【Excellent Foreign Teacher】Raymond:Devote into GDUFS for More than a Decade

Edite's note: To enhance overseas teachers’ sense of honor and responsibility to participate in teaching, scientific research, social service and other work, fully arouse the enthusiasm and creativity to participate in the international construction of GDUFS, and create a working atmosphere of love and dedication, striving for progress and excellence, GDUFS held its annual election of “Outstanding Overseas Teachers” awards. Alison Mullins and other teachers were awarded the title of “Outstanding Overseas Teacher in 2020-2021”. They have consistently showed an exotic style on the lectern, and built a cultural bridge through their charismatic work. GDUFS specially planned its report on "Outstanding Overseas Teachers", and interviewed the overseas teachers and teachers from Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan who have won that title. It was an opportunity to listen to their experience of learning and living at GDUFS. This shows the persistence and dedication of overseas teachers who devote themselves to educating and spreading culture.

Raymond is an overseas teacher from the French Department of Faculty of European Languages and Cultures. He has been deeply and conscientiously digging into teaching work for more than a decade since he started to work at GDUFS. During these years, he often gave advice to students who were participating in national competitions and usually the students achieved satisfying results under his guidance. What is more, he has participated in many programs, including the review of a French textbook En Route!, the translation into French and the naming research work for the term glossary of a book Encyclopedia of Big Data Technologies and the edit and complementation work of Grand Dictionnaire Chinois-Francais Contemporain.

Raymond

Deeply digging into teaching work for more than a decade at GDUFS

When it comes to GDUFS, Raymond mentioned his passion for travelling around the world since his student period. He has always persisted in gaining something new every time his feet land somewhere new. Since 2001 when his path led to Guangzhou, he started to have an idea of GDUFS for the first time. During the twenty years, he witnessed the construction of the south campus, the library, the 1^st Teaching Building and the new school gate of the north campus. He also started a family and developed precious friendship with many French teachers from other prestigious universities in China. Looking back on the teaching journey where Raymond has embraced so much progress together with GDUFS, there is no doubt that Raymond has cultivated deep feelings with GDUFS. “GDUFS is so young and so energetic with thriving vitality and promising growth,” Raymond said. During the years at GDUFS, Raymond effectively pushed GDUFS’s communication with many other prestigious universities in China. “This university is so impressive and it deserves a bright future,” Raymond remarked.

Love for teaching and popularity among students and teachers

“My students are one of the reasons that for years I have kept lecturing. They are always so energetic,” Raymond said. He holds the belief that at class it is students that consist of the most important part of a lecture. Therefore, at Raymond’s class, it is always the communication with students that takes up the most of the class. He attempts to activate the class time and create an open academic atmosphere by means of flexible teaching models. Raymond always encourages students to personally experience as many diverse cultures as possible and thus broaden their horizons. “Constant thinking ensures continuous progress, meanwhile it is also a powerful driving force to achieve oral fluency and expressing ability,” Raymond said.

It has been 12 years since Raymond came to GDUFS and started to organize the French corner every Thursday evening. This activity has achieved great popularity among students. Raymond doesn’t think the French corner is another form of serious lecturing. On the contrary, it is a platform with high level of openness and liberty, where every participant is capable of discussing problems and exchanging ideas. Each time, Raymond would pour his thoughts out on the day’s topic for the French corner. “Our topics cover a wide range from economy, politics to culture and so on. And we update the topics timely as the official news marches on and always try to analyze an issue to its point, with the complicated input while clear and concise output” Raymond said.

Put research and adjustment of teaching models into practice and voice Chinese values to the world

Raymond remains devoting to the research and adjustment of teaching models. When it comes to the reasons behind, “the research functions as sort of like nutritious soil which provides nutrition and fertilizer for further research” Raymond said. For his teaching style, the practice of teaching and research are always in closely contact with each other and neither of them can be replaced.

Other than research into teaching, Raymond has been dedicating himself to the diffuse of Chinese culture. He bears lots of ideas in his mind concerning how to give an objective picture of real China to the world. Raymond attempts to progressively come true what bears in his mind by a series of practice, including the participation in the edit of Grand Dictionnaire Chinois-Francais Contemporain, academic thesis about French interpretation cooperating with postgraduates issued on both national and international journals, and the participation in the research program of Chinese image from French media during the outbreak of coronavirus. Raymond mentioned that China adopts an open and cooperative attitude towards overseas cultures and accordingly many translators bring in numerous overseas excellent cultural works. China is now a rising global power, traditional Chinese culture and ideology have gradually come to people’s sight worldwide. An increasing number of people would like to learn about the real China. For that, Raymond spoke to all of us students at GDUFS, “I hope that there will be more and more people approaching the programs and make it，to be a source of supportive power, to make world learn more about the real China and to confidently voice Chinese values to the world.”