Teaching Kindergarten - a bumpy ride!!
So, I had a really long morning at kindergarten today and have been reflecting on my experience so far this year with 3-5 year olds!
Although I had a smattering of babysitting jobs when I was younger, it was never really with children of this age group so even after only 2 months I feel like I've learned a lot I had no idea bout before. Also, despite having had a younger brother and sister, storytelling and communicating with these kids is a lot more challenging since English is not their first language!!!!!! This can lead to lots of bumps in the road and frustratiooooooon!!!! RARG!!! So sorry, this turned out longer and more rambly than I thought....maybe I will go and get a coffee to wind down later tonight. x__X
Overall, you just need SO much patience to teach kindergarten! They are still learning many things, not just reading and writing, but also exploring crafts, how they can move their body and jump around...even the concept of "boy" and "girl" is still a bit lost on some of the 3 year olds. They still need help putting on their shoes and undoing the buttons on their cardigans.
It can be so rewarding working with these kids when they start picking up even small English things you have exposed them to. It's very different from primary school, where you often don't really know the full English learning background the students have had. In kindergarten it's a lot more transparent....pretty much nothing!! I will be very excited if even 1/3 to half of my students by the end of the year can look at a word they don't know starting with "b" and know it's starts with a "buh" sound O____O Despite the language barrier, body language works to a certain extent, and kids will try to talk to me anyway in Cantonese and indicate their curiosity with facial expression and puppy dog eyes! (for example, they will use a pleading voice if they really want to try on my watch....if they don't just try to grab it and pry it off my arm first!!). Also, they are adorable and small, and easily excitable when it comes to games and songs!! They delight in telling me any English words they know in their efforts to communicate, even if it's just pointing out the colours on their clothes or tennis shoes(older ones), or excitedly screaming "APPLE!!" every time they see my face (youngest)..... ^^ It is really cute, and I get excited too when they have something they want to show me!!
But many situations are complicated when I can't ask them one important word....."why"!!!! Without the "why", i can't really help to mediate kid conflicts (fighting over turns wearing a princess tiara, who gets what glowy ball, or who pushed whom) or ask them why they are leaving the classroom (could be misbehaving, or a simple case of "I have to pee!"). Also, since they can't understand what I'm saying, often they just keep messing about and being mischievious and disruptive the second the local teacher leaves the room!! Aaarrg!! X___X With less experience, I still have not learned well how to show kids I mean business (I'm pathetic with the stern look to be honest...big surprise....) or chastise the naughty ones. Without the use of language to explain and command, I have to find alternate ways to convey the same messages and intent but so far I've been shaky at best!! >__< With kids of this age, it seems sometimes other teachers will just have to take them by the arm physically remove them from the situation. I need to start up a naughty chair or something to help curb particularly disruptive kids, but sometimes they just won't budge! What to do???
Overall, I guess it's just really humbling working with these kids. I lose confidence a lot when planning lessons and activities since sometimes if something doesn't work, i feel it's due to my not thinking as critically as I could about how things will run. Also, kids can take a lot longer at things than I anticipate (especially crafts and colouring..) and I wish sometimes I was better equiped with more background knowledge about the general development of 3-5 year olds!!!
Still deciding whether or not I'd like to try teachers college next year and/or apply to the JET program in Japan. I have really enjoyed living in Hong Kong, but 3 years will be a long time to have stayed here! In the end I still get nostalgic and have a longing to go back to Japan and live there some more. There are good kindergarten days (lessons go well, have lots of fun playing games and rewarding interaction with kids), and there are baaad kindergarten days (kids go wild when local teacher leaves the room, kids randomly wandering out of the classroom, hardly get any activities done, and getting smacked on the ass by a couple of hyper 5-year olds...). So, I guess there is really a bit of both! I'm just hoping that things will get a bit easier and come a bit more naturally as the year progresses.
Here's hoping...!! ^^
Although I had a smattering of babysitting jobs when I was younger, it was never really with children of this age group so even after only 2 months I feel like I've learned a lot I had no idea bout before. Also, despite having had a younger brother and sister, storytelling and communicating with these kids is a lot more challenging since English is not their first language!!!!!! This can lead to lots of bumps in the road and frustratiooooooon!!!! RARG!!! So sorry, this turned out longer and more rambly than I thought....maybe I will go and get a coffee to wind down later tonight. x__X
Overall, you just need SO much patience to teach kindergarten! They are still learning many things, not just reading and writing, but also exploring crafts, how they can move their body and jump around...even the concept of "boy" and "girl" is still a bit lost on some of the 3 year olds. They still need help putting on their shoes and undoing the buttons on their cardigans.
It can be so rewarding working with these kids when they start picking up even small English things you have exposed them to. It's very different from primary school, where you often don't really know the full English learning background the students have had. In kindergarten it's a lot more transparent....pretty much nothing!! I will be very excited if even 1/3 to half of my students by the end of the year can look at a word they don't know starting with "b" and know it's starts with a "buh" sound O____O Despite the language barrier, body language works to a certain extent, and kids will try to talk to me anyway in Cantonese and indicate their curiosity with facial expression and puppy dog eyes! (for example, they will use a pleading voice if they really want to try on my watch....if they don't just try to grab it and pry it off my arm first!!). Also, they are adorable and small, and easily excitable when it comes to games and songs!! They delight in telling me any English words they know in their efforts to communicate, even if it's just pointing out the colours on their clothes or tennis shoes(older ones), or excitedly screaming "APPLE!!" every time they see my face (youngest)..... ^^ It is really cute, and I get excited too when they have something they want to show me!!
But many situations are complicated when I can't ask them one important word....."why"!!!! Without the "why", i can't really help to mediate kid conflicts (fighting over turns wearing a princess tiara, who gets what glowy ball, or who pushed whom) or ask them why they are leaving the classroom (could be misbehaving, or a simple case of "I have to pee!"). Also, since they can't understand what I'm saying, often they just keep messing about and being mischievious and disruptive the second the local teacher leaves the room!! Aaarrg!! X___X With less experience, I still have not learned well how to show kids I mean business (I'm pathetic with the stern look to be honest...big surprise....) or chastise the naughty ones. Without the use of language to explain and command, I have to find alternate ways to convey the same messages and intent but so far I've been shaky at best!! >__< With kids of this age, it seems sometimes other teachers will just have to take them by the arm physically remove them from the situation. I need to start up a naughty chair or something to help curb particularly disruptive kids, but sometimes they just won't budge! What to do???
Overall, I guess it's just really humbling working with these kids. I lose confidence a lot when planning lessons and activities since sometimes if something doesn't work, i feel it's due to my not thinking as critically as I could about how things will run. Also, kids can take a lot longer at things than I anticipate (especially crafts and colouring..) and I wish sometimes I was better equiped with more background knowledge about the general development of 3-5 year olds!!!
Still deciding whether or not I'd like to try teachers college next year and/or apply to the JET program in Japan. I have really enjoyed living in Hong Kong, but 3 years will be a long time to have stayed here! In the end I still get nostalgic and have a longing to go back to Japan and live there some more. There are good kindergarten days (lessons go well, have lots of fun playing games and rewarding interaction with kids), and there are baaad kindergarten days (kids go wild when local teacher leaves the room, kids randomly wandering out of the classroom, hardly get any activities done, and getting smacked on the ass by a couple of hyper 5-year olds...). So, I guess there is really a bit of both! I'm just hoping that things will get a bit easier and come a bit more naturally as the year progresses.
Here's hoping...!! ^^