The first-time faculty Conference was held on September 11th, when all staff members were supposed to report for duty.
The Conference began with a report from Lu Yi, the party chief of CPC in the School Foreign Language Studies (SFLS), in which she gave an elaboration on the new Teaching Guide for College English that is going to be carried out by the Ministry of Education. The Guide redefined the orientation for this course: English being the principal language in college foreign language education, this course is the compulsory, basic course for most non-English majors in their undergraduate education. The primary purpose for setting this course is to serve for the university's education plan, the teaching needs of different majors in different faculties, and the demands of students' individual development. Due to this change, the course design and teaching will also undergo substantial reform. There is a lot to be done for the teaching of College English.
After that, Lu Yi shared with all faculty staff the main content in the Forum for Deans of Foreign Language Faculties in Zhejiang Province, and different foreign language teaching reforms in other universities, like Shaoxing University, Zhejiang A&F University, Hangzhou Normal University and so on. By comparing the status quo in our university and that in other universities, she urged all teachers to think about the following questions: What do we have? What do we need? And what do we want?
Lu concluded her talk with the work schedule of SFLS CPC in this semester. Taking the opportunity of the making of the 13th Five Year Plan, SFLS CPC planned to carry forward a series of problem-based seminars, in order for all the staff to study the party’s latest innovation, “Three stricts and three steadies”. Also included in the schedule is the plan to implement “Suggestions for Strengthening and Improving Political and Ideological Work in Colleges and Universities”, to enhance the construction of teachers’ ethics, and thus, to bring into play the party members’ role as a pioneer and model. The faculty also planned to develop a series of featured programs and activities, to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the Japanese Department and to take this very occasion as a good chance to promote the good reputation of SFLS in its teaching of foreign languages.
Wang Dan, the vice faculty dean reviewed all the jobs that had been done in the last semester, including regular teaching work, teaching reform, academic research, academic exchange and so on. She also pointed out some problems in teaching and invigilation, and gave some advice on solving these issues. At the end of her speech, she assigned the task-schedule in the new semester.
Academic forums were held in the English and Japanese departments after Wang's speech. Three teachers shared their experiences as visiting scholars in other famous universities. Other teachers who've participated some academic training activities during the summer vacation also presented what they'd learned.
In the end, a brief celebration was held for the Teachers' Day. All the staff members gave their best wishes to Chen Hefen, celebrating her 30th-year anniversary as a teacher.