Nanjing Foreign Language School

Nanjing Foreign Language School 南京外国语学校
Address
30 East Beijing Rd Nanjing , Jiangsu China
Coordinates	32°03′30″N 118°47′47″E
Information
Type	Public
Motto	中国灵魂、世界胸怀 Chinese Soul, Global Vision 求实、奋进、博学、谦逊 Seek the truth Scale the height Be erudite Be modest
Established	1963
Principal	Zou Zheng(邹正)
Number of students	3739 (2011 Jun.6, Main Campus)
Song	世界情怀
Nickname	南外、南夫拉斯
Website	www.nfls.com.cn

Nanjing Foreign Language School (NFLS, Chinese: 南京外国语学校), established in 1963 under the direction of Zhou Enlai, the first Premier of PRC, is a middle and high school located in Nanjing, Jiangsu, People's Republic of China. It is one of the oldest foreign language schools in China, and is widely recognized as a prestigious high school in China, especially for its high number of enrollment into top universities in China and abroad .

History

Establishment and Early History

In the early 1960s, the Chinese Government recognized a shortage of diplomats with strong language potency. To address this issue, a number of foreign language schools were established in major cities of China under the direction of Prime Minister Zhou Enlai, in order to cultivate the diplomatic talents in demand. One of these schools was the then Jiangsu Labor and Farmer Instant High School, which was renamed Nanjing Foreign Language School upon its re-establishment in 1963. The instant high school, which had served as a pre-college training school for cadres, had better faculties and facilities than other secondary schools, paving a good foundation for the development of Nanjing Foreign Language School. There were students of three different grades in the school's first semester: the 3^rd grade, selected from various elementary schools in Nanjing; the 7^th grade, admitted from current year graduates; and the 10^th grade, who had already studied German and French in the No.11 Middle School. The school was established as a boarding school, which was rare among Chinese elementary and secondary schools, in order to foster a better atmosphere for language learning.

The campus was originally a Japanese military camp during the Second Sino-Japanese War, with three quadrangles for soldiers, a western-style mansion for officers, and a training ground for military training. Dormitories, a three-story teaching building, and a ceremony hall were added during the instant high school period. In 1965, a new main teaching building was constructed, which was called "The Car Building" by students and faculties due to its shape resembling a truck.

School Structure

Nanjing Foreign Language School consists of a three-year middle school and a three-year high school offering the National Curriculum. In addition to the National Curriculum, NFLS also offers three international programs, including the International Baccalaureate, GCE A-Level, and BCA program.

The current principal is Mr. Zou Zheng.

As of 2019, NFLS has established two branch schools in Nanjing and around Jiangsu Province. These schools are established in collaboration with local governments, and

• NFLS Xianlin Campus, established in 2002 in collaboration with Nanjing Government, twelve-year private boarding school;
• NFLS Hexi Campus, established in June 2012, three-year public middle school;
• Nanjing Pukou Foreign Language School, established in August 2012, nine-year public school;
• NFLS Fangshan Campus, established in 2018, twelve-year private school

Nanjing Foreign Language School has provided A-Level courses since 2006. It also has a program working with most of the 20 top universities in Australia and another program with some top 20 universities in Canada. Now NFLSers are studying or living in over 30 countries.

Admissions

Widely recognized as one of the best middle/high schools in China, admission to NFLS is highly selective.

Junior School admissions

Elementary graduates apply to Nanjing Foreign Language School by taking an interview. Application for interview is available for all elementary graduates in Nanjing, who are also free to choose the language for admission (this determines not the language of the interview, but rather the language studied in the foreign language curriculum afterwards), including English, French, German, and Japanese. The total enrollment number is usually 380, and the number of students qualified for interview is 8 times the enrollment number, around 3,200. An open computer allocation carried out by the Student Recruitment Committee office of Nanjing will be needed if the number of students applying for interview exceeds the expected qualification number. The eligible applicants then take a school-organized interview on English capabilities to determine the final qualification. Contents of the interview are officially declared to be restricted within course contents of standard elementary school textbooks. Various subjects, in fact, are tested, notably English language and Mathematics. Detailed test questions in the interview are not officially open to public. The final qualification is based on results of the interview, each language with a specific admission line. The enrollment number of students who choose English is approximately 330 and varies among different years, while admissions for each "minor" languages usually do not exceed 20.

Before 1998, the school admission process involved two rounds of competition each year. In the first round, pupils compete within their resident districts of the city, and then about 1000 of them in total were selected for the next round. The chosen applicants were required to take an entrance exam to test their verbal and math skills. Only 200 top candidates could be admitted.

