Day 2 more tears..." i don't want to go to school here... he (classmate) yelled at me like im a one year old baby!!!"
Day 3...more tears... "but i want my mom!"
Day 4... "miss i need to go to the bathroom... miss number 2 i need number 2... but miss!! the bathroom doesnt have a door!!! but miss!!!!! ......i dont know how to clean myself."
Day 5 "i cant eat my food its too hot.... (okay lets blow on the food).... but i cant eat it... i dont like it... but miss... can i tell you something? ... i dont want to eat it because i dont want to grow.... i want to stay like i am!!!!"
Adjusting from working in an institute with teenagers/adults and teaching private classes also to adults... to working in a preschool... has been a very interesting clash of experiences and emotions. The kids are so young, we have kids as young as 1 year old for early stimulation classes. And as old as up to 7, for the kids that are in the first and second grade that was just opened this year. Starting on Monday I will begin my schedule of teaching English all day to 3 4 and 5 year olds, 8-2. But for now I have been helping out with the first and second grade kids. and let me tell you...the girls that work there are convinced that working at the school is going to convince me to want to have kids really soon... and after my first two weeks... i beg to differ. I'm excited for my new schedule to start, to be with the younger kids... to see how that goes, if they are as crazy wild as the others can be, and also just to start teaching. So far I have just been a helper. Especially with one little boy whom I am convinced that if we were in the states he would already have been diagnosed with ADHD. He absolutely can't focus on his work or anything for that matter, except running around the classroom doing headstands, drawing transformers or sharpening his red pencil down to a bare nub. It's funny thing that he's started acting like this,... the first day he was completely different, and secretly my favorite kid. Then he got comfortable. His true colors started showing... and he's convinced he just can't write. I have to sit with him and persuade him to give it a try so that he sees that he can do it, then if nothing grabs his attention he can quickly finish it. And he does a good job, it's just getting him to sit down and do it. Poor thing missed out on two recesses because he couldn't focus on his work and finish like the other kids. I liked working with him, we had a heart to heart over believing that you couldn't do something. I asked him if rememberd that I wasn't from here, and asked him if he thought I spoke Spanish before, then told him all about practicing and trying until I could... and that's how I slowly convinced him to start practicing writing his vowels. He was convinced that he couldn't succeed before he even tried.
There was also another child that confessed to me that he really didn't want to eat anything but fruit, because he didn't want to grow, he want's to stay the same size he is forever... cause small kids dont get punished. i'm not sure where hes coming from on that one...
All in all, I have really enjoyed my first couple of weeks at the school. It's such a different atmosphere to me, and I enjoy it. One of my coworkers whom I walk home with everyday, her name is snow and all the kids call her snow white :) The kid's are slowly, slowly breaking down the walls I have built up around me from spending years not having much interaction with kids. Their smiles when they finish their work and get praise are starting to grow on me...
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