English learners making headway with chat lines

GUANGZHOU - If you are a native English speaker and happy to talk on a wide range of subjects, you may land a job chatting on the phone with Chinese people eager to improve their skills in the language.

Calling for a brief and meaningful conversation is proving increasingly popular as demand for English language training continues to rise.

Xu Yong, a math teacher in Guangzhou, Guangdong province, registered his 16-year-old son a couple of years ago for the specialist chat-line service run by the E-Easy English company.