Daeil Foreign Language High School

Daeil Foreign Language High School
Hangeul: 대일외국어고등학교 Hanja: 大一外國語高等學校
Location
Seongbuk-gu, Seoul, Korea, Republic of
Information
Type	Private
Established	1983
Principal	Gong, Yun Seok 공연석
Faculty	approx. 90
Number of students	approx. 1,500
Slogan	Beautiful Dreams, High Hopes (아름다운 꿈, 높은 이상)
Tree	Zelkova
Flower	Rose
Website	[1]

Daeil Foreign Language High School (Hangeul: 대일외국어고등학교, Hanja: 大一外國語高等學校), located in Seoul, is a well-regarded high school in South Korea. The private, coeducational, college preparatory school was founded in 1983 with the stated goal of nurturing future global leaders. Daeil is the first foreign language high school to be established in South Korea. All Daeil students choose one language among Chinese, Japanese, French, German, Spanish, or Russian to study during their three years at Daeil. Korean, and English, are mandatory subjects, regardless of which focus language students choose when entering the school. Daeil provides the largest number of foreign language courses among all foreign language high schools in the nation.

While the school was originally founded to focus on foreign language education, it has over time come to serve more as a preparatory school for selective Korean and foreign universities. Korean is the school's primary language of teaching.

Like most schools in Korea, Daeil starts its school year in March, starts its second semester in September, and ends the school year in February.

School facilities

Daeil consists of four main buildings (Main Building, Central Building, Language Lab, and Yul-gok Building), a garden, a dormitory, and a cafeteria. 10th grade and 11th grade students study in the Central Building, while 12th grade seniors study in the Main Building. The school library located within the Language Lab, and is renowned for being the largest high school library in Korea. In addition to the library, foreign language conversation classrooms are located in the Language Lab. This particular area is designated as the 'FOZ'; Foreign Language Only Zone, where students must speak in a foreign language to earn 'language points' and to avoid penalty - both of which are tallied in the official school records.

Extracurricular activities

Unlike most Korean high schools, Daeil has no varsity sports teams, but there are more than 30 extracurricular activities clubs available to students.

Admissions

The school receives applications from junior-high school students of Seoul only (starting 2009). An official admissions exam takes place annually, usually around late Autumn. For the most part, students must achieve exceptional scores on this exam, as well as having a prominent middle school record, and various accolades. In its promotional material, Daeil claims to draw students from the top 3% of Korean junior-highschool students. Also, the admission exam includes a formal interview, which is overall considered challenging, as such, students who wish to be admitted undertake rigorous test preparation regimes.

Faculty

The Daeil faculty includes graduates of top ranking Korean universities such as Seoul National University, Yonsei University, and Korea University, as well as native foreign language instructors who teach Chinese, Japanese, French, Spanish, German, Russian, and English conversation, comprehension classes.

DOSP

DOSP (Daeil Overseas Study Program) is a sectioned, optional studies track for students wishing to study abroad, i.e. to apply to foreign universities. Students wishing to join the DOSP must sign up at the beginning of each year, and a nonformal interview type acceptance is required. DOSP classes are scheduled after regular school hours, and students mainly take subjects to earn credits for Advanced Placement exams, the SAT I, SAT Subject tests, and other preparation classes to studying abroad. However, teachers and counselors for the DOSP are not provided by the school, which leaves the burden of payment and scouting to the hands of the students and their parents. Daeil DOSP program has been discontinued indefinitely since August 2010 due to the lack of support and subsidies from the school and declined popularity.

Admittance to universities

According to 2008 university entrance statistics, Daeil achieved the highest number of students(248 in total) entering the three top national universities (Seoul National University, Yonsei University, and Korea University).^{[citation needed]}

Incumbent principal

Kong Yun Seok 공연석

Mr. Kong was the vice-principal of the school under Mr. Nam until February of 2010.

Contact information

• Address  : (Zipcode:136-100) 17-180 Jeongneung-dong Sungbuk-gu Seoul, ROK

References

www.daeil.or.kr