don't know what I should do – making an order or taking notes," one commented.
Many who had attended New Oriental courses when they were young now buy New Oriental goods.
The most popular live broadcaster is Dong Yuhui, a New Oriental English teacher who has taught 500,000 students over the past eight years.
Dong Yuhui teaches relevant terms when selling steak and pans.
On Friday morning, more than 6,700 orders of peaches were made in Dong's sales room shortly after he began the promotion.
By noon, more than 40,000 people viewed this sales program and it received more than 5 million likes.
As well as his humorous way of teaching and standard British accent, his positive attitude toward life also attracts viewers. Once when talking about a product, he left the promotional message, "What does not kill you makes you stronger", to encourage viewers.
On Friday, New Oriental's stock value was up nearly 40 percent on the Hong Kong bourse.
