I just returned from
the first of 2 observation days at Catie’s school. Unlike many US schools, you
cannot just show up when you want on parent observation days. Here, you must
sign up for two 45-minute time slots, thus controlling how many people are in
the school. I signed up for vocabulary class today and lunch tomorrow. (I really
want to see how bad lunch really is after having Catie tell me it’s “yucky” all
semester.)
Vocabulary class was
fine. Catie is in the youngest group and occasionally blurts out the answer
without giving the other kids a chance. The littlest student kept running
around the group instead of paying attention, but she’s only 2, so what can you
expect.
My mind is
still reeling from “free play” time after class! When they left their lesson, the
6 children in vocabulary class had to do their “routine”. The routine consisted
of the following:
1) Use the toilet.
2) Wash their hands
(with warm water and soap).
3) Wipe their hands on their towel and get their cup from
their bag hanging near the bathroom.
4) Gargle 3 times.
5) Put cup away, wipe
hands again.
6) Go across room and
get water bottle.
7) Bring water bottle to
their assigned seat and have a drink.
8) Return water bottle
to appropriate spot on the water bottle table.
9) Go across room and
pull their card from 3 boxes of routine cards (they need to be able to find their own name).
10) Find a teacher and (in
English) ask tell them which tasks they completed so that the teacher can mark
them off.
11) Thank the teacher (in
English) and put the card back in the appropriate box.
12) Go across room to the
free play board.
13) Find their own tag (a
key chain-like tag with their name on it)
14) Look at the play
board to see which play center has free space. I’m not sure how many kids are
allowed in each area at a time, but Catie said the craft center was full, so she opted for
the TV corner. Put tag in one of the pockets for the chosen activity.
15) Since Catie chose the
TV corner, she then had to go pick up her chair, bring it onto the stage (the
TV corner) and ask a teacher for help to put in a DVD.
Whoa. 15 steps just
to have some free time watching a movie! I had no idea the kids had to do all
this by themselves! I can only imagine how lost Catie was for months!
Catie’s choice of
movie amused me as well. Teacher Hirako offered up a stack of movies with
Cinderella on the top. Catie quickly nixed the first 3 princess movies and
settled on Watch’em Work- her favorite, according to the teacher! The movie
consisted of video clips of different kinds of trucks working at a construction
site. That's our little girl!!!
While we were
watching the movie, I was repeatedly jumped on, hugged, and shown artwork by
the other children. Catie joined in too, although she did explain to a few
classmates that this was HER mommy (somehow them yelling “Catie Mama”
repeatedly got past her). I was so busy playing with them, that I didn’t
realize all the other parents had left! Teacher Mai had to come over and tell
me it was time to leave. My bad!
Catie really enjoyed
having me at school. She was proud of showing me that she knew exactly what to
do. I was impressed that she not only can read her own name, but the names of
many of her classmates! When did that happen? I am surprised at the level of
structure in the classroom. I knew kids were supposed to take care of some
things on their own, but I had not realized how many specific tasks they have
to complete in the correct order. Seeing how well she does with that makes me
wonder how she will get along in school when we return to the US. This has
clearly been an interesting learning experience for all of us!
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