From 1998 to 2002, the first round of competition was abolished, because it was considered to be unfair for students in different city districts. Therefore, pupils who were going to graduate could freely sign up for the entrance exam. The response was overwhelming with thousands of pupils eagerly joining the competition each year. In 2002, the number of applicants was more than 10,000. Around 150 students was selected for admission with full financial aid, with another 150 selected for partial aid or self-sponsored enrollment.

Recruitment of top students in such a large scale for a high school was unprecedented in Nanjing, and residents in Nanjing gradually formed a habit of judging the quality of an elementary school by looking at how many of its students could be admitted to NFLS, which sparked a high degree of controversy. For a long time, elementary school teachers and some parents were being criticized for placing too much pressure on students, and the fierce competition for entering NFLS obviously made the situation worse. Furthermore, other top high schools contending for talented students complained about NFLS's unfair practice and accused the city's education council for being partial to NFLS.

In order to relive pupils' burden of taking exams, some people suggested that the number of students allowed to take the entrance exams of NFLS should be strictly limited, and each elementary school should recommend several students who had good performance not only in exams but also in extracurricular activities. However, this idea was considered to be unrealistic, because the selection criteria were too vague and impractical, and might easily cause unfairness for schools and individual pupils.

In 2003, an even more controversial admission policy was carried out. Since 2003, the school is still allowed for citywide recruitment, but with an additional preliminary random allocation procedure executed by a computer.

For instance, assume for year 2009 the number of applicants is 4,000 and the number of planned admits is 300, then only 300*8=2400 applicants are actually allowed to proceed to take the entrance exam, always multiplied by a factor of 8. The 2,400 candidates would be randomly selected among the 4,000 applicants by a computer algorithm, with high degree of public supervision. This new policy destroyed the decision power of exams, and allowed more room for other schools to select good students, but aroused serious arguments concerning the fairness for individual students.

Senior School admissions

For students from junior high school of NFLS, enrollment qualifications are determined by a combination of standard High School Admission Examination(Zhongkao) in Nanjing and a school-held language examination. Students' combined scores of the two examinations are ranked, and the top 320 students are qualified for high school enrollment. Admissions from other junior high schools to NFLS has two options:

1. Applicants take another language test different from that for on-campus students, whose score, combined with the Zhongkao score, are used to determine qualification.
2. Applicants participate in a school-organized test on STEM capabilities. Only very limited number of students are admitted in this way in different subjects. This option is also shared with students from NFLS junior school.

Before 2003, the senior high school of NFLS only enrolled students from its own middle school, with a small number of elimination. Since 2003, students from other middle schools can also apply and compete for the entrance to NFLS, by taking the city's public exams and an additional English language test.

Facilities

NFLS possesses and offers a great variety of facilities that significantly enhances teaching and learning experience. Most standard classrooms on the main campus are equipped with touchable screens, presentation systems, and smart announcement platforms. Library system includes a main library and foreign language reading rooms, each with hundreds of "original books" and a nice reading space. A STEM laboratory is built for advanced experiments and curriculum in STEM elective courses, including UV spectroscope, IR spectroscope, TGA, HPLC, HP-MS, and elemental analyzer. The School Stadium has multiple facilities for various sports, including table tennis room, indoor basketball field, gym, badminton field, volleyball field, and others. Other facilities are also present, such as the acoustic room and high-tech recording classroom.

Academics

Nanjing Foreign Language School employs the standard education system of Jiangsu Province in disciplines other than foreign languages. Students may select one from English, German, French and Japanese as their major language as early as their applications for admission. Comparing to the other languages, English is the major choice, consisting approximately 330 students in a grade. Enrollments of minor languages are controlled to be around 20 students for each language, and the admission score line in the interview vary correspondingly, as mentioned above.

Comparing with other middle schools, numbers of language lessons rise to 10 classes per week, including one class given by foreign teachers for almost every grade. Language courses in NFLS are smaller in class size than other courses, with only 20-30 students; small-size classrooms are also specially designed for such class model. For English courses, junior high school students use special textbooks instead of standard textbooks in China, while students in senior high school use New Concept English 3.

NFLS is reputed as a highly competitive school, at least in Nanjing. As of 2019, all 19 students taking Gaokao attained scores above the first standard score; Average score in Zhongkao was 620 out of 700.

Various selective courses are available for all students. Topics range from liberal arts to STEM, from sporting to lectures, and from Olympiad training to cartoon design. Students are recommended to take 1-2 selective courses, but not as a compulsory. Some courses are certified international course programs, such as FHAO courses; others are generally school-based courses, such as STEM courses, debate, and MUN.

Student Life

Students in NFLS are involved in numerous extracurricular activities. With both rich school-based resources and competitive community, NFLS students excel in activities of various fields, whether liberal arts or STEM.

Olympiads

NFLS has strong coaching resources in various fields, notably Mathematics, Physics, and CS, which contributed to a considerable number of students excelling in STEM competitions. By far, students from NFLS has won 9 gold medals in international STEM Olympiads (IPhO 1996, 2012, IChO 2008, IOI 2005, 2006, 2009, 2013, 2013, 2019). In year 2019 alone, 6 students have been selected into national Olympiad teams (IOI 1, IYPT 2, ISIJ 1, ILO 2).

Liberal Arts

NFLS has a long tradition in prestigious liberal arts competitions, such as MUN and debate. Organized as elective courses and student clubs, students benefit greatly from a competitive, helpful environment.

Festivals

Various festivals organized by the school are available for students at many times of the year. Notable festivals include:

• The Art Festival, usually on the last 2 weeks of December. Each class rehearses and presents a drama of music play at the grade show, and tops of each grades have the chance to perform in the school performance; special offers are given to school organizations, such as the school chorus. Other activities include singing contest, instrumental contest, calligraphy contest, and exhibitions.
• The New Year Party, held on the last day of school before January 1st. Classes are dismissed in the afternoon, and students prepare special shows and games for classmates to enjoy. Food delivery is specially allowed. In the evening, a magnificent party is held on the playground, with bonfires or colored lights lit. Students, musical bands, and clubs prepared songs, instrument shows, dances, and various other activities for students to enjoy and participate (such as bonny dancing and treasure hunt). Activities usually last till 7 o'clock.
• The Foreign Language Festival, taking place on late March. Similar to the Art Festival, students present dramas or musical plays in groups of classes, competing for tickets into school performance. Special offers are given to plays from minor language classes. On the morning assembly of the first week of the festival, a speech delivered by the school principal will be translated into four languages. English Corner is held on the first Monday of the festival, in which students prepare cultural exhibitions in groups of classes on the playground; students winning "credits" from a certain amount of classes receive special gifts. Other activities include spelling contests.
• Reading Festival, in April or May. Students write reviews for books in foreign languages, and selected essays are edited into pamphlets. Students also make bookmarks for exchange. Other activities include speech contest.

Apart from these, various other activities are also available, such as Science Week, May 4th debate, Month of Charity.

School Clubs and Societies

NFLS students have the tradition of establishing and running diverse, successful student clubs and societies. Clubs are generally highly-professional, and some even cooperate with the school in activities, such as the American Debate club. Annual recruitment for all clubs, including newly-founded ones, is in October. Students can join in as many clubs as they like, but 2 or 3 clubs are recommended. Clubs organize numerous events at almost all times of a semester, and an annual grand exhibition is held in late May in which clubs are free to exhibit their achievements. The clubs are then graded by a special committee from 2 to 5 stars; clubs with 3 stars or more are permitted to continue their activities in the next semester, and are encouraged to demonstrate their activities in a club yearbook published by school.

Clubs activities are generally open to Senior school students, yet Juniors can form special clubs of their own, and can participate in club activities without joining as members. Notable clubs include, but are not limited to, Chemistry and Life club, Chinese Culture club, Dance club, Philosophy society, and Transportation Club.

Music

Days on the Beijing East Road (北京东路的日子) is a pop music song and video—Dedicated to Nanjing Foreign Language School. The song quickly became popular on the Internet because of its moving lyrics and beautiful melody. Wang Yuan, an alumnus of Nanjing Foreign Language School and a current freshman at the Johns Hopkins University, wrote the song and planned the music video.

Notable Alumni

• Zhu Bangzao, ambassador of China to Tunisia (2002 - 2003), ambassador of China to Switzerland (2004 - 2008), ambassador of China to Spain (2009 - 2014)

• Lu Shaye (1982), ambassador of China to Senegal (2006 - 2009), ambassador of China to Canada (2017 - 2019), Chinese Ambassador to France and Monaco (2019 - )

• Liu Mingyan (1991), Peter and Evelyn Fuss Chair of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Michigan

• Sun Ning (1999), translator of Xi Jinping

• Zhang Zetian (2011), socialite who married to Liu Qiangdong, CEO of JD.com.

See also

• List of Foreign Language Schools in China
• Notable High Schools in Nanjing

External links

• Official website Template:Zh icon