Moments of Raindrops and Sunflowers: A New Routine

There are ten children in our class and two teachers. The schedule is quite simple and similar to one in America. The day begins and ends with free play as the children are arriving and leaving. We eat breakfast together which generally consists of bread, milk or tea or corn flakes. We go upstairs for circle time. Our focus this week was reviewing numbers and letters. We go to the garden (backyard) for free play for one hour. Lunch is served with two courses everyday. They serve traditional Hungarian foods which includes pasta, soups and vegetables. The cook here is able to use corn flour instead of all purpose flour when preparing my food. After lunch is time to brush teeth and have craft time or work in workbooks for fine motor skills. We head upstairs for a puppet show or story time then it is nap time for an hour and a half. We have snack that is generally fruit and crackers or bread. They eat bread at almost every meal. Then it is time to play outside and go home!

Most of the children do not speak much English which makes it quite difficult for me to communicate with them. They hear and understand but have to think very hard to respond back in English. At the beginning of the week, I felt a little helpless because the kids were standoffish because they did not know me. They would try to talk to me but I couldn't understand them so I was continually pointing to Agi, my coteacher. As I have been learning the routine and spending time with the kids, they are slowly warming up to me. During recess, the kids would give me blank stares when I would talk. On Friday, a little girl asked me to put a flower in her hair and to come play with her after school. Each day progress is made with the kids being more comfortable with Engish.