For two weeks I have been substituting as the aide in a Kindergarten room in an international preschool. The class has eleven students- ten Polish, one Korean, one American- and the teacher is a Polish woman who was the aide in previous years. The school has a 2-3 year old room, a 4-5 year old room, and the Kindergarten class and all instruction is done in English (the parents want their children to be bilingual). Ideally, the school would prefer native English speakers but right now they have only native Polish teachers that speak English, except for the aide for whom I am substituting.
The school day lasts from 8:30 to 2:30 with extended care until 5:00. The teachers rotate responsibility for the extended care. A British woman provides music activities twice each week and a hot lunch is available for an extra fee.
The first two days I tried to observe, to get a sense of the kids, the teacher, and the schedule. The teacher didn't really tell me anything so I kept asking what she wanted me to do. I tried to help wherever I could but our teaching styles are quite different so I felt awkward. The children do a lot of worksheets which bothers my method of child-centered, authentic learning but it's not my classroom so I bit my tongue and tried to support her efforts. I brought in some of my story books today because the teacher was going to be gone, leaving me in charge, and I needed some back-up activities. The kids were quick to remind me if I did something out of order but I had a lot of fun. I let them color snowflakes with sparkle crayons (their teacher wants them to color things only as they exist in real life) and I read to them a lot. As much as I may disagree with some of the classroom practices, I had to honor and support the established routines and methods.
Tomorrow will be my last day and then I have to clean and cook for the Army-Navy game party on Saturday. THEN I'll finally get to my Christmas preparations!
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