Same Jobs, Different Worlds Comparing the Days between Two Kindergarten Teachers

By Alys McQueen [UK]

Jenny and her workmates

When Alys decided to come to China she had no idea she would end up working the same job as her mother, Jenny.They are now both kindergarten teachers. 8 hours apart by timezones and a world apart in culture and language, can it really be that different working in a kindergarten in Wuhan,China versus working in one in Kent, UK? In this article, Alys and Jenny compare their daily routines.

Alys: I teach 9 classes per day with 5 levels of difficulty. The youngest children are 3 and the oldest are 6/7. All my classes greet me with“good morning/hello teacher,”and I ask them how they are (“I’m fine thank you!”) and how the weather is.

It’s Monday morning and I get to work early to work on my lesson plans for the week.

Today is a rainy day so a lot of the children want to sing “Rain,Rain Go Away” and dance like rain clouds, hopping on one foot and moving their hands up and down like rain. A girl in one of my classes is not as impressed by the weather and tells me, “I like sunny days.” It is easy to forget that English is their second language sometimes, as they all speak so well and so confidently.

I begin all my classes this way, with a song and dance before starting on the content of their oral English lesson,playing games to reinforce the learning and ending on another song or a story/video. In my lessons we practice speaking and pronunciation as well as check understanding.

Jenny: Back in the UK it is 9:30 am and most of the children have arrived. Unlike Alys, I look after the same class all week as one of the key workers.

First thing in the morning we split the room of 24 2-to-3-yearolds into two groups and sit them down to say good morning. They are very lively today. Next we sing a song on days of the week, and talk about the day and how the weather is. We sing lots of action songs which the children enjoy,a song called “Twinkle Twinkle Chocolate Bar” is a firm favorite and the children all want to sing it.

This is followed by a short story. Today we will read a book called Peace at Last. It’s about a poor bear who can’t get to sleep because of the various annoying sounds around him. Most of the children listen well, sitting in their correct seats, but some rebels sneak closer to me wanting to touch the book.

Next in the daily routine are snacks. It’s bananas on toasted bread today. In our kindergarten,the children’s main learning is done through play, and today I am carrying out string painting,pulling string through paint and across paper to help the children improve their handeye coordination, which will, in turn, help them when they start to write. I ask the children what colors they are using and what their works represent, and we look together at the different shapes and patterns they make.Concentration is encouraged with lots of praise. All children are encouraged to help us tidy up before lunch, and they get stickers as rewards if they help. The children will do almost anything for a sticker. The ones who have not helped look very hard done by when they are not given a prize.

艾麗斯和母親珍妮都是幼兒園老師，當艾麗斯決定來中國時，她有很多困惑。時差8小時，文化和語言大相徑庭。中國武漢和英國肯特的幼兒園會不同嗎？孩子們、班級以及課程表會有何區別？

艾麗斯

周一早上，我一般會早點去學校，做好一周的課程安排。我每天在不同的班級分別上九節課，最小的孩子3歲，最大的6、7歲。

今天下雨，孩子們載歌載舞，唱著“大雨，大雨快走開”。他們英文流利，我經常忘記英語是他們的第二語言。每次口語課，我都從唱歌跳舞開始，孩子們都很喜歡。之后通過做游戲來加強學習，最后再唱一首歌或給他們講個故事。

珍妮

早上九點半，大部分孩子都到了。作為主要工作人員之一，我整周都在照看同一個班的學生。

早上第一件事，是把24個兩三歲的孩子分成兩組。

Today the children eat a traditional baked English meal called Shepherds Pie, which is minced lamb in meat sauce with vegetables and mashed potatoes layered on top that they eat with knives and forks. For dessert,the children eat ice cream with a mixed berry sauce. Next up is naptime so we tuck the children up on their sleeping mats at 12:30. The first half of my day is complete, and I feel quite tired already.

Alys:Back in China, our lunch today is boiled rice and two dishes, spicy green beans with meat and tofu and green vegetables. Tofu has become one of my favorite foods since moving to China, so I am very happy to see it. All the food is cooked on the premises, and I enjoy having the chance to try different foods. The food in Wuhan is much spicier,but also I think it has much more flavor than food in the UK.

