Teaching Kindergarten

With the demand among Chinese adults for English training drying up, my school is doing more and more kiddie classes. I do some these of classes on Saturday, and now on Tuesdays, I am now doing classes at a kindergarten near our school location.

Kindergartens in Wuxi are located inside or very near to apartment communites. The one I am going to is in a community off Xueqian Road. Dongling Kindergarten is in a three storey complex built around a playground slash courtyard. Its entrance is gated and a security guard had to let me and my handlers inside. The hallways of the kindergarten are filled with toys. There was a room full of kiddie-sized beds for the students to take a mass afternoon nap. Besides teaching staff, there is custodial and kitchen staff. The kids spend the day at the place.

I teach two classes in what is either a music or activity room. The students, in groups of forty, are brought from their homeroom classes. The classes are twenty minutes long. For a warm-up, I get the kids to stand up, touch body parts and do whatever silly movements I can think of  like getting them to spin their arms quickly or slowly. I try to clown it up to get them to laugh. I then teach or, maybe better to say, test their knowledge of the lesson vocabulary which is presented via flash cards. I continue to try to do activities that I think will amuse them based on the words with which I have to work. If the words are say "push" and "pull," I will get the student to come up, one at a time, and try to push and pull me. I add a twist by flying across the classroom when the girls push me but not moving an inch when the boys try.

With the classes being twenty minutes long, and the activities being very physical, time flies. When the class ends, I will sometimes get mobbed by the kids. Some of them just want to high five me and some of them just want to be naughty and hit or spank the teacher. Each of the classes I teach do have their own personality. A well-behaved class is a joy to teach. An unruly class will have me, depending on the mood I am in, wanting to kick or mentally punish them.