Meet The Teachers | 9年，她用音乐与陪伴守护幼儿的纯粹时光

"Don't be angry, Ms. Janet!"

The sensitive child instantly noticed an accidental rise in her voice while organizing students to line up. Janet quickly comforted the student and explained gently in a soft tone.

At that moment, she suddenly realized that every word and action of a preschool teacher leaves a lasting mark on a child's world.

This is a small fragment from her nine-year career in early childhood education, and also the starting point of her profound understanding of this profession - education is not a one-way transmission, but a process of mutual nourishment and common growth with children.

Janet's educational journey began with an accidental "discovery."

As an undergraduate majoring in Music at Central China Normal University, she originally planned to deepen her career in music education. However, when applying for further studies, she came across the Early Childhood Education program at The University of Hong Kong. "I have always loved interacting with children since I was a child. I used to volunteer at a welfare home, and I think that laid the foundation for my final choice of educational work."

Her master's studies at HKU were full of challenges. Faced with the unfamiliar all-English teaching model and intensive academic research, she felt tremendous pressure. At that time, a professor told her, "You don't quite fit with my side, but you can try, you just need to work very hard."

She persisted through gritted teeth. After graduation, she politely declined job opportunities in music performance, cultural research, and other fields and stepped into the field of early childhood education. This seemingly cross-border choice hides a consistent logic - in Janet's view, music is an excellent tool for communicating with young children, not an isolated art form.

Later, from Hong Kong, China, to Shenzhen and then to Wuhan, she has lived in three cities for over nine years, witnessing the collision of different educational concepts. Local schools in Hong Kong, China have detailed teaching outlines including weekly vocabulary and sentences; the Reggio Emilia system in Shenzhen's international schools taught her to 'not preset results but only focus on the process of children's exploration' - designing projects around children's interests, providing low-structured materials such as small wooden sticks and petals, and teachers only acting as observers. The Reggio Emilia approach is a student-centered and constructivist educational philosophy that views children as active participants in their learning and encourages them to explore their interests and ideas in a supportive and enriching environment.

After returning to Wuhan, Janet joined OVIS. She was pleasantly surprised that this boutique international school embraces an open educational philosophy: "Similar to the schools in Shenzhen, teachers' ideas are valued and responded to, and we can wholeheartedly protect the pace of children's growth." Her experiences in three cities have made it clear to Janet: there is no uniform template for good education. The key is to listen to children's voices and respect their nature. Each city she lived in had its unique educational system and culture, which enriched her understanding of early childhood education and influenced her teaching approach.

Her experiences in three cities have made it clear to Janet: there is no uniform template for good education. The key is to listen to children's voices and respect their nature.

Janet embeds this understanding of "respecting nature" into every daily interaction with children-building bridges of communication through music and safeguarding the order of growth with a sense of boundaries.

"What does the pattering rain sound like?"

When asking this question to students in class, Janet never gives a direct answer. She will take out a maraca and shake it gently or let children hold bottles filled with small beans and shake them. "Young children have limited understanding of complex vocabulary, but sounds can help them establish intuitive perceptions." This is an inspiration she gained from the Orff Schulwerk, and it is also a typical scene in OVIS classrooms.

In addition, when lining up on campus, she leads children to do finger plays to concentrate their attention with rhythm quickly; in cognitive development activities, she uses drumbeats to represent elephants walking and bells to symbolize mice scurrying, letting children learn about weight and speed while imitating; in ensemble classes for upper and middle kindergarteners, she enables children play castanets, triangle irons and other instruments in collaboration—requiring them to focus on their own rhythm while listening to their peers.

Concentration, hand-eye coordination, and musical aesthetic ability are gradually improved through such interactions.

"Different age groups require different methods: younger classes use sounds to feel emotions, middle classes recognize musical instruments and distinguish timbres, and older classes challenge themselves with playing instruments or ensemble performance music is a tool to help children express themselves," Janet said.

Beyond music, how to create a good growth environment for children?

This brings us to the core of Janet's class management: a gentle yet firm approach. Simply put, it means showing more empathy and tolerance to children, while clearly and thoroughly explaining the rules.

Faced with children who have separation anxiety when first entering kindergarten, she never directly says "don't cry," but first expresses empathy: "I know you're scared and don't want to leave Mom," then gives the child clear sense of security: "I will be with you all day today, and you can come to me for anything"; for children with special needs who struggle to integrate into the group, she first finds their interests - for children who love painting, she collects their works for a small art exhibition to let everyone see their bright spots; for children sensitive to music, she hums softly during group activities to guide them to keep up with the rhythm.

The calm-down corner in the classroom is another of her clever ideas. When a child is emotional and crying uncontrollably, instead of forcing them to calm down immediately, she lets them go to the calm-down corner to draw or look out the window. Once the child's emotions have settled, they sit down to communicate appropriately.

"It's not about rigidly controlling the child but making the rules clear: you need to listen quietly in class, and you can play with toys after class." Neither suppressing the child's nature nor indulging in willful behavior, this is what Janet truly practices in daily teaching.

Music and rules in the classroom have created a safe and supportive environment that fosters children's growth and development.

But Janet always says, "Education is never a one-person show by the school."

Children's growth requires the synchronization of family and campus and homeschool cooperation can make this guardianship more complete. "Education is not a one-man show by the school-parental participation is also essential." At OVIS, Janet's communication with parents is always based on equality and trust.

Considering parents' expectations for their children's English proficiency, she launched a "parent-child reading task": every week, she sends the English picture books read at school to parents, letting the child act as a "little teacher" to teach their parents, then records a video to share with the class.

"When children see their videos played in class, their sense of pride motivates them to learn more actively; after parents participate, they also better understand the intention behind our teaching." Janet Said.

She often tells parents, "Early childhood education is a critical period for children to develop their personalities, habits, and thinking - don't think it's just 'taking care of children'." She also gives specific suggestions: take children out to contact nature and society more; ask fewer closed-ended questions like "Were you happy today?" and more open-ended ones like "What interesting things did you do today?"; no matter how busy you are, set aside high-quality parent-child time to communicate in depth with your child.

"Parents are not bystanders, but partners." She shares photos and videos of children at school everyday, openly discusses their strengths and weaknesses, and earnestly listens to parents' ideas - only when home and school are in sync can children receive the strongest support.

Working side by side with parents has strengthened Janet's educational direction of "respect and companionship."

And OVIS has precisely provided her with an ideal environment to practice this direction.

Every detail here hides the mutual tenderness that makes her willing to stay. "What touches me most about OVIS is the double respect for teachers and children," Janet said. Here, colleagues always help each other: someone lends a hand when serving meals, and someone shares the burden when feeling down. Children's nature is fully respected - even if a student says, "This activity is boring," teachers will listen carefully and adjust.

As the homeroom teacher of the K4 Class, Janet collaborates with other teachers; the Chinese and English classes complement each other, and daily care and teaching cooperate seamlessly. "We are colleagues and comrades-in-arms. Everyone has the same goal - to help children grow better."

Over the past nine years, the children she has treated with tenderness have been repaying her in their own ways: parents of students she taught who have graduated for many years still think of her often, and send voice messages from their children during festivals saying "Teacher, I miss you"; seeing her care for car-sick classmates, other children have gradually learned to greet thoughtfully, and some even unconsciously call her "Mom".

These seemingly insignificant moments make her firmly believe: early childhood education is a beautiful mutual dedication.

When I asked Janet, "What does good education look like?"

She would say: "It's when children love going to school, teachers enjoy teaching, and every life can grow into its own unique form in love and respect."

And this is also the educational original intention that OVIS has always adhered to.