Beijing Learns Olympic Etiquette

From kids to cabbies, there is an Olympic push to learn English.

One driver tells CBS News correspondent Barry Petersen that learning English will help give better service to foreigners.

English teacher Li Yang calls his classes "crazy English" and says the Chinese are an in-your-face kind of people, often asking each other about the most personal of details. So foreigners should expect conversations that might be downright frank.

"Any questions we were told not to ask, I will ask -- salary, marriage, religion, everything," Li says. "Because it's real China."

But parts of real China may be a bit much. Beijing is a city where rudeness rules. People litter, push or spit.

So students are giving a dose of polite - handing out "good ways to act" cards that say "line up properly," or "don't be so loud."

The Chinese also have a list of rules for foreigners: don't burn a Chinese flag, don't bring any printed material critical of China and don't start any rallies. Everyone, it seems, has to be on their best behavior.

In the subway, the "best behavior" campaign features fashionable new conductors who have been busy these past two years teaching riders to stop pushing and try a whole new idea: getting in line - a surefire way to impress foreign visitors.

"Smile. Smile has no accent," Li says.

Li is also training Olympic volunteers. So China is dancing to a new tune - the same one mom taught us - that when guests come calling, mind your manners.