I got called this morning at 8.30am to sub for a kindergarten english teacher who sprained her ankle on her way to work. The class would begin at 9:30am and I had never taught kindergarten before. Luckily, I had a fabulous Taiwanese support teacher. I haven’t been seeking work with kindergartens here because I thought I might get bored of babysitting, but I had fun. Being with them gave me permission to just play. The children were well behaved and were very accepting of me and the half dozen college students who came to observe us for their early childhood education studies. The little ones are so quick to adapt. They are a fantastic age of still being very curious and accepting of new people, especially an Asian face that doesn’t speak to them in Chinese, nor understands what they say.
The way things are done here, makes me realize how sensitive we are in Canada to change. It’s difficult to explain in concisely. It seems that dissappointments, challenges, or discomfort are not acknowledged outwardly with as much time or energy as they would in similar situations in Canada. For example, if a group of 70 students all ran under a broken halloween pinata to pick up candies and it turned into a stampede with 3 and 4 year olds being pinned to the ground under 50 others, the incident might make the news in Canada and parents might file complaints and hold the school responsible. Well here, I’ve seen that very thing happen here, and though there was concern for their safety and all the adults ran to stop the children from jumping onto each other, most if not all, had a laugh about it almost immediately and no angry complaints or blame was laid to anyone. That was Halloween and now it’s Christmas, so I got to tell them what stockings and presents are for during Christmas.
Once I finished playing and reading with the children in the morning, I helped feed them lunch and the school fed me too and then we had a nap. Yup. Teachers too. I went home, chatted online and had a ly down and came back at 2pm. I taught a different class for two hours and took a few pictures there that’ll show up here eventually, and then I scooted off (literally on a scooter) to a different school where I would work until 8:30pm.
My evening hours are at a buxiban, pronounced ‘boo-shee-ban’ (english language school), where I must learn over a hundred names. Although the class size doesn’t usually exceed 12, the classes each day are filled with new faces who come once a week. There are so many of them and I must learn all their names. I’m getting pretty good at getting them down within the first 10 minutes of class but next week, I’m sure I’ll have to re-learn them again.
My favourite part of today, was getting to teach a class with a boy who had a hearing aid device that allowed him to access my voice through a special microphone I wore around my neck. What was so brilliant, was to see that he was the most competent, competitive, enthusiastic and least compromised student in the class. All of my instruction was oral and most of their participation required verbal responses. In fact, he was helping fellow classmates spell my dictations. Sure it showed how well the hearing device works; an amazing technological advancement. But the spirit with which he wore it and gave it to me, and showed me how to wear the counterpart, was inspiring. No shame, no apologies, no questions. And the class, when I walked and started my introduction without seeing or knowing that I would need to wear the microphone, entirely supported us to get suited up for audio. I hope they stay that way into adulthood.
I often hear complaints about the challenges of caring for children from teachers and parents, but today, although it was work and required energy, it was a pure joy and an honour to part of their development.
Janice Teaching & Facilitating
