A Practical Study on Integrating Red Culture in the School History Museum of Baoding University into College English Curriculum Ideological and Political Education ()
1. Introduction
The Guidelines for Curriculum Ideological and Political Education Construction in Higher Education Institutions issued by the Ministry of Education clearly states that “it is imperative to thoroughly explore the ideological and political education resources contained in various courses and give full play to the educational functions of all courses”. Against this backdrop, as a public basic course with both instrumental and humanistic attributes, college English is faced with a core issue in current teaching reform: how to break through the traditional language skill-oriented teaching mode, organically integrate value guidance, and realize the in-depth integration of knowledge imparting, competence cultivation, and value shaping. Baoding University boasts a long-running educational history and profound red cultural heritage. These resources, characterized by geographical proximity, emotional resonance, and value guidance, can serve as vivid, lively, and highly appealing local cases for ideological and political education. The organic integration of red culture in the School History Museum of Baoding University into college English curriculum ideological and political education can effectively achieve the synchronization of language learning and value guidance. It not only helps Baoding University build a distinctive brand of curriculum ideological and political education but also facilitates the better achievement of the fundamental goal of moral education (Zhuang & Tan, 2025).
2. An Analysis of Red Culture in the School History Museum of Baoding University
Baoding University is an institution of higher learning with profound revolutionary heritage and a glorious tradition. Its school history museum is not only a repository of historical relics and exhibits but also a carrier of rich spiritual culture, mainly featuring two thematic sections: “The Power of Ideals” and “The Call of the Red Flag”.
2.1. The Power of Ideals
The theme of “The Power of Ideals” focuses on exemplary groups and individuals, as well as their spiritual world and value choices. Its core contents include: 1) The exhibition of the deeds of the western volunteer teaching group. It explores how the representative group of graduates from the university who engaged in volunteer teaching in the west overcame hardships and fulfilled their educational ideals in the Gobi deserts, snow-capped plateaus, and remote areas, displaying their relevant diaries and teaching achievements. 2) The elegance of teachers and the demeanor of alumni. By showcasing the distinguished styles of generations of renowned teachers, it enables teachers and students to gain a deeper understanding of their rigorous academic attitude and selfless dedication spirit, and learn and inherit these fine qualities under the guidance of role models. 3) Revealing the spiritual world of teachers and students. Through multimedia presentations and scene restoration, it uncovers the spiritual motivations behind teachers’ choice of teaching and students’ choice of volunteer teaching, such as the professional ideal of “being a model for others through one’s words and deeds”, the patriotic feelings of “every man has a share of responsibility for the fate of his country”, and the life belief of “working hard and making selfless contributions”.
2.2. The Call of the Red Flag
This theme focuses more on the role and contributions of the university in the grand historical narrative, covering the following contents: 1) A cradle in the flames of revolution. It displays the glorious deeds of teachers and students pursuing truth and devoting themselves to the revolution during the revolutionary period, including historical documents, physical objects, and video materials related to the activities of early Party members, patriotic student movements, and support for the frontline. 2) A banner rooted at the grassroots level. It highlights the long-standing collective choice of hundreds of graduates to take root in the west and serve the grassroots. Through a series of photos of volunteer teaching and physical objects from the border areas, it shows how the new generation of young people responded to the national call of “going to the places where the motherland needs them most”, and closely linked their personal destinies with national strategies such as the development of the western regions, ethnic unity, and educational poverty alleviation. 3) The responsibility of serving the local community. It records the contributions made by the university to the economic and social development of Hebei Province and Baoding City, especially in the fields of basic education, cultural construction, and poverty alleviation.
3. Exploring the Correlation Factors between College English Curriculum and Red Culture in the School History Museum of Baoding University
Exploring the Correlation Factors between College English Curriculum and Red Culture in the School History Museum of Baoding University reveals profound and practical connections between the two, which can be mainly divided into Thematic Correlation and Skill Correlation.
