Xiong Ying, a winner of the Advanced Ethical Teacher award of the Open University of China (OUC), and a member of the Faculty of Foreign Languages, spoke as teacher representative on Teachers' Day 2021.
I began teaching English at an ordinary university, and gradually came to understand why "a teacher is like a beam of light, taking students far". Later, working at a Confucius Institute in the United States, I found that love of teaching can transcend national borders, and facilitate cultural exchange. Finally, in my seven years at the OUC, I have learnt the value of education that reaches students from all walks of life, without discrimination.
My view is that, as rewarding as all my teaching has been, none of it compares with the enthusiasm I have felt at the OUC, with 4 million students and thousands of colleagues all over the country, even though I have not been able to have personal contact with most of them. They have given my work meaning.
In my early career, a senior professor told me that a teacher should have the spirit of "moso bamboo", a plant with miraculous power. In its first four years, it grows only about 3 cm, but in its fifth year it can reach 10 meters in just a few months, creating in a flash a lush bamboo forest. Its early years are dedicated to spreading hundreds of square meters of root out of sight, absorbing the nutrients that will support its sudden growth.
A young teacher should do likewise, quietly learning and absorbing from other teachers and his or her students, and growing in understanding of what the job requires.
In my design of courses, production of resources, and teaching activities I put students first, addressing their needs on the basis of intensive grass-roots research involving contact with more than 1,200 teachers and students at nearly 40 tutorial centres across the country. Over the past few years, business trips, research, interviews, and organisation of teaching seminars have all entered my routine, and I cherish my time with students and other teachers despite the hard work.
In the winter of 2017, I visited a small tutorial centre in Tianshui, Gansu Province, with only one English teacher responsible for all of the English classes there, and students taking different courses in the same classroom at the same time. I was very curious how she could manage this, and she told me that she covered the content that was shared from course to course before assigning the students to study independently and then she would give them individual tutorials. . I admired how she made the best of a difficult situation, and believe that her initiative, and that of teachers in similar positions, will provide an excellent basis for teaching reforms.
Through the joint efforts of the teachers on the team and the support of the OUC headquarters and branches, a preliminary teaching model featuring adequate resources, sufficient supply of teachers, learner support, and in-depth teaching research has been formed.
The teachers engaged in discussions and spirited collaboration, and I especially cherish having helped some of them publish their teaching-reform assessments in periodicals, not only for their sake but for that of the construction of the OUC system.
Teachers are models of both intellectual attainment and moral integrity. When Covid-19 forced all classes online, through an after-class programme called "Our National Power" that promoted positive images of the Party and government, I played English songs and videos teaching how to avoid infection in order to alleviate anxiety, teach protective protection, and cultivate patriotism and Party loyalty.
The OUC is a teaching and research community that promotes a common destiny. Its "Internet + Education" approach requires teachers to emphasise lifelong learning and careful planning in order to achieve the goal of building the OUC into a world-class open university.
By OUC News Network