First Day of Kindergarten
I’ve finally learned how to offer the ultimatum, “please turn on the meter, or I am getting out to find another cab,” so my commute to work on my first day was relatively painless (aside from finding out that I have been paying an extra five pounds per ride). As the children arrived, they played together in the garden area while the teachers discussed a theme for the day. We collaboratively decided to use “feelings,” and collected toys, books, and games from the room designated to such items. Once the classrooms were stocked and prepared, we joined the children outside.
The school consists of two English classes and one German class, and each class has children from three to five years old. During “garden time,” all three classes are combined, so I often find children barking at me in German and expecting me to understand. They all speak a little bit of English, but the German class is of course encouraged to speak only German; unfortunately the only German-speaking adult who works at the kindergarten is their teacher, so during garden time and meal times they are spoken to in English by the staff. The two English classes are also combined during meal and snack times, and the two classes are divided by age during “nap/circle time” so that the little ones can sleep while the older children do more advanced work. This complex system made for a very confusing trial day, as I kept feeling as if we were losing children I knew well and gaining ones who I had never met; however, today I was able to thoroughly familiarize myself with the system.
After “garden time,” we brought the children inside to wash their hands for breakfast. The children must line up at the gate, hang up their coats inside, line up again outside the restroom, roll up their sleeves, enter the restroom in pairs, wet, soap, rinse, find their names on the wall, dry their hands with their own towels, and sit on the steps outside the restroom. This process is absolute chaos. In fact, any movement from one location to another is utter mayhem, and we change locations a total of fourteen times per day. During such transitions, children cling to the sandbox for dear life. They kick each other in line, or independently lose their balance and topple over. They fight over toys they brought from home and shoot off at full speed, in the opposite direction from your desired destination. One child will lift up her shirt, wrap it over her head and start running in circles while screaming, and then four others will follow. Someone will have discovered the magic of a light switch and another will be punching him so that he could be the one to switch it on and off over and over again. Literally, my job is to distract these children long enough to prevent them from killing each other or themselves.
For the rest of the day, we ate breakfast, transitioned, played games, transitioned, finger-painted, transitioned, ate lunch, transitioned, played more games, transitioned, danced and played musical instruments, transitioned, read stories, transitioned, snacked, transitioned, played in the garden again, and washed our hands MANY times in between.
Due to lack of resources and planning time, the agreed upon theme is only employed for a handful of activities. Once I get used to the schedule and feel more comfortable in the classroom, I am going to try to change this. I’d like to bring in my own music and books (if I can find a bookstore in Cairo that has a good selection of English children’s books), and have a lot of repetition throughout the day. I’d like to know the theme ahead of time, so that the children will be excited to come to school in the morning because it’s Japanese culture day (or whatever). I feel that some of the children misbehave because they are tired of the same tattered games and puzzles with missing pieces. Since resources are limited, I’d like to think of some fun imagination games or ones in which we only need our bodies. I think that I could really improve the program at work, once I get the hang of it. Feel free to send me any suggestions! :)
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