Teaching and good stories

A month in the public school system was an entirely new experience for me, as a preschool teacher. Also, a month was enough to help me adjust to and love (especially) the work I have.

Everyday is filled with funny conversations with the children and the parents. I love it when children share what they know and feel about the lesson and I love it more when parents tell me what do they children say about what we talked about in class. Unfortunately, there are only few parents who give feedback about their children. 

Everyday, I get to talk to and spend hours with a maximum of 48 pupils, (28 in my morning class and another 20 in the afternoon) and with just a week, I was able to remember all their names. That, for me, is crucial so that the children will somehow feel that their teacher knows them, and that they are important. My voice has started to get hoarse because of singing, talking, and shouting (at times) for six hours every day. I think a big part of it was because of singing. Haha. Good thing that nobody in my class has told me yet that I don't sound good.

So far, my favorite lesson was when we talked about the parts of the body that we can't  see. I chose five organs only such as the brain, heart, lungs, stomach and kidney. I'm glad that they understood the use of each organ and remembered how to take care of their body. I told them that smoking can make lungs sick and almost all of the children told me that they knew someone who smokes. Some of them were their dads, uncles, etc. I told them that they can tell those persons what may happen to their lungs because of smoking. Here is the funny story I heard the day after that lesson (non-verbatim):

Parent 1: Ang anak ko sinabihan si A, nanay ni K.(My daughter told something to A, mom of K.)Parent 2: Ano raw? (What did she say?)Parent 1: Huwag daw manigarilyo, mabubulok ang baga at mamamatay. Ang sabi naman ni A hayaan na lang siyang mamatay. Hahaha (It's not good to smoke, her lungs will get sick and she will die. A just answered that just let her die. Hahaha)Parent 2: Eh