Moving beyond language skills

Moving beyond language skills Updated: 2013-12-22 23:50 By Zheng Xin Students and teachers participate in an activity encouraging creative thinking by placing eggs on a structure of sticks, at Tianjin Foreign Languages School. Provided to China Daily Tianjin shifts priority from linguistic studies to encouraging creative and innovative thinking Foreign language schools are shifting their mission from cultivating language expertise to preparing well-rounded students, versed in foreign languages and culture. Tianjin Foreign Languages School, launched in 1964 as one of the first batch of foreign language schools under the supervision of then premier Zhou Enlai, is focusing more on the comprehensive skills of students than the mastery of languages alone, in an attempt to foster greater expertise and the development of open and tolerant mindsets. "Proficiency in languages is no longer sufficient to prepare students for the competitive global market," said Diao Yajun, principal of Tianjin Foreign Languages School, a high school that has 2,100 students in six grades.