Ndn is coming to our group again?

Today the same old story cropped up again:
 Ndn is coming to our group as a full time German teacher and Asy will go back to Baby group. Neither of them want this arrangement. While Ndn is happy working with Stf and the baby group, Asy is more than happy working with us with the bigger children with whom at least something more can be done than just feeding, changing diaper and telling them not to cry. She also clearly coveys withot actually saying it that she doesn't feel warm, welcome and comfortable with Stf and Ndn the way she clearly does with us.

The reason why Stf is keen on forcing Ndn on us is because she is planning to extend or double the school's baby group. Ndn has looked after the baby group for one year, so she is definitely reliable. And our group shall get more children who are under two years old - well, babies, technically; since I and Cl have had children two - three years old and have never looked after babies, sending Ndn to us seems to be a clever solution for Stf.
Both Cl and I were already horrified on discovering this news about getting children in our group under two years. We both want bigger children whom we can teach, not babies. Cl said she would resign if she is given baby group and I have similar ideas....

Showing off project day and Ls's mother...!

Today we had a project day. The children of all the groups were mixed together and formed into small groups and then certain experiments were done in front of the children with water.

I did an experiment with ice explaining how water becomes ice and vice versa. We heated up ice to turn it into water. Another experiment which I did was to demonstrate that heavy things sinks in water and light things float.

I learnt with some amusement that Mz's group did an experiment by coating their finger tip in pepper powder and dipping it in a dish full of soap water which makes a line of pepper powder in water that follows your finger.
Really? It sounded more like a fun activity rather than an experiment to demonstrate a science principle. Couldn't she think of some more meaningful experiment..

When the project was over, both Mz and My dished out a lavish looking hard laminated and colored certificates with the name of the child written on it explaining the experiment in full detail and even had diagrams! These certificates were given only to those children who had been with them in their room. Means the children who were with us or with Mk were not given any which would make the parents think that maybe we didn't do any thing only My and Mz did.

I, Cl and Mk were so angry; we all talked together that it was so so so mean of them! It was Mz and My who discussed in the meeting that we were going to have experiment with water in project day. Nobody breathed a word about giving a certificate also. And why the hell a certificate should be given for a simple class/group activity? Just because Mz and My don't do anything with the children and if they do something once in 365 days they badly need to shout about it from the roof top? Isn't it just plain farce or a bland show off?

Today since we had to mix all the children up, our group had 3-4 children from My's group, Mk's group and Mz's group including 3/4 of our own children. We noticed that our own children and our last years children said Hello, Guten Morgen, Good morning, Fine, Thank you etc nicely whereas the other children whom we hadn't taught, didn't say so. A very peculiar thing is, my group is the only one that says "Fine, Thank you." to the polite question"How are you?" All the other children of the school, including Mz's group which has big children merely say," Fine." or "Good". They haven't been taught to say "Fine, Thank you" which is the standard polite form.

Today Ls mother left Luis with us but remained outside our room for a long time trying to listen if Ls was screaming which she believed he will and he didn't.
I instructed her to come at 1.30 pm to pick him up. I was somewhat sure he wouldn't sleep easily but I had to try. The whole day he was fine; he played and enjoyed and did get nervous whenever I happened to leave him but that was all. He even ate well enough. When I took him for sleeping he started screaming and jumping out of his bed but was soon quiet. He lay down quietly and eventually fell asleep.
The mother had a hard time believing me. She kept on asking me how much did he cry and for how long? How did he fall asleep?, Was he asking for her? What were his activities?, How long did he sleep?She asked me the same questions again and again and with such a wondrous expressions in her eyes that I was ready to faint now. My tongue started reeling because I was tired of telling her the same things again and again and again.
"Don't you believe me?"
"Yes. It is hard for me to believe because at home putting him to sleep is a herculean task. He has never slept without me beside him and only I can make him go to sleep with such an effort everyday. It is almost impossible for me to believe that he went to sleep without any trouble and slept for so long."

When she finally left Ls gave me plenty of smiles, a couple of flying kisses and even a hug. He went away smiling as sweetly as an angel. One hour of sleep had fully refreshed him...and made his mother go out of her mind. She was still incredulous that whatever I had told her was indeed true.

"If I become a mother like her and behave like she behaves," Said Asy, "then you should give me one tight slap across my cheeks - no words - just one slap!"

A glorious day in Mz's group!!!

As soon as I walked in today Cl wailed: " Oh, we have a problem today! Mz and Mcl both are absent and Jrg cannot be left alone with the children. So it has been decided ( I don't know who made this decision and would really like to know! ) that today you have to go to the Mz's group."
I hoped I didn't betray my happiness too much because Cl looked as if she was completely grief stricken.