Shepherds pie, a traditional English meal which students eat in Jenny's description of the day

By the time I have finished my lunch the kindergarten is very quiet, with neat lines of children’s shoes outside every class room.Most of my students are tucked up in blankets in their classrooms ready for their lunch time nap,something we teachers take part in too. My lunch break is long, so I go back to my apartment for it.

When my lunch break is over I arrive back at school to begin my lessons at 3 pm. After lunch I begin to teach one of my older classes, in which I cover phonics to help with English pronunciation. The children are all keen to show me their spoken English, and we are working on difficult sounds today. I feel very proud when my whole class says,“V is for Violin” on their first try.We then move on to animals,and my students are particularly excited to tell me what noises the animals make, though none of us are sure what a crocodile says.Eventually we all agree on making snapping movements with our hands.

The children love British television programmes, and as they have been very patient and tried hard today, we watch Peppa Pig, a story about a family of pigs and their animal friends, and learn about dinosaurs.

Jenny:My lunch break is much shorter that Alys’. I come back to work at 1 pm to quiet, sleeping children. Some of the children are not allowed to sleep for their whole break, so I have to wake them up. I feel really guilty as I wake children up, as all they want is to just go back to sleep. But I also understand as a parent how frustrating it can be when you have a playful 2-year-old still wide awake at 10 pm because they slept too much at lunch.

我們先帶孩子們唱歌跳舞，接下來再講一個小故事。多數孩子坐在位子上認真聽，也有些小調皮會偷偷靠近我想要摸摸故事書。

丹江口大壩加高工程電廠機組設備改造項目經驗總結……………………………………………… 齊耀華，王 煒(2.11)

幼兒園的孩子們主要通過做游戲的方式來學習。吃完點心，我教他們線畫，這可以鍛煉孩子的手眼技能，并有助于他們寫作。

12點30是午睡時間，半天過去，我已經覺得相當累。

艾麗斯

今天的午餐主食是米飯，兩個菜，四季豆炒肉和青菜豆腐。武漢的食物比較辣，但我覺得它比英國的味道要好得多。

吃完午飯，幼兒園很安靜，鞋子整齊地擺放在教室外，大部分學生都在教室里準備午睡。我也回到公寓午休。

下午3點開始上課，孩子們積極向我展示他們的英語口語，我為此感到自豪。

珍妮

我的午休時間比艾麗絲短得多。下午1點，我會陸續把孩子叫醒。1點半的時候他們開始唱歌玩游戲。這期間，24個孩子需要上廁所，換尿布，標記床鋪，穿鞋，所以這段時間非常繁忙。

帶他們回教室后，便是下午茶時間，我會讓幾個孩子穿上藍色圍裙，來幫我布置桌子，擺放食物。

吃東西時，有些孩子會覺得刀叉太難而直接用手吃。我會幫孩子們切好食物，表揚使用刀叉的孩子，鼓勵其他人也嘗試使用刀叉。

艾麗斯

下午4點45，最后一堂課結束，我和孩子們用歌聲道別。見到來接自己的父母，孩子們會很高興地展示自己今天得到的獎勵貼紙。

下午5點，我離開學校回家，在家里我會琢磨第二天的課程內容。

珍妮

孩子們通常4點半到6點半回家，父母來接他們時，我們會向父母反饋孩子們一天中的表現。孩子們回家后，我們收拾整理房間，準備第二天的早餐。當我回家，我會想起我在中國的女兒，想想她今天做了什么。

我很樂意跟她分享教學心得。

艾麗斯

即使處于世界不同兩端，我們仍然有如此多的共同點，生活中的文化差異似乎可以忽略不計，太神奇了。我剛到中國的時候，以為調整狀態很困難。事實上，無論你在世界哪個角落，如果你正在做一些讓你感到快樂的事情，一切都會很快步入正軌。◆

I read them stories, so the rest of the children can sleep. They really like the story about the pigs going on a picnic; we talk about what food they would choose to take. Most of them choose cake,cheese, or sausages. We have one healthy eater who says if he went on a picnic he would take grapes.I would choose chocolate, but I keep this to myself.