3.1. Thematic Correlation
College English curriculum usually covers a series of global themes, which are closely related to the core connotation of red culture in the school history museum (Lai, 2025). The common ones are as follows: 1) Success and perseverance. College English textbooks often include stories of characters who overcame difficulties and persisted in achieving success, which can be connected with the deeds of the western volunteer teaching group in the school history museum of Baoding University. 2) Education and the future. As one of the core themes of college English, it can be linked to the mission undertaken by teachers and students of Baoding University, guiding in-depth discussions on the power of education. 3) Ideals and reality. College English textbooks also contain many texts about life choices, dreams, and reality, which are interrelated with the mental journey of graduates from Baoding University who turned their campus ideals into the reality of working in the Gobi Desert. 4) Heroes and role models. There are various definitions of heroes in college English, which can be associated with the heroes in the school history museum. By introducing the heroic stories of western volunteer teaching students and teachers who stick to ordinary posts, students can be guided to redefine heroism. 5) Culture and tradition. College English curriculum includes a lot of content about cultural traditions, and the school history museum of Baoding University is the most vivid and student-oriented local red cultural material.
3.2. Skill Correlation
Language skill training is the core of college English teaching, and red culture can be used as materials and contexts for practice, which is reflected in the following aspects: 1) Listening comprehension. The cultivation of students’ English listening ability requires a large number of training materials. Teachers can select English news reports on western volunteer teaching and educational equity, English versions of alumni interviews, and compiled English school history stories from the red culture resources of the school history museum as main materials, so as to effectively cultivate students’ listening skills. 2) Reading comprehension. When cultivating students’ English reading ability, teachers can provide English versions of alumni deeds adapted from the red culture of the school history museum and articles about Chinese young volunteers on English websites, enabling students to improve their English reading comprehension ability through reading these materials. 3) Writing. In the process of cultivating students’ English writing ability, introducing materials related to the red culture of the school history museum and allowing students to choose themes independently to express their views and opinions can not only connect the whole writing activity with the red culture of the school history museum but also enhance students’ English writing ability. 4) Translation. Students’ English translation also needs materials for practice, and the foreign language translation of red culture in the school history museum can provide strong resource support for them to develop their English translation skills.
4. Practical Paths for Integrating Red Culture in the School History Museum of Baoding University into College English Curriculum Ideological and Political Education
Practical paths for integrating red culture in the school history museum of Baoding university into college English curriculum ideological and political education can be implemented through five interrelated perspectives: first, strengthening resource construction by sorting out and translating the museum’s red relic records, revolutionary deeds of faculty and students, and school-running stories into bilingual teaching materials; second, modular embedding by integrating these red cultural modules into English reading, writing, speaking and translation teaching segments; third, innovating the design of teaching activities such as English-themed debates on red spirits and role-playing of museum commentary; fourth, actively creating a second classroom like organizing English-guided visits to the school history museum and red story speech contests; fifth, optimizing the teaching evaluation system by adding indicators of red culture cognition and bilingual expression to assess students’ comprehensive performance, thus realizing the organic integration of language skill training and ideological and political education.
4.1. Strengthening Resource Construction
Resource construction is the premise of realizing organic integration. Without high-quality and appropriate bilingual teaching resources, the integration of red culture in the School History Museum of Baoding University into college English curriculum ideological and political education will be impossible. The practical measures can be taken as follows: 1) Developing digital audio-visual resources. Focusing closely on the two major thematic red culture resources—”The Power of Ideals” and “The Call of the Red Flag”—in the School History Museum of Baoding University, shoot and produce a series of micro-videos such as “Bilingual Virtual Tour of the School History Museum” and speech videos of outstanding alumni stories, and collect high-quality English documentaries and audio-visual materials related to the themes as supplementary resources (Ren, 2024). 2) Building an online resource platform. Relying on the online teaching platform established by the university, set up a special module of “English Curriculum Ideological and Political Education Resource Library”, and realize effective resource sharing by uploading bilingual texts, audio-visual materials, and courseware of red culture in the school history museum, which also facilitates students’ independent learning and teachers’ lesson preparation.
