Kindergarten 101

  Talk about a reality check! I spent the first 2 weeks of September (Mon-Wed) volunteering in a Kindergarten classroom. I’ve spent my fair share of time babysitting kids before, but it’s a completely different story when you’ve got close to 2 dozen 5 to 8 year olds in one room. Getting children to listen to you in your own language is challenging enough. For the most part these kids couldn’t understand anything I said and it was even harder for me to understand them. Thankfully, I was only assisting the teacher.

            The school I was helping at wasn’t a typical school though either. The project is called “Nuestros Anijahdos” (Our Godchildren). My understanding is it was started by a man from Bismarck, ND. Their goal is to take families who live at the garbage dump in Guatemala City and get the kids in school, get the families homes and sustainable living conditions.

The homes that this group helps build are easily smaller than some closets in the U.S. I would say the one I saw was maybe 8x15 ft. It costs about $1000 dollars to build one and although it still sounds terrible that small home is often a big step up. Some families go from no roof to a solid tin or heavy plastic roof and from a dirt floor to concrete. This cuts way back on diseases like worms. Their new home also has a door and window which can be shut and locked. Many families only have a curtain for a door which means animals (dogs particularly) can get in causing problems and disease. A door means a little more security. It also means parents can keep the kids inside away from danger, or even just leave them at home for a short time so the parents can work. The homes are then also anchored 5 feet into the ground which means it won’t (or at least not as easily) wash away in the frequent heavy rains.

            Each of the kids at this school is sponsored by someone typically an American family. From the looks of most of their clothes most also receive clothing from the states. I did see a few Bismarck specific t-shirts. It was a reality check when I noticed one of the girls wearing a “shirt” with a tag indicating it was for a 12-18 month old. Granted that “shirt” would have been a dress originally, but it was a bit shocking to think she is small enough still fit it as a 5 year old. Part of this is a lack of proper nutrition, but Guatemalans in general are very small people. (I’m pretty much a giant here. Anyone who knows my family can imagine what would be thought of my Dad and brother.)

However, I digress back to my time with the Kindergarteners. The first real test of using my Spanish came when the kids were eating breakfast (2 meals a day are provided at school), and I was left in charge while their teacher talked with a couple parents. It wasn’t long before the first kid came up speaking rapid Spanish and pointing at classmate. I didn’t need to understand what was being said to understand the telling voice of tattling. It was confirmed though when I caught the words “[she/he said] una mal palabra” (a bad word). Since my Spanish isn’t exactly good enough to play counselor all I could do was tell the kids to sit down and eat breakfast silently.

After breakfast each day the kids a form a line and their toothbrushes are handed out. The school does a good job of really teaching kids a lot of things that they probably aren’t getting at home.

Other days at breakfast I was pretty much a jungle gym for the boys and a test subject for the girls wanting to play with my hair. I quickly recalled the command to “be careful” (cuidado) when I realized the kids absolutely loved trying on my glasses and playing with my camera. Although our communication mutually lacked I quickly learned I don’t have to be able to say much and the kids still love you. All they want is some positive attention.

In class most days I helped them with their “spelling” tests. I put spelling in quotes because in Spanish you don’t exactly learn how to spell words since everything is phonetic. For example the teacher would tell them to write “Da, De, Di, Do, Du” and then “Ma, Me, Mi, Mo, Mu” and so on with whichever letters they’d been practicing. My role was basically to watch for which kids who needed things repeated, needed one on one help or even just a reminder to sit down because we weren’t on the playground anymore. I became a broken record saying, “Tu necesistas escribir ____” (You need to write ___). I think the teacher definitely appreciated having an extra hand though since it definitely took some kids a lot longer to take their “tests”.

One day I brought my homework with to work on while the kids were on the playground. During their snack break and into recess my notebook was the center of attention. Almost all of them were more excited to have a blank piece of paper to write on than play. I gave them each a sheet of paper and had them practice writing their names, favorite colors, favorite animals and other basics that I could say in Spanish.

Most days on the playground I got used to hearing, “Miiiiiiiiiiiiiiiis, Miiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiis, Miiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiis, aqui ayudame!” (Miss, Miss, Miss, here help me!) Most of the time it was help me do the monkey bars, or push me in the swing… my shoulders definitely got a work out! One time though I turned around to the call to help and Gloria wanted me to tie her shoe. I did and then in the following days it became a regular occurrence. Their teacher (I realize now I never knew her name) told Gloria something which I think translated to the fact that she would have to learn to tie her shoes before moving on to 1^st grade/preparatory. Gloria became the most determined little girl I’ve ever met.

With one of Gloria’s shoes now sitting in her lap she and her teacher spent the rest of recess (about a half hour) practicing. A small group of her classmates even rallied around with interest and lots of input about the best way to tie shoes. But unlike Gloria most the kids lost interest within a few minutes, and went back to playing “football”/soccer or climbing various jungle gyms. When her teacher got called away I sat down by Gloria in hopes of trying to help. I quickly realized translating the “bunny rabbit” shoe tying method was above my skill level. She already had down the criss-cross and the first bunny ear steps so now came the tough part of finishing.

To the best of my speaking ability I tried to help. About all I could do was point to one lace and say “esta” (this one) and then point to where it should go and say “aqui” (here). The biggest challenge for her was getting her small fingers to maneuver the right way while still holding onto the correct lace. It took several attempts and then suddenly she got it! I have never seen a child so excited. I swear she was actually glowing.

With a huge smile she jumped up with her shoe raised above her head shouting “Maestra, Maestra, Maestra!!!” (Teacher, Teacher, Teacher). In an attempt to find her teacher she ran for the classroom. It quickly turned into a one foot hop when she realized she was only wearing one shoe. Before getting too far one of her classmates, Alessandra (a very take charge little girl), basically told Gloria give me your shoe I can run faster and show her. Their teacher came back with the shoe in her hand and a big smile and lots of praise saying, “Muy bein, muy bien” but was quick to untie the shoe and tell her to try it again.

So even though I may not have understood much of what was going on those 6 days I volunteered I became the student. Gloria reminded me of the important lesson that we can’t be successful without practice and determination, and that my blog readers is a big lesson from a small child that you can all take with you.