Next they choose songs to sing and by this time it is 1:30, and the children are ready to play. As the rest of the children wake up, we tag their bedding and put on their shoes. We have some children who try and claim others’ shoes as their own, which as you can imagine can give us very angry parents at the end of the day. We now have up to 24 children who need trips to the toilet, changes of nappies, beds tagged, and shoes put on correctly,so this is a very busy time.

Now it’s time for outside play.We check the UV rating on a special app. Today it is 3, meaning that the children can go in the garden for a short time with sun cream and hats. It is quite hot today, so I welcome being able to get some fresh air.

I have fun with the children playing hide-and-seek. I count loudly to 20. The children hide in the wooden play house, and I can hear them laughing. I say loudly where they could be. Most of them at this point come running up to me, pointing out the other children still waiting to be found.So I pretend to look in other places, then find them. This game can go on for a very long time,but I love to see them laughing and clearly enjoying themselves.That’s my favorite part of working with young children.

I get the tennis rackets and balls out next. All my students crowd around me, and I have to firmly explain that they will have to take turns. I hit the ball to them, and they try hitting it back to me.I have to stop the game to remind them that they cannot push their friends and they will all get a turn, but not if they push.

Sadly it’s now time to go back upstairs into the class room;I prefer to be outside as I feel there are so many learning opportunities in the garden.We encourage the children to help tidy up with lots of encouragement and high fives to reward good behavior; they are all very eager to receive a high five.

Once we get upstairs, the room is split into two groups for carpet time whilst the room is set up with different activities and tables set for tea. I am setting the tables. I choose a couple of children to help me. I let them wear blue aprons which is what we all have to wear when working with food. Today the children have jacket potatoes with cheese and ham on top. It looks and smells lovely. My two little helpers, who are feeling very important with their aprons on,help me count how many plates they will need and set these out.

When they are eating we encourage them to use their knives and forks, but some find this hard still and use their fingers. Today is good. There are enough potatoes for the staff to have one each, so I sit down with a table of children, and I help them cut up their food, praising the children who are using their knives and forks, a gentle reminder that encourages the others to try too.

Alys:Back at my school is 4:45 pm and time for my final class to end. We sing “Bye, Bye, See You Tomorrow,” and I ask the children what day tomorrow is. The Chinese teachers then get all the classes ready to leave, and I say goodbye to each child as they go to their parents The children are very happy to see their parents/grandparents and show them any stickers they have earned throughout the day.

I leave school at 5 pm, and on my way out I see some of the children on their ways home. They get very excited when they see me, wanting another hug or high five. One little girl runs over to me to show me her toy penguin, and her mum looks very proud when her daughter speaks in English about her penguin and how it can swim in the sea. I feel happy her speaking is so good and that she has grown in confidence so much.When I first started, she was too shy to even put her hand up.

It is amazing how quickly children learn. I walk home feeling tired but happy, excited to find out how tomorrow’s lessons will go.

Students' artwork

Jenny:Our children normally start going home from 4:30 to 6:30.After tea, they play in the garden and in the sand pit, and today we are pretending to make a pizza(yes, food again; sometimes I think it’s all we think about). We talk about the different toppings which are mostly cheese and ham. Other children ride around the garden on their bikes. As the parents come, we give feedback to them on how their child has done and share special moments from the day.

A little girl I look after was able to count to 20 today, and both her mum and I are really pleased. I really enjoy giving feedback and letting parents know what their children have been up to during their days. As the children go home, we tidy up and get the room set up for the next day and breakfast. I have set up a teddy bear picnic, and I get a lot of pleasure making the room look fun and creating learning opportunities for the children.As I walk home, I think about my daughter in China and what she has been up to today. When I read about our days, I can see lots of similarities but also so many things that are different.Working with children is always unpredictable, and I am glad we both share the gift of teaching.

Alys:It’s amazing how even though we are at opposite ends of the world we still have so much in common. The cultural differences in our lives seem really small compared to the big picture.When I moved to China I thought it would be a lot harder to adjust.I think it shows that wherever you are in the world, if you are doing something which makes you feel happy, everything will soon start to feel right.◆