4.2. Modular Embedding
The rigid and fragmented integration of red culture in the school history museum into college English curriculum ideological and political education often fails to achieve ideal results. Only by systematically and scientifically embedding red culture in the school history museum into the curriculum syllabus and teaching units in a modular way can it become an organic part of the college English curriculum and be implemented regularly in practical teaching. The specific measures include: 1) Designing independent ideological and political modules. In the teaching plan of college English courses each semester, 2 - 3 fixed teaching modules centered on the red culture in the School History Museum of Baoding University can be specially set up for in-depth discussion. For example, set up a module of “Western Volunteer Teaching Group”, focusing on the western volunteer teaching carried out by teachers and students of Baoding University, and introduce relevant English vocabulary learning, in-depth reading of related articles, and practical case studies and discussions respectively, so as to deepen students’ understanding of relevant culture and cultivate their ideological and political literacy. 2) Penetrating into existing units in an infiltrative way. That is to say, take the red culture in the school history museum as a case and naturally infiltrate it into the teaching of general units. For example, in the unit involving the theme of “heroes”, embed pictures and short English introductions of the western volunteer teaching group working in harsh environments; in the unit involving the theme of “education”, introduce cases of the western volunteer teaching group changing the fate of children in the west through education. Through this form, the red culture in the school history museum can be naturally integrated into college English courses and achieve good curriculum ideological and political education results. 3) Constructing a three-level progressive teaching hierarchy. By designing a progressive module of “basic cognition - in-depth understanding - comprehensive output”, the red culture in the school history museum can be integrated into college English curriculum ideological and political education in a planned and hierarchical manner, and ensure that students’ learning of college English curriculum ideological and political education progresses step by step. For example, in the basic cognition stage, mainly guide students to learn and understand relevant vocabulary and background; in the in-depth understanding stage, conduct in-depth analysis and discussion around the given practical cases; in the comprehensive output stage, guide students to complete project production or presentation in accordance with requirements (Liu & Zhao, 2023).
4.3. Innovating the Design of Teaching Activities
To guide students to actively explore, experience, and internalize the spirit of red culture in classroom teaching activities, it is necessary to innovate the design of college English curriculum ideological and political education teaching activities. The relevant measures that can be taken are as follows: 1) Carrying out project-based learning. In the ideological and political education teaching of college English courses, centering on the two major red culture themes of “The Power of Ideals” and “The Call of the Red Flag” in the school history museum, set up a project of “Telling the Stories of Baoding University in English”, allowing students to use the English knowledge they have learned to investigate and understand the stories of Baoding University in the form of group cooperation, and display the story content through videos with English commentary subtitles, so as to realize the coordinated cultivation of students’ knowledge, abilities, and literacy. 2) Situational simulation and role-playing. In English classes, modern multimedia can be used to simulate the scene of international friends visiting the school history museum, and let students play the role of narrators to try to introduce the red culture content in the school history museum to international friends in English. Through this form, students’ learning initiative can be enhanced, and their English expression ability, cross-cultural communication ability, and ideological and political literacy can be effectively cultivated at the same time. 3) Organizing debates and seminars. In college English teaching, teachers can also introduce relevant debate topics around the unit themes. For example, in the teaching of the unit “Ideals and Reality”, organize students to hold English debates on topics such as “Is serving in remote areas a wise choice for today’s graduates?” By encouraging students to conduct in-depth exchanges and express their views, they can deepen their understanding of the core connotation of red culture in the process of thinking and communication.
