Sun Yi, a member of the Communist Party of China (CPC), and deputy principal of and a teacher in Tiemenguan No.1 Kindergarten of the Second Division of the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps (XPCC), has been named a "2022 National Model Teacher".

She graduated from the junior-college Primary-school Education programme at the Open University of Bingtuan in 2004, and enrolled in undergraduate Preschool Education in autumn 2022. She has been named an “Advanced Worker of the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps”, "Most Beautiful Teacher", "Female Pace-Setter" and "Leader in Academic Research". She has also been awarded prizes for her research papers, two of them at the national level.

In 2000, after graduation, Sun Yi launched her career in preschool education. In her 22 years of teaching, she has remained committed while continuing to learn and grow, fostering every child with love and the wisdom of experience. On her secondment to Pishan farm, sparing no effort, she helped a new kindergarten grow in terms of both facilities and teaching approaches, while working hard to promote standard spoken and written Chinese, and promoting exchanges among and integration of different ethnic groups via education.

In September 2018, she went to work as leader at Pishan Farm in the 14th Division in southern Xinjiang. The kindergarten, Xi Yangyang, was new, and covered an area of more than 5,000 square meters, with 18 classes and 1,108 children. It was a challenge for her to manage a kindergarten of this size, having just been named a head for the first time.

 With over 100 faculty members as well as 1000 children, Sun Yi had to quickly adapt to her new work, and plan for the future.

Her first priority was teacher training, for which she offered more than 20 substantial and creative seminars.

Her second step was to communicate with her superiors to have the facilities upgraded, which took place within two months.

The third was to reform the experience of the children in the kindergarten. She led each class to create displays of the children's work, so that the walls became "alive" and "talking". The outdoor spaces were also carefully redesigned, with large slides installed for outdoor activities.

Learning the use of standard Chinese helps children broaden their horizons. Sun Yi led other staff in formulating age-appropriate national-language teaching plans, and led colourful themed teaching activities. The youngest children became significantly better at understanding and speaking Mandarin after only one semester, and can use it in daily life, while the older students made great progress in speaking, exceeding even the abilities of teachers from their own ethnic group.

Sun Yi also had her classes elect members of the family committee, set up a parent committee, and hold open-day activities for parents every semester in order to motivate families to support their children's learning, as well as to promote exchanges among ethnic groups and a sense of a Chinese cultural identity.

All these efforts have paid off, with Xi Yangyang Kindergarten becoming the most prominent in terms of size, facilities, and teaching approaches in the local area, and even southern Xinjiang. It has attracted visits from schools and kindergartens nearby, and received attention from higher authorities at the levels of the autonomous region and the XPCC.

Sun Yi's happiness is preschool education, and her every effort is repaid with love. This is a cause to which she will remain committed.

By Open University of Bingtuan. Sources: China Education News Network and MOE Official WeChat