Leticia de Lassus — JJB广州机智堡国际早教中心校长 — headmaster of JJB
“Help me to do it by myself”是机智堡的标语，而这一蒙特梭利教育法的核心理念也渗透在机智堡的方方面面。
“Help me to do it by myself” is the slogan of JJB, and we can see this Montessori Education’s core principle everywhere in JJB.
今天，我们在机智堡滨江校区采访到机智堡的校长Leticia，一位全身心投入儿童教育工作的优雅女士。机智堡是一家专注蒙台梭利教育的早教中心，欢迎4岁以下的儿童。通过 “没有父母、三小时”的 ‘工作环境’与不一样的师生关系，机智堡营造了一个和谐、快乐的国际社区。
Today at JJB Somerset Centre, we interviewed Ms. Leticia, headmaster of JJB, an elegant lady who is fully devoted to children education. Welcoming children under 4 years old, Leticia’s JJB has developed its own teaching theory and unique course system. By building an environment of ‘No parents around, three hours’ working time and different teacher-student relationship, she has successfully made this place a community of harmony, well being and work.
- JJB是何时进入广州市场的？当时选择广州市场的缘由？ When was JJB first established in Guangzhou? And Why did JJB choose Guangzhou?
三年前，我们开设了第一个校区。然后在2016年，我们在白云区又开了第二个校区。
广州是一个成长和变化得极快的城市。人们也在变化，越来越多本地家庭关注幼儿早期教育。和其他一线城市相比，广州在幼儿教育方面相对落后一些。这就是为什么我们想在这里开展一些新的事物，尤其是幼儿早教。
广州在改变，而我们可以成为其成长的一部分。像深圳也有很大的发展空间，也许我们以后也会在那边发展。但在扩张之前，我保证机智堡的教育质量，因为我不想为了数量而牺牲质量，我要确保每一位教职工进入岗位前都已培训完毕。
Our first center was opened 3 years ago. And we also have the second center which opened in Baiyun district on 2016.
Guangzhou is a city that is actually growing a lot and we can see visually that the city is really changing. People want to change. Even the local families are more interested now in early child education. Compared to other major cities, we are a little delayed by a couple of years in early child education. That’s why we wanted to start something new, especially with early education.
Guangzhou is changing and we can be a part of this growth. It’s very possible that we will expand to Shenzhen in the coming years, because Shenzhen has a huge potential as well. But before I expand, I always first ensure quality because we don’t want to become ‘quantity’ at the expense of quality. I have to make sure that I train all my teachers very well even as we expand, but for sure, this is a long vision term.
- JJB的优势在哪里？请详细介绍下JJB的师资和设施。 What is so special about JJB? Can you tell us more about JJB’s faculties and facilities?
首先，我们能为家长提供的服务是新颖的，你可以放心地放下孩子就离开。通常，在其他早教机构，家长要留下来陪着孩子；又或者说他们其实只能算是托儿所而已。我们的独特之处在于，我们专为幼儿和家长设计的学习氛围。我希望人们在进来的时候就能感受到机智堡的美好和平和，发自内心地想留在这里。
我们最重要的特点之一就是我们的教职工。我会亲自培训我们这里的每一个教师，并确保每一个孩子都能有不同程度的成长。我们关心每一个孩子，也关心每一位家长，我们经常会和他们沟通交流。每一个来到这里的家长都会感受到这个地方的特别，都会感受到我们对他们的关怀。我们会让机智堡这个大家庭里的每一对父母感受到我们有用心地协助他们，让他们在家也能教导孩子。这种模式是新颖的，也是我一直想倡导的。
我们没有那种“我是老师，我懂所有事”的态度。我们注重的是交流分享。有些事可能是你知道但我们不知道的，相反有些事则可能是我们知道但你不知道的，所以我们是可以一起合作的。
First of all, we are very new in what we can offer to the parents who have very young children. You can drop your child and leave. Usually, you stay with the children, or it is not really like an educational center. It is different kind of daycare. I think what is really different is the learning environment, which I designed myself and I make sure that it is appropriate for children and parents. When people come in, I hope they feel that it is nice and peaceful and that they want to be here.
