On the afternoon of 8 April 2021, the Faculty of Foreign Languages of the Open University of China (OUC) offered a profession-development seminar to its teachers. Every teacher in the faculty participated.

The seminar included a teaching-skills contest, the purpose of which was to select two teachers to participate in the OUC Teaching-skills Competition. Five of the teachers signed up for the contest, for which Qiu Yaode, a professor at Capital Normal University, Zhang Dianen, a professor at Beijing Union University, and professor Liu Yongquan and associate professor Cui Song of the Faculty of Foreign Languages served as judges.

The five teachers carefully prepared their lessons, completed them with great enthusiasm, and showed a high level of professional ability. The judges assessed their performances in terms of content, organisation, language, posture and manner, effect, and political orientation, and made recommendations related to goal, introduction, design, interaction, language, posture and manner, and use of the whiteboard.

In the end, all the teachers involved said the seminar had benefited them greatly. Zheng Jipeng, vice dean of the Faculty, pointed out that it was of great help in terms of enhancing teaching abilities, implementing ideological and political instruction, and improving the overall quality of education. In the future, the Faculty will offer more such activities in order to help build an excellent foreign-language-teaching team.

By Zhang Yi, OUC