Established 2004 Website gafl.hs.kr[1] | Principal Sungeun Jun | |
Motto Nurturing Creative Global Leaders Dedicated To Serve All Humankind | ||
Gyeonggi Academy of Foreign Languages, or GAFL (경기외국어고등학교, 京畿外國語高等學校) is a foreign language high school located in Uiwang-si, Gyeonggi-do, Korea. It is equipped with two student dormitories, each for different genders, with its own dormitory inspectors as staff. Students are divided into eight classes per grade by language (English & Japanese, English & Chinese, Japanese, and Chinese) in which they would like to major. It was originally established under the name of Myongji Foreign Language High School on March 2, 2004 by Myongji Foundation. It was run as Myongji Foreign Language High School for 5 years, but due to declining financial situation of Myongji Foundation, the school was taken over by Bong-ahm Institute in 2008. Consequently,Bong-ahm Institute changed the name of the school to the current name of Gyeonggi Academy of Foreign Languages, with changes in various areas, including the principal, school uniform, dormitory inspectors and operation of school cafeteria. Although it kept the original subjects, or "majors", GAFL's international department changed the curriculum of its international curriculum department to International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme in 2011, making GAFL the first Korean high school to adopt the program. Currently, there are nine years worth of graduates, with alumni spread over diverse universities, including domestically prominent SKY (universities) and various universities abroad.
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Myongji Foreign Language High School Era
Myongji Foreign Language High School was a dormitory-based foreign language high school that accepted students from all over the country, mainly through its individual and unique admission tests. The students lived in the dormitory, and studied at night under the supervision of the dormitory inspectors, who were outsourced by the school. Remaining at school on weekends and during vacation was optional, but students had to follow a strict timetable that regulated activities most of the time. In the absence of school teachers, the dorm inspectors would take the place of chaperoning the students and their activities. To accommodate the students' needs, there were various facilities such as laundry room, gym, and interestingly enough, a 7-Eleven convenience store (which was rumored to be the second highest branch in sales throughout all of South Korea) inside the school. The academic performance of Myongji students steadily improved over time, peaking at the 3rd highest in 2011 College Scholastic Ability Test in all of South Korea.
Gyeonggi Academy of Foreign Languages: former era (until 6th generation)
However, with the conversion of the school into Gyeonggi Academy of Foreign Languages, the school took a drastic turn. In admissions, it could no longer test applying students in maths, and had to take into account their middle school grades to a larger extent due to change of government regulations. The school uniform also changed, from the previous 2 versions (winter and summer) to 3 versions (winter formal and casual, and summer). The school also scouted Hashik Park, a former vice-principal of Hankuk Academy of Foreign Studies and Hankuk Academy of Foreign Studies to be GAFL's new principal. Under Principal Park's running of the school, GAFL developed various student clubs, including a club pertaining to lacrosse. In terms of dormitory, staffing change was made in dormitory inspectors; the school hired a new group of dormitory inspectors that were regarded as a lot less strict than the group before. Amenities such as towels and laundry service were also made free to the students. However, the 6th generation of students still followed much of the same curriculum and education infrastructure as previous generations of students did.
Gyeonggi Academy of Foreign Languages: latter era (7th generation ~)
From this time period, the school took even more of a drastic turn. It could no longer accept students from provinces other than Gyeonggi due to change in government regulations. However, it was accepted to incorporate the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme, one of the first Korean high schools to do so. This entailed a change of system and infrastructure for the students; as opposed to the past, the subjects, or "majors" were now divided into four categories containing local English, international English(IBDP), Chinese and Japanese departments.
Majors
In both Myongji Foreign Language High School and GAFL, students were divided into classes centered around certain "majors", which meant that the classes pertaining to that major would receive more education on that area. Traditionally, there were 2 classes for each major, and these majors acted as major factors in school management and student activities by providing a clear boundary between groups of students.
Myongji Foreign Language High School
In Myongji Foreign Language High School, there were four majors: English(major) and Chinese(minor), English(major) and Japanese(minor), Chinese and Japanese. Each department received differentiated education according to the majors, including conversation and theoretical classes. The number of classes pertaining to the language was designed to escalate as the grades increased; such was the case that 3rd grade students had 5 different subjects pertaining to their major, for instance, English Writing, English Conversation, English Grammar, English Reading and English Listening. As students wishing for acceptance in foreign universities were few in number, they were incorporated into the main system, but could take optional classes and guidance on the side.
Gyeonggi Academy of Foreign Languages
With the introduction of IBDP to the school, the major system also changed. The previously few students striving for foreign universities were promoted to a new major (international English), and the students striving for domestic universities were incorporated into local English. The IBDP is currently designed to address to the international English portion of the students. The majors of Chinese and Japanese stayed, however.