Today was my second day of teaching, well, if you say what I did yesterday was actually teaching- it was more like running around with my head chopped off and trying to find it as seven small Russian kids climbed all over bunk beds and swung chairs above their heads like King Kong. Let's just say I'm trying to block yesterday from my memory. Today was much better, so I'm just trying to focus on that.
Today, I read them a story and we dressed up as the animals from it. Then we played Red Light-Green Light and Simon Says. I'm supposed to do a "drama" lesson with all the groups, and then a game with my home group at the very end of the day. Each lesson is supposed to last twenty minutes, which doesn't sound that hard, but actually is pretty difficult because the kids are so young, don't know much English yet, and have extremely short attention spans. The lessons today weren't stellar and I was fighting to find ways to kill time and get the kids to speak English, but at least none of them were demonstrating the best way to "get air" while jumping off a bed.
The school I work at is the nicest school I have ever seen and has at least five stories, counting the basement where the kids' gym is. You were probably wondering why the kids were jumping off bunk beds; it's because I was teaching in Bed Room #1. That's right; there are multiple "bed rooms" which the kids sleep in at nap time, sheets and comforters included. There is also a swimming pool. Yep, the kids get to swim at pre-school. They even have a special gym and swim instructor. One of the boys was wearing an Armani shirt yesterday, if that gives you a better idea of the kind of school I'm teaching at.
Despite the quality of the school at which I teach, I still sometimes feel bad for the kids at it. They get there in the morning, and a lot of them don't go home until about 5.30 or 6.00, when they've finished eating their dinner and their parents finally come to collect them. I guess I just think it would be really hard to be five years and not see my mom all day. I don't think most five-year olds want Armani; they just want their mommies.
2 comments:
I totally agree, Amy. Benjamin's mom always complains about this same problem at her school, actually. She teaches kindergarten at a very poor inner-city school, and the kids come early and have breakfast before school, they have all-day kindergarten, and then there is an after-school program a lot of the kids stay at and don't go home until after 5. She says the parents often have very little involvement and take very little responsibility for there children has a result. It's sad that parents have allowed the great influence (and great relationship for that matter) they could have with their children be passed off to what are essentially strangers.
Very interesting- why do they have you teach a class in a bedroom rather than a class room?
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