Opportunity to learn

As the pandemic has slowed down globalization, this year's theme was a "connected world" for which "language is an important tool".

Huang Jinliang, vice-president of the school, says the school has held an art performance event in English each year since it was founded in 1981, and the event gradually became the Foreign Language Festival. The school used to host a flea market where students sold spare items, and "deals" had to be done in foreign languages.

"We wanted our students to practice foreign languages," Huang says.

"Most of the work for the Foreign Language Festival is done by our students, which cultivates teamwork along with their ability to plan and communicate."

She says themes for the speaking competition were proposed by third-year students and were mostly related to hot topics that inspired competitors to think deeply.

"The speaking competition is also a platform for senior students to show off their skills, which can inspire and encourage language learning in junior students," Huang says.

The school asked students to adapt the literary works they learned in class.

Ye Mingrui, a second-year student, was director of the drama O Captain! My Captain! The drama was adapted from the 1989 Hollywood film, Dead Poets Society, the plot of which is deeply intertwined with Walt Whitman's poem O Captain! My Captain! On the first day of his high school, Ye's teacher had asked the class to watch the film as their weekend homework.

"We chose this drama because we think the school has influenced and inspired us a lot, which is like the story in the film," Ye says.

More than 30 students from three classes formed the drama's cast and crew. Ye assigned them across six groups-script, directing, acting, props, technology and makeup-and set a timetable and to-do list. The film is set in the 1950s, so the students had to prepare props to reflect that time.

"We made the flags used in the drama and also the school yearbook," Ye says. "I did plenty of communicating during the preparation for the drama, such as negotiating the schedule to use our school's theater and confirm the position of our props and the lights."