One of the most important things that is so special is the people and the teachers here. I train all the teachers here and we really make sure that every single child is able to reach a certain stage of development. We care for every single child and also for the parents. We would work a lot with every single family. When the parents come here, they will feel special and they will feel that we care for them. I think that this is something we do for our parents in JJB families, which means they feel that we really try our best to make sure that they can also help the children at home too. This is something new. It is something that I really wanted to do.
We do not have the attitude, “I am the teachers, I know everything”. We emphasize sharing. There are some things you know about each other that we don’t know, and there are some things I know about each other which you may not know. So let’s see how we can do things together.
- JJB都有哪些值得期待的课程？ What are the available programs at JJB?
首先，我们实行的是蒙特梭利教育法，而这里的学习氛围也是纯正的蒙特梭利式的。与传统课程相比，我们老师采用的蒙特梭利教育法是非常独特的，是科学的，是准确的。这是一个观察学科，所以我们老师的工作也是基于观察的。我们观察孩子，观察他们的言行举止，观察他们如何互动，然后我们再做出相对的回应。
我们有3个月至18个月的孩子，孩子们之间也是可以相互学习和支持的。这里便像是一个现实生活的社区。就像我们出来工作，既会有比自己年长的也会有比自己年轻的同事。这就是蒙特梭利教育法。我们欢迎3个月到3岁的孩子来就读。而在周六，我们会举办爸爸妈妈也能参与的活动，以此来帮助父母们了解如何和他们的孩子互动交流。
同时，我们也开始开展更多的体育活动，因为运动对孩子的成长来说是非常重要的，哪怕是很小的孩子也是应该多运动的。有的孩子精力非常旺盛，家长们会不知道怎么应对。而我们有一批接受过正规训练的体育老师，他们能正确积极的引导孩子。
So first of all, we are Montessori and it is a true Montessori environment. We use Montessori education, namely the Pedagogy, which is very different from traditional curriculum. It’s about science and it’s very precise. It is a study of observation, so our work is based on observation. We observe the children, their movement, their language and how they interact with one another and then we respond.
We have children from 3 months old to 18 months old. Kids can learn and support each other. In this way, we have the community, just like the real life. As we work, we have people older or younger than us – it is exactly the same. So this is the Montessori. We welcome the children from 3 months old to 3 years old. On Saturday, we do activities which mom and dad can enjoy. We thus help the parents to know how to really engage with the children with something constructive.
Also, we are starting to do much more sports activities, because it is important for children, even a child at a very young age has to do a lot of exercise. Some of them have a lot of energy and we don’t know what to do. We have some good sports teachers who are trained very well, so they will be very positive with children.
- 您在教育领域从业多年，请您分享下，您觉得儿童早期教育的重点在哪里？ You have been involved in the education field for some years. Can you share with us your thoughts of what is important in Early Childhood Education?
