Nanjing Foreign Language School (NFLS) is one of the first foreign language schools established under the direct guidance of our beloved late Premier Zhou Enlai.
NFLS advocates the spirit of seeking the truth, scaling the heights, being erudite and modest. It also emphasizes teaching that is “strict, careful, creative and flexible”. The educational target of NFLS is to produce high quality talented students who are ambitious, patriotic, ethical and broad-minded. These students are also civilized, erudite, creative, proficient in certain fields and experts at foreign languages; integrating both knowledge and practice using a healthy body and a sharp mind. In brief, NFLS aims at producing international multi-talented graduates who have a good command of foreign languages with a wide knowledge of Science and Art including powerful abilities to integrate these subjects.
During the last forty years since its establishment, NFLS has been following the educational principles of humanism; paying great attention to cultivating its students’ sense of being the masters of the classroom; developing their potential and actively pursuing quality oriented education. As a result, it has achieved remarkable accomplishments.
The campus of NFLS occupies 45,000 square meters with 55 classes and 2828 students. Its staff and teaching faculty include 265 people among whom are seven special rank teachers and sixty-three senior teachers. Four languages – English, German, French and Japanese – are taught in NFLS. To date, more than 5,000 graduates have been turned out from the halls of Nanjing Foreign Language School.
Based on the learning style of being discreet and practical, NFLS fully respects the development of individual students and strives to create an educational atmosphere of democracy, openness, liveliness and harmony, which is the spirit and pride of NFLS. A special feature of the School is the large variety of opportunities available for the students to develop their other abilities. Students acquire the unity of knowledge and practice by “playing in learning” and “learning by playing”, through all kinds activities, such as the Foreign Language Festival, an Arts Festival, the Reading Festival, Science Week, organized Sports, Spring and Autumn outings, concerts, the Students Union, displays of talent (dance, music, art) on the campus, speech competitions and debates.
Nanjing Foreign Language School values openness, tries to adapt foreign things to China and incorporates elements of diverse culture, resulting in a splendid multi cultural atmosphere on the campus. NFLS has established sister-school relationships with 34 schools abroad; among which are Toho High School in Japan, the Attached School to Washington University in the United States of America, the Fontainebleau Middle School in France, Taylors College in Australia, Hurl Middle School in the United Kingdom and Lisgar High School in Ottawa Canada. This not only enables NFLS to organize teachers and students conveniently to visit for study or to participate in international camps, but also attracts many foreign teachers and students to exchange learning or work. Recently, NFLS has set up the experimental double-diploma Sino Canadian International School. It has also carried out cooperative teaching in a Sino Australian International Class. and has attracted dozens of foreign students from Germany, Italy, Japan, South Korea and other countries. The impact of multi-cultural backgrounds will surely broaden the students’ vision and further develop their abilities.
Every year, many students of Nanjing Foreign Language School stand out and become the best among all participants in various competitions and contests, both home and abroad. Every year, top universities in China and around the world admit large numbers of our students. Today you can never fail to find the figures of the graduates of Nanjing Foreign Language School studying diligently, whether in Beijing University or in Tsinghua University, in Massachusetts Institute of Technology or Yale University, in Stanford University or Cornell University, in Columbia University or Oxford, in Cambridge University or the University of Toronto, in Melbourne University in Australia or Paris University in France, in Berlin Freedom University in Germany or Waseda University in Japan. In recent years, Nanjing Foreign Language School has maintained an extremely high rate of admission rate in the National Matriculation Tests, and ranked as the first in Jiangsu Province successively for several years.
Nanjing Foreign Language School has educated about 200 diplomats for China, seven of whom act as Ambassadors to other countries, eight general consulates and dozens of whom work for our Party and State Leaders such as Deng Xiaoping, Jiang Zemin and Hu Jintao. Many more graduates of NFLS hold leading positions in government. In addition, significant numbers of graduates have become famous experts or scholars.
Today, the reconstruction of the campus of NFLS, costing 100,000,000 RMB, is very close to being completed, while a new campus of NFLS will be erected in the Eastern suburbs of Nanjng. This new school comprises an area of 350 mu with an investment of 200,000,000 RMB. Looking ahead, Nanjing Foreign Language School is facing a bright and prosperous future. Tomorrow, Nanjing Foreign Language School will surely be even more splendid.