Recently, the team led by Guo Lin, a professor from SFS's the French Department, was awarded the National Special Grand Prize (Multilingual Group) at the 2024 "Excellence in Political Education in Foreign Language Curriculum: Case Collection and Exchange Event."
Their case, titled What Has the Smartphone Brought Us?, is based on a unit of the College French course. The team began by briefing on China’s mobile technology advancements, setting examples for narrating China's stories on scientific and technology development, and fostering an objective evaluation of smartphones’ roles. Then they designed content that not only integrates political education but also inspires students, stimulating their interests in language learning, training their problem-consciousness, and enhancing their critical thinking skills. The case is also designed to guide students in establishing proper values and strengthening national pride, thus aligning linguistic training with moral education.
Organized by the Higher Education Press and other institutions, this event seeks to implement Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, fulfill the fundamental task of fostering virtue through education, advance high-quality political education in foreign language curricula nationwide, and elevate teachers’ capabilities in this domain. Since 2021, the competition has been included in the “National Teacher Development Index for Regular Higher Education Institutions” and the “List of Teaching Competitions for University Faculty” by the China Higher Education Society. This year, 998 entries from 3,495 teachers across 580 universities participated in provincial evaluations, with 136 outstanding works advancing to the national finals for expert review. Awards included Special Grand Prizes, First, Second, Third, and Excellence Awards.
SFS has prioritized political education in curriculum construction and faculty development. Since 2023, its “SFS Community for Political Education in Curriculum,” a grassroots teaching organization dedicated to advancing such initiatives, has supported teachers through seminars, lectures, competition preparation workshops, and the formulation of curriculum integration plans, yielding significant achievements.