I was really so happy. Jrn is a nice man. He is from the Netherlands and is the English teacher for that group. Most of the children in the group were already familiar with me as last year I had done my Christmas play with them. The group however is notorious for being unruly, loud, rowdy and undisciplined and mz complains about them alllllllll the time that she is tired of them.
In the past also when the other teachers were sent to that group they all returned with a near collapse condition.
Not I!
This being my first time in Mz's group I not only wanted to see how things were done in that group but also I didn't want to do anything outright that might seem threatening to Jrn who is just about three months old in this school.

It didn't take me any effort to make them quiet, listen to me, move in an orderly line or do whatever else I wanted them to. I was aghast to see the extent they are allowed free play in the class; they do nothing but just engage in free play, free play and free play - even their free play is not supervised and interfered in by their teacher so they learn practically nothing from it apart from learning by heart how to join lego pieces to make a ship, assemble a model aeroplane or other toys. Some of the children have been in this class since two years which means since precisely two years they have been playing, assembling and dissembling that ship - yet they did not know that the person who drives a ship is called a captain, or that that crooked looking thing is called an anchor or what is the process of an aeroplane's basic function - take off and land.

Their morning circle was a pathetic affair with just a general Good Morning to everyone, day, date, month and year discussion and - that's it. It was over before it had even started! It took them just about 10 minutes whereas the morning circle which I conduct in my class with 2-3 year olds includes Hello, Good Morning, How are you to all the children individually, How is the weather today?, Which season is this?, what happens in this season, showing them pictures of the season and explaining, alphabets, shapes, numbers recognition 1-5, number counting and body parts, and all this in such a playful interesting manner that they all learn just by hearing us say all this rather than making any conscious effort. And then, we have a separate topic of instruction for each day and plan an arts or craft activity related with the topic which just makes the topic of instruction more interesting and easy to remember. Apart from this I read them books, tell them stories, sing them songs and poems and even when they play I am always talking about their action to them which is a key ingredient in developing understanding, language and conversation skills.

When they were served snack they were not prompted to use polite words. When I prompted them they all said it graciously and remembered to say it also the time I served them lunch. They were taken to gym where Jrn played three games with them - the first one was run and stop when the music stops, the second one was the same and the third one was also the same! run and stop. Surprising! How much brain is needed to devise games for six year olds?

 The moment they finish their snack or lunch they are told to go and play in any corner they choose and this is supposed to be the free time for the teachers! I chose to narrate them a story from a picture book using my own expression, action and sound effects. There was pin drop silence and they all listened in rapt admiration and complete attention. They eagerly requested me to repeat it which I did graciously. They could almost tell the same story by themselves now. They kept repeating the incidents from the story to each other and kept chatting how much they had enjoyed the story. It was treat for me as much as for them!
They brought their own books from their drawer and I read them for them. a boy was flicking through a book about volcanoes - I took the book from him and explained what were volcanoes and what do they do. Everybody listened in interested silence. I played little games with them and chatted with them. They were very happy and in fact some other teachers remarked that today the normally always rowdy group was so unbelievably well behaved.

The day got over. Jrg remarked," I am glad the day is over for you. It was so hectic!" Looking like he had just felled a 100 pine trees.
Really? I thought. The whole time you have done nothing as a teacher. You merely looked after them like a caretaker or a baby sitter and you call that hectic? Actually whenever he was directing the children to "free play" I got bored of watching them play amongst themselves with me having nothing to do with them. Free play once a day for half an hour/45 minutes is perfectly fine but for a whole day all the five school days of a week for the whole academic year sounds develishly beastly to me.

Mz really needs to be killed. She is whole soul responsible for the bad quality she is giving, for the joke that she is making out of her duties as a teacher. She does nothing and does not let any teacher in her group do anything as well.
She is like a cancer for this school...

I was sorry when the day was over. I went to collect H from Mc's group.
"I am so happy today!" He smiled at me.
"Why?" I asked, a bit surprised.
"Today, in the morning when I heard that you would be sent to Mz's group, I knew you would be very happy there and would love it. I was very happy for you!"

Ls and his mother

So today Ls came with his mama after she had confirmed that indeed I was present in the school.

I greeted her cordially and asked her if she was fine.
"I am fine now that you are here. That day without you was terrible!" She told me. "Ls was crying and screaming and the teachers on duty ( Mcl and Asy) couldn't make him comfortable. They also spoke German all the time which made him feel lost. He couldn't understand anything and didn't follow anything and probably missed you because he kept asking for you. I remember you had adjusted him so well and he too had responded to you so nicely that he really wanted to come to the kindergarten everyday. But that day, he didn't see you and consequently had a bad experience. Now he doesn't want to come here at all..."

It was decidedly flattering to hear this. It could be a bit untrue because her own exacting and mistrusting nature and interference in teacher's methods yielded an overall bad experience for all parties concerned. I have spent four days with her but I am surprised that she hasn't asked me or Cl any objectionable or even general personal question like whether we have a child, whereas she asked so many from Asy and not on one occasion but on two separate occasions. She just doesn't trust Asy and the only reason I can think of is maybe because Asy has a different look and persona and with her thick black shadowed eyes looks super stunning ; maybe this made her doubt her ability or even qualification?

