| Wuhan Foreign Languages School 武汉外国语学校 |
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|---|---|
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爱国 好学 自强 图新
(Patriotic, Inquisitive, Self-strengthening, and Innovative) |
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| Location | |
| Wuhan, Hubei, China | |
| Information | |
| Type | Public coeducational |
| Established | 1964 |
| Website | www.wfls.com.cn |
Wuhan Foreign Languages School (simplified Chinese: 武汉外国语学校; traditional Chinese: 武漢外國語學校), or WFLS, is a secondary school founded in 1964 in Wuhan, People's Republic of China. It offers education from 7th grade to 12th grade, while its affiliated elementary school covers the 1-6th grades. WFLS's curriculum places a particular emphasis on foreign language training and maintains rigorous standards in the arts and sciences. Languages other than English, such as French, German, Japanese, and Russian, are offered. Students entering 7th grade at WFLS choose an available foreign language track to pursue throughout their secondary education.
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WFLS was one of the first seven foreign language schools initiated in China by the then Premier, Zhou Enlai (周恩来) and Vice Premier, Chen Yi (陈毅) during the 1960s. It was founded as a specialty school to train foreign language speakers, with the mission to cope with the increasing national demand for bilingual labor in such sectors as foreign affairs, international trade and diplomacy. WFLS has since transformed into a comprehensive secondary school, retaining the heritage of a strong curriculum in foreign languages and cultures. The school now operates under the philosophy of "foreign language specialty, equal emphases on arts and sciences, and international cooperation (外语特色、文理并重、国际合作)," and has been listed as a key secondary school in Hubei Province since 1982. It has also gained the status of a "model secondary school" in the province since the year of 2000[1].
Most of the approximately 2,000 students live on WFLS's two campuses. One of the campuses is located in downtown Hankou and the other, by the Prince Lake (太子湖) in the Wuhan Economic and Technological Development Zone in Hanyang. Most buildings in the two campuses were built after 1998. Another campus is being constructed in the district of Wuchang.
WFLS attracts tens of thousands of 6th graders to sit for its entrance examination every year. Each year, approximately three hundred students are admitted. Although most renowned for its education in disciplines pertaining to the liberal arts, WFLS also boasts an outstanding faculty in the natural sciences. The average score of WFLS students in the national college entrance examination is usually among the highest in the city and the province. To enrich the intellectual experience of its students, the school also provides a large collection of elective courses in addition to the national-standard high school curriculum[2].
WFLS has established close connections with the Raffles Institution in Singapore. Every year a small number of students graduated from junior high (9th grade) in WFLS are sent to continue their education in Singapore. WFLS also has regular exchange programs with a number of high schools and universities in Australia, Austria, France, Germany, Japan, New Zealand, the United States, and the United Kingdom; they include the Shady Side Academy in Pittsburgh, USA, Lycée Montaigne in Bordeaux, France, and the Max-Planck middleschool in Duisburg, Germany[3].
In 2011, WFLS partnered with the Municipal Government and the Bureau of Education of Wuhan, along with a few other leading secondary schools in the city and the province, to start an online learning platform "istudy·武外在线 (istudy-WFLS Online)". istudy-WFLS aims to share with the public the educational resources in the consortium by providing VOD recordings of course lectures at each participating school[4].