是的，我从事教育行业已经快12年了。最让我开心的是，这让我可以去很多不同国家工作，让我见识到很多不同的文化。但我意识到，无论你去哪里工作，你都会发现那里存在同样的问题。我发现在我教学的这些年里，我们不够关心家长。虽说我们把重点放在孩子上是正常正确的，但我们却忘了家长们。有时，家长们会不知道该怎么做。经过5年的教学生涯后，我记得那时我和我的一个导师说：“你知道吗，我想要为家长们做些什么。我会开设一些为家长们设置的课程。他们需要学习一些他们能在家和孩子做的事情。”。在那之后，我开始为家长授课后，反响非常的好。家长们开始明白我们在学校是如何教导孩子的，孩子们也成长得更快乐了。教育不单单是为孩子设置的，家长也应该参与进来。
至于孩子，我们会给他们展示不同的文化，和他们庆祝不同的节日。我们会确保每一个孩子都能享受不同的文化，我认为这很重要。家长们也非常乐意孩子能接触到不同国籍的孩子。
Yes, I’ve been educating children for nearly twelve years. What’s great is I have the opportunity to work in many countries, so I’ve seen different cultures. What I realize is that no matter where you go, the same things happen. What I realized during my years of teaching is that we did not focus enough on the parents. We only focus on the child, which is very right, but we forget about the parents. And sometimes, the parents don’t know what to do. After 5 years of teaching, I remember saying to one of my mentors, “You know? I want to do something with parents. I’m going to do some classes with parents. They need to learn a little bit what they can do at home.” And since I started doing that, it was amazing. When you work with the parents, they understand what you do in school and the child is brought up even happier. Education is not only for the children. You have to put the parents and the family together. So this is what I’m trying to do here in Guangzhou.
As for the children, we talk about different cultures and we celebrate different festivals. We really make sure that every single child feels comfortable with different kinds of cultures and I think it’s very important. The parents are very happy to meet different nationalities too.
- JJB接下来的都有哪些激动人心的计划？ What are the exciting plans for JJB for the coming year?
对我们来说，最激动人心的无疑是能接触到更多的家长。现在我们有很多专为家长们设计的课程。不仅在我们学校，一些像宝洁公司那样的大企业也开始注重这方面了。之前受邀到宝洁去为他们那里的员工做一场讲座，教他们一些蒙特梭利教育法以及如何和孩子相处。有机会的话，可以来参加一些我在广州甚至国外举行的讲座，从中学习。这让我非常兴奋，因为这样我就可以将我的这个理念传递给更多人。
另外，我们团队也会做一些合作。根据年龄的不同，我们针对不同的孩子有不同的主题。我们教孩子如何写字，如何友好地和家人相处，等等。我也为婴儿和他们的父母准备了课程，我们会教妈妈们在家时如何照顾这些还非常年幼的婴儿。我们也服务怀孕的准妈妈们，教她们如何放松。我们也在尽力接触更多的家长。此外，我也会做一些全天的讲座，这样大家可以有更多的时间学习理论以及练习，就像我在宝洁做的那种。
I think what is really exciting for me and for all of us is that we are reaching more and more parents. Now I bring a lot of courses for parents. Not only here, but in big companies like P&G. They invite me to go there and give a talk to all the parents, so you don’t need to be a JJB parent to learn about Montessori or what to do for your child. You may go to one of my talks, maybe held in Guangzhou or even out of China and then you can learn more. This is very exciting for us because I can take this idea further to anyone.
Also, we work on teamwork or we work on the rule of the dad. We have different topics for different children depending on their ages. We teach how to help them in writing, how to help them to be nice at home – things like that. I also do preparation for very young babies to show what the mum can do at home when the baby is very young. We also work with pregnant moms, so we do relaxation course for the babies. We really try to reach many parents. Moreover, I will do some talks for the whole day, where we do a lot of theories and practices, like I did in P&G.
- 如果用一些词去总结JJB的优势和特色，您会用哪些词？ If to conclude the advantages and specialties of JJB using tags (for example Twitter Tags), what would they be?
首先当然是蒙特梭利教育法。而其次，我觉得是Feeder school，因为我们学校95%的孩子之后都会去国际学校。对于那些想要找一个有国际化氛围的社区以便日后就读国际学校的人来说，我们学校便是最佳的选择。我们学校是一个让家长和孩子一起接受教育的地方，甚至还有专为家长而设的课程。我们为家长提供了很多服务，因而成为了一个独特的早起教育机构。
I think first of all, Montessori. And I think is Feeder school, because here we see ourselves as a feeder school. Almost 95% of our children go to the international school. For people who want to start before the international school, this is the right place if they are looking for an international community. I think it is a place with parent and child education and even education for parents. We do a lot of things for parents and then we have become a typical center for early childhood.