Finally Cl is back

I had to absent myself from school yesterday as my hausmeister was coming and it was important that I was at home. They didn't come however and I spent my leave just relaxing. I was wondering what was happening at school with both me and Cl missing.
Today when I went in I was so happy to see Cl back. We hugged each other fondly. We had soooo much to talk about, so much to tell each other. We spent almost the entire morning circle time just catching up the old threads.

There really was a lot.

I was told yesterday had been a terrible day. Jn and jr kept screaming and howling nonstop which gave headache to all the teachers. Nothing could make them stop. All the other children in the group behaved terrible - they have a certain sense mechanism which tells them their teacher is new, so she would not understand their deliberate mischief. Ll took out her diapers and threw them off, Jn took out his diaper and peed in his pants. All this was still nothing as compared to what the new child and his mama did.

The new child Ls didn't listen to anybody, kept playing with all the toys in the class, emptied all the toy boxes upside down, carried most of them to the lunch table and refused to part with them. When Mcl and Asy objected, his mother protested that they let him play the way he wants. When Asy requested her to go out and let Ls remain in class without her, she calmly told her that she will talk about the separation with me when I come.
Further more she started asking Asy many personal questions. How old is she, What's her nationality?, Is she married?, Does she have children?, Which country her boy friend is from? Is she qualified? Which school did she obtain her teaching degree from? Oh my God!
She just wasn't leaving her child alone and nor letting the teachers do anything with him and she clearly disapproved of them, distrusted them and made it clear she won't listen to them.

Asy told us she even made bad faces at weeping Jr and Jn and commented that their cries were giving her headaches.
 In fact Msf told me that yesterday she had personally requested him to ring her to inform her if I was present as she didn't want to bring her child without me in the class.

 Then I told Cl all that had happened during her absence.
Stf is planning to get in more children in our group and a new full time German teacher in our group as well. This piece of news acted like a thunderbolt for her. "Why? Is she planning to replace me?" She cried.
She became very worried and a bit quiet after this and continued to look troubled the rest of the day. I was so sorry for her.

I hope we stay together and nobody comes between us; a helper is okay but somehow the idea of having a teacher between me and Cl somehow makes both of us doubtful and apprehensive. We both feel certain we would lose the comfortable absolute sovereignty over our group.

What an idea! The thought of feeling sovereign over just a handful of 12/13 children between two teachers is something that would have never occurred to me a few years ago when I handled nearly 50 children alone...!

Cl is ill since her return

Cl is ill. She is down with diarrhea since she returned from India. Her doctor has advised her not to go to school until she has been given a clean chit that her diarrhea is not dangerously infectious considering she brought it from India.

I have noticed that whenever I or S or H fall ill even with simple cold and cough or fever, the first question our doctor asks is when did we last visit India. Even if you tell him two months back he puts us on special tests. What a prejudice!

So Mcl and Asy help me with the children. Mcl has not worked much with such small children but otherwise he is a really nice fellow. Asy does a good job too.

We had a meeting during which I came to know that we shall have more new admissions in our group, along with two under two year old children from Stfn's group. We are also to have a new German teacher in our group probably to help handle the extra children.

Stf the boss has made plenty of new admissions in the school and plans to make several still more. The funniest part is she totally forgets that with so many more children we also need more supplies of food, stationary, furniture and other utility things. Since many months now we have been requesting her to buy some more children's cribs for our group as we have fallen short of them; she emphatically agrees but never keeps  her word. Since at least two months Mrn has been sleeping on a cot she clearly doesn't like but we do not have any other bed to make her sleep.

The new year 2012

Long holidays over, I was happy to be going back to school once again. As I entered my class I saw Mz sitting cosily. She beamed a wide wide grin.
"Happy New year," She greeted me cheerfully and cheekily," Happy New year-Welcome back to school- Cl is absent- Have a nice time today."

I admit it was not shocking that I would have to manage my class alone today, but it was hugely shocking that Cl was not there on the first day of the reopening of the school. Why, I had been looking forward to meeting her and give her an affectionate hug. I knew she had been to India for her Christmas vacation and had returned back on 6th of January. If she had been ill before the 9th Jan she could have smsd me.
 I threw a somewhat dismal look at the children of my group; all were present and not all appeared to be in a cordial mood. Jn was screaming his head off, howling "Mein Papa, mein papa, mein papa, mein papa', Jr was miserably sobbing and sniffing, feeling desolate without Cl, Mrn looked doubtful as if she couldn't decide whether to join the brigade of weeping children or not.

The first day of every week is usually always a bit unsettled and tearful - the first day after a long holiday...a total nightmare...!

A new child has been admitted in our group. His mother was so put off to see Jn and Jr crying all the time.
"Oh my God, I don't like that boy's crying so much. I am getting a headache because of him. If my child cries so much I would prefer not to send him to school at all."

Isn't it strange that such a remark should have come from a mother?

I hope Cl comes back soon...