2018 XMFLS Foreign Language Season kicks off
The 2018 Xiamen Foreign Language School (XMFLS) Foreign Language Season was launched on Thursday at its junior school campus.
During the opening ceremony, 24 classes from the eighth and ninth grades presented the cultures in their own way, especially the football cultures of the 24 teams qualified for the FIFA 2018 World Cup. The city’s official website xmnn.cn broadcast live the whole show.
The three-month long festival combines foreign languages with sports, technology, and arts, providing opportunities to explore the role foreign languages played in these fields. It will last until December.
The Foreign Language Season is the updated edition of the school’s Foreign Language Festival, which had been held annually since 2007.
Zheng Yuanpeng, Vice Principal of the school, said: “Last year, we updated the ten-year-long Foreign Language Festival to the Foreign Language Season, because we want to provide opportunities for active learning. ”
Under the slogan of “Beyond the stage, to the world”, this year’s edition will hold three themed activities in the following three months respectively. The theme of October is”Foreign languages make sports more exciting”; November's theme is “Foreign languages make technology more magical” and December's is “Foreign languages make arts more wonderful”.
“We hope that these activities could help our students better understand the world and develop a global vision,” Mr. Zheng added.
The annual event is a festival belonging to the students across the school. Huang Shengwen, a seventh-grader, said that the event not only brought her great joy but also created a pleasant atmosphere to experience international cultures and build up vocabulary.
Zheng Benzhen, a ninth-grader, said that she was proud of the Foreign Language Season, which is unique to the XMFLS, and that the festival provided a cross-cultural communication experience.
Alongside the Foreign Language Festival was the launch of the 20th “Star of Outlook” English Talent Competition in Fujian. Zhao Yinqi, a host of the annual nationwide English speech contest, attended the launching ceremony and exchanged ideas about public speaking with students and teachers from the school.
Mr. Zhao said the “Star of Outlook” English Talent Competition aims to set up a stage for English learners across the country to express themselves, show their talents, and develop critical thinking skills.
The competition is scheduled to be held nationwide from October 2018 to August 2019.