4.4. Actively Creating a Second Classroom
Actively creating a second classroom can extend the learning of college English curriculum ideological and political education to a broader space, create more opportunities for students’ ideological and political practice experience, and finally achieve the unity of knowledge and action in creating an immersive English learning and cultural experience environment. The specific measures include: 1) Carrying out bilingual practical activities. Cooperate with the school history museum, the Communist Youth League Committee, etc., to recruit and train bilingual explanation volunteers for the school history museum, who can provide English explanation services for visiting international scholars and exchange students, allowing students to temper their language skills and disseminate culture in real positions. 2) Holding thematic cultural festivals. Centering on the two major themes of red culture in the school history museum—”The Power of Ideals” and “The Call of the Red Flag”—hold a series of competitions including the adaptation of English alumni stories, English essay contests, and English dubbing of red movies, attracting more students to understand and participate, so as to effectively infiltrate red culture and improve students’ English thinking and expression abilities. 3) Establishing online community platforms. Relying on modern information technology, establish course WeChat official accounts or learning communities, and regularly push red culture content of the school history museum related to the teaching themes of college English courses, attracting a large number of students to pay attention, share, communicate, and carry out secondary creation, so as to create a good learning ecology for college English curriculum ideological and political education (Liu, 2025).
4.5. Optimizing the Teaching Evaluation System
Teaching evaluation is the baton to test the effectiveness of teaching. To scientifically evaluate the practical effect of integrating red culture in the school history museum into college English curriculum ideological and political education, it is necessary to break through the traditional single language knowledge assessment mode. By building a diversified evaluation system that integrates language and ideological and political dimensions and focuses on both process and results, it can reversely promote the in-depth integration process of red culture in the school history museum and college English courses, and ensure that the teaching objectives of curriculum ideological and political education are implemented. The practical operations mainly focus on the following contents: 1) Reforming the content of summative evaluation. In short, while paying attention to the results of students’ college English exams, integrate the red culture elements of the school history museum into the exam questions. For example, set up English-Chinese and Chinese-English translation of alumni quotes from the school history museum in translation questions, and provide materials about the western volunteer teaching stories of outstanding graduates in writing questions, requiring students to write argumentative essays on themes such as the choice between ideals and reality and self-growth, so as to assess students’ language ability and ideological depth at the same time. 2) Strengthening formative evaluation. Teaching evaluation should pay more attention to students’ participation enthusiasm, emotional investment, team spirit, and project achievements when discussing red culture themes in class. Establish an evaluation scale to assess the depth of cultural understanding, the degree of value identity, and the authenticity of emotional investment reflected in the works. Through reflection reports, let students write down their learning experiences and ideological changes in both Chinese and English, so as to better test the effectiveness of curriculum ideological and political education and provide scientific reference for optimizing the organic integration of red culture in the school history museum into college English courses. 3) Implementing multi-subject evaluation. Introduce various evaluation methods such as teacher evaluation, group evaluation, professional evaluation from the school history museum, and self-evaluation to comprehensively measure the effectiveness of curriculum ideological and political education. Combine the feedback results to continuously optimize teaching and learning, and finally, through the organic integration of red culture in the school history museum and college English courses, truly cultivate new-era talents who can skillfully use the world’s common language to tell Chinese red stories and spread the spirit of Baoding University.
5. Conclusion
The integration of red culture in the School History Museum of Baoding University into college English curriculum ideological and political education is not only feasible but also can successfully transform language learning courses into a field of value shaping, effectively solving the problems of rigid integration and the absence of Chinese culture in college English curriculum ideological and political education. In practice, it is necessary to fully excavate and develop the red culture in the School History Museum of Baoding University, so that it can be effectively infiltrated into college English teaching activities such as listening, speaking, reading, writing, and debating. At the same time, organize a variety of practical experience activities of red culture, and rely on a sound teaching evaluation system to timely find and solve the problems existing in the integration of red culture in the school history museum into college English curriculum ideological and political education, so as to realize the organic integration of the two and achieve more ideal teaching results of college English curriculum ideological and political education.
Fund
Baoding Municipal Education Science Research “14th Five-Year Plan” Project: Practical Research on Integrating Red Culture in Baoding University History Museum into Ideological and Political Education of College English Courses, Project No.: 2502090.