Critical intercultural education has become an essential aspect of language teacher preparation programmes. This study examines the implementation of an English course based on critical intercultural pedagogy in a preservice EFL teacher education programme in China. By analysing data from students' multimodal responses and course evaluations, the study explores how pedagogical practices using challenging global youth literature enable preservice teachers to develop critical consciousness and become informed intercultural educators in an era of interconnectedness and diversity. The findings also highlight the challenges and contradictions that arise for preservice teachers and teacher educators when engaging in discussions on complex sociopolitical issues depicted in the texts. By focusing on these pedagogic examples of integrating critical interculturality into EFL teacher training, the researcher argues for a more dynamic approach to EFL teacher professional development, which includes the validation of professional identity, the co-construction of meanings, and the inclusion of a broader range of titles in the reading list.