This year I have been working at Galileo School with the kindergarten-preschool children in various capacities. During this time, I have gotten to know about 50 of these 3-7 year-olds and it has been great fun.
There are four who are fluent in English. From there it is a huge range of English language comprehension and speech. Some of the youngest kids haven't figured out that I still can't understand them when they speak Slovak to me. I'll listen to a whole paragraph of a story and tell them "nie Slovensky" - but they don't seem to mind a bit. All can speak the phrase "can I go to the toilet?" in English.
Each week I am with a group of little ones alone for a couple of hours - we manage to get by without speaking the same language. We play and color and I talk to them in English because many have receptive English even though they are not speaking yet.
The older children I've been working with are taught in English, so they are gaining more English language skills. I read books to them, ask them questions and try to get them use their English while they are with me. We have had fun recently acting out story books like "Goldilocks and the Three Bears" and "The Three Little Pigs".
I take my hat off to all my teacher friends for their profession of choice. Working with kids takes a great deal of patience and insight. I can see how it can be rewarding at the same time. When I walk into a classroom to take out the kids two at a time, I am greeted with "HALLO, MRS. CAROLEEEEN". And then "PLEEEEEZE, PLEEZE, take me"....... All my years working in an office never generated that kind of enthusiasm!
I've put up a slide show of some of the kids - you can see their sweet little faces bigger if you click on it and go to the Picasa web site.
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