ABSTRACT
Our Dali Autonomous Region formally opened its doors to foreign guests in 1984; before this date it had been a "closed region." A big hotel, the Er Hai Hotel in Xiaguan, equipped with modern facilities, was ready for use. Unfortunately, only a very few of the hotel staff could speak any English. In Xiaguan there were plenty of English teachers in each middle school, but it was said that although these teachers were good at school-textbook English, when conversing with English-speaking tourists they didn't know how to begin.
