The final of the Third “Teaching Star” Foreign Language Gold Course Team Competition for Higher Education in Heilongjiang Province (undergraduate grouping) hosted by the Education Department of Heilongjiang Province, co-organized by the Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press (FLTRP) and Heilongjiang Professional Committee on Teaching Foreign Language in Higher Education, organized by HEU, was held on campus.
Ding Zhexue, Level II Bureau Rank Official of Education Department of Heilongjiang Province, and Chang Xiaoling, Deputy General Editor of FLTRP attended the opening ceremony of the final and delivered speeches. Officials from the Education Department, Higher Education Division, and FLTRP, leaders of foreign language departments and disciplines across the province, as well as all foreign language teachers in Heilongjiang, participated in the online opening ceremony and observed the competition.
Wu Linzhi, Member of the CPC Harbin Engineering University Standing Committee and Vice President of HEU, attended the opening ceremony and delivered a speech. He introduced the construction of the foreign language discipline in HEU, stating that the Emerging Liberal Arts construction has set new goals and requirements for the reform and development of foreign language education, as well as created new conditions and opportunities. The holding of this competition conforms to the requirements of constructing Emerging Liberal Arts and provides a learning platform for foreign language teachers in local colleges and universities to exchange new ideas, concepts, and methods. It is of great significance for promoting the innovative development of higher foreign language education, improving the quality of foreign language teaching, and cultivating high-quality foreign language talents. He extended warm wishes that the team advancing to the final achieve excellent results, fully demonstrate the style and level of foreign language educators, and establish a new image of foreign language education in Heilongjiang Province.
Ding Zhexue expressed his congratulations to the resounding success of the competition and the 15 teaching teams in the final round. Ding stated that at this important
historical node of the 100-year anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China, it is of great practical and long-term significance to comprehensively promote
the construction of the Emerging Liberal Arts education that is dedicated to cultivating new talents who can tell Chinese stories in a way that is understandable and desirable
to foreigners. It is also of great importance to fully promote the reform of foreign language education to cultivate a specialized talent team that meets the needs of international communication in the new era.
The theme of this competition is “Effective Use of Foreign Language Textbooks: To Nurture Spirit, To Enlighten Students”, which embodies the requirements of the National Textbook Work Conference and the National Textbook Construction Award Commendation Conference.
Chang Xiaoling mentioned in her speech that the original aspiration of the “Teaching Star” Competition is to cultivate high-quality professional talents with international perspectives and patriotic sentiments, so that universities can form a high-level talent training system with advanced concepts and distinctive characteristics. She hoped that teachers could focus on the theme of the competition. Through in-depth research, accurate interpretation, and innovative use of teaching materials, teachers can truly combine ideological and political education with educating students, guide values, firm beliefs, promote culture, and sow ideals in the process of teaching language and knowledge, so that more students can become outstanding talents who, with a broad perspective, professional capabilities, and proficient language skills, care for the top priorities of the country.
The “Teaching Star” Competition, as a large-scale public welfare competition for foreign language teachers in China’s universities and one of the largest foreign language teacher teaching competitions in the country, has been established by FLTRP since 2013 and has provided more than 8000 foreign language teachers nationwide with a stage to fully showcase their teaching styles and a platform for learning and exchanging ideas and methods.
Heilongjiang Province actively responds to the national call and takes on the educational mission, adhering to the policy of “promoting education, learning, and reform through competitions”. Three consecutive provincial competitions have been held, with a total of more than 100 teams and over 450 teachers entering the provincial finals. In the first two years, teachers representing our province had excellent performance in the national finals and outstanding accomplishments were achieved.
The competition is currently one of the important events in our province with the widest participation range, the most comprehensive coverage of universities, the most participating teams, the highest level of competing, and the greatest impact. It has become an important platform for deepening foreign language education reform, promoting students’ comprehensive development, and promoting the construction of Emerging Liberal Arts.
This year’s “Teaching Star” Competition received 37 teams elected by local colleges and universities in the semi-final round and 15 of them advanced to the final. The two teams from HEU respectively led by Prof. Wang Xiaoshu and Lect. Shen Si advanced to the final round and won the second prizes in the competition.
