We are not in Kansas Anymore!

From 14 September, 2010

I went out to the care point today to observe one of the
preschools/ preschool teachers. As I sat there watching her teach, I realized
that I am not in a place that is familiar to me. My day started off very
different from what I had planned, but not all that far from what I had
expected. Preschool started at 9:00, so I wanted to get there early so I could
talk to the teacher and then observe her as she taught for the day. I had a
translator come with me in case there was a need as I was discussing things
with the teacher. I had arranged to pick her up at a designated place close to
the care point at 8:30, that still gave us time to get to the care point before
school started. At around 8:45 she still had not arrived, when I contacted her
she was still waiting for a bus to get to where I was… I waited. A little after
9:00 she arrived and I was ready to go, but she needed to go inside to talk to
some people. We were already late, so what was a few more minutes, I continued
to wait… 20 minutes later we were finally leaving. Three months ago I would
have been furious, and honestly I was a little bit frustrated, but as I am
learning daily, things here are different.

We arrived at the care point and headed to where the
preschool was meeting, this care point actually has a building that the teacher
uses most of the week. The kids were all lined up watching the teacher as she
lead them in chants of information, days of the week, months of the year,
counting, letters, they said a lot. As they were dismissed from the group they
counted individually 1-20 then went to sit down, they all counted, some of them
missing a number here and there, reminding me of Alexander in one of my
favorite books, Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day,…
“The teacher said I left out 16, who needs 16.” When they were done, there were
41 kids sitting around some picnic tables, yes you read that right, 41 kids,
one teacher, yikes! The teacher had to get something, so I had the opportunity
to talk to the kids. I started with some of the quiet ones and asked what their
names were… “My name is ___, I am __ years old, I am a boy/girl”, all while
pounding their hand on their chest. I loved it! We worked on a little bit of
discipline here too, since once I started talking to one a group huddled around
me and at least on child thought that I was a jungle gym that should be climbed
on. I had the chance to meet all 41 kids, I didn’t understand all of their
names, but I met them, and the longer I am here, the more names I will
understand.

The day was filled with interesting thing, the older kids
wrote out the alphabet, not enough pencils, so some had to use crayons, but
they had something to write with, a concept that we are wanting to teach more
of. As they finished they roamed around the room, some were walking on the
table and the teacher either didn’t notice or didn’t care. The kids ate then
worked on more rhymes and chants. The day was complete with a goat trying to
come to school, he came up the stairs, looked around then left. I laughed
thinking of Mary and her little lamb. Today was not what I expected, but today
was a good day!