by Bretonrae

Created on: January 19, 2009   Last Updated: January 20, 2009

www.Humor: A day in the life of a preschool teacher:

Four year old Angelica was busy "painting" the floor of the bright blue merry-go-round on the pre-school playground. The children always enjoyed a pleasant half hour after nap as they filled up plastic glasses with water and dipped their paint brushes into them to apply their "paint". It was hot in the sunny California afternoon and playing with the water and brushes was a refreshing game. Before the water dried it appeared to change the color of anything to which they applied their wet brushes. The children were in majority of Mexican parentage. My Spanish was sadly lacking, but the policy of the school was that the children would be immersed in English at an early age from ages 2 1/2 tp 5 years. Their playmates and teachers were communicating in English all day during school activities. It seemed amazing that they came not able to understand any English and when they were five years old they could be integrated into the regular English speaking Callifornia kindergarten classes. Parents seemed very eager put their small children into the school. The first two weeks the new children seemed very lost. Then they realized what a great fun experience they could have with all the imaginative activities aimed especially for them. The head of the Preschool was a genius with those young children. Her morning and afternoon routines were so welcomed that the children were rarely absent and couldn't wait to come into the front gate of the playground to spend their day together with us. Angelica (say "An-hel-ica) took it on herself to teach me some Spanish each day. She would come near me and smile, point to something and make sure that I said it correctly in Spanish. It was her way of enriching her life with a relationship with me. "Azul", she said, and again, "Azul" as she pointed to the merry-go-round. I said "no,blue", but she replied, "no, first azul, but now it is blue." "You say it right then you paint, too". When I said "azul" she ran off to get me a glass of water and a brush so I could paint.

Maria was making "B's" on her primary pad as I walked from desk to desk guiding the children in their printing efforts. The large round pencils seemed awkward in their small hands as they concentrated on making their "B". I stepped to the blackboard and asked the children to watch me make a "B" on the board. They watched attentively as I performed the perfect blackboard "B". Then I said, "now without looking, you each make a "B" on your paper." I noticed that Maria had placed one hand over her eyes and was trying to write on her paper gripping the large pencil in the other hand. "What are you doing?", I asked. "Well, teacher," Maria retorted. "You said to do it without looking!" Children seem ever ready to do anything their teacher asks of them because they want to succeed at what they do.

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