Nanjing Foreign Language School

Starting from the mid 1950s, the Chinese Government recognized its 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, aiming 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 in Nanjing, paving a good foundation for the development of Nanjing Foreign Language School. There were students of three different grades in the school's first Class: the 3rd grade, selected from various elementary schools in Nanjing; the 7th grade, admitted from current year graduates; and the 10th 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 environment 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. 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.

Despite its advantages over other high schools in facilities and support, the school's early development was largely restrained by economic and educational limitations in China. Teaching buildings with modern teaching facilities were not available, and "non-built-up" areas, such as woods, pond, river, and agricultural lands, were still part of the campus. However, NFLS managed to maintain an advanced education philosophy that focused more on "quality-oriented education", especially regarding foreign language education.

Elementary graduates apply to Nanjing Foreign Language School by taking an interview.[7] 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[7] and varies among different years, while admissions for each "minor" languages usually do not exceed 20.[7]

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.[8]

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.

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).[10] In year 2019 alone, 6 students have been selected into national Olympiad teams (IOI 1, IYPT 2, ISIJ 1, ILO 2).[11]

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.

The annual student union election, which takes place every September, is one of the major student events of NFLS main campus. Student of all grades on campus are eligible for votes, while only Grade 10 and 11 students are eligible running for positions. Candidates run for various positions in groups of two, starting their preparation during summer vacations. In early September, a group of random students are selected for voting administrations. For the whole 3rd week of September, the candidates and their supporting groups can rally for their campaigns with finely-designed posters, slogans, tours around the campus, speeches, and various other activities, before classes begin and during lunchbreaks. Special activities and contests are designed for specific positions, including:

• Debate for Student Union Chairmen, during the 4th week's morning meeting of September; candidates running for chairmen pose critical questions on their rivals' proposed policies;
• Tour of Daxinggong Campus on Friday, 3rd week, in which candidates for Chairmen visit Junior 3 students on Daxinggong Campus to rally for their supports;
• Poster contest for Minister of Publicity, with themes varying from year to year;
• Talent show for Minister of Arts.

Besides on-campus promotion, each candidate also create a short video introducing themselves and promoting their campaigns. As a noticeable trend, the candidates are investing more into the video part, hoping to give greater visual impressions on voters.

A series of pre-recorded final speech are broadcast to the whole school on Monday, 4th week of September, in which each candidate restates their proposals and policies; the students then vote for the candidates they support. The results are released shortly after. One group of candidate will win for each position, and if the winner if from Grade 11 instead of 10, an additional group of Chairman/Minister Assistant will also be selected.

The Student Union generally plays a supportive role in school administration to the authorities, such as managing regular student disciplinary records, organizing campus activities, and delivering certain information from the school authorities, while efforts have been proposed to expand power of the student government, with little progress. Terms of service for each position is one year, and students are eligible to run for a different position the next year.

Students of each grade vote for their own Heads and Ministers in the subsequent month, yet on a much smaller scale. Students in IB, A-Level, and BCA Curriculum organize their own student governments and elections, with similar processes.

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

• The Art Festival, usually during the last 2 weeks of December. Each class rehearses and presents a drama or music play for the grade show, and upon teacher and student ratings, tops classes have the chance to perform in the school performance. The rankings of grade performances are always subjected to great controversies and argumanets. 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 1. Classes are dismissed in the afternoon, and students prepare shows and games for classmates to enjoy. Food delivery services to campus are specially allowed. In the evening, a magnificent party is held on the playground, with bonfires or colored lights lit. Students, musical bands, and clubs prepare songs, instrument live 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. The magnificant final school performances are normally held in People's Auditorium on Changjiang Rd. 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 4 debate, Month of Charity.

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.

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.

Major musical events on campus include:

• Singing and Instrument Contests during the Art Festival;
• New Year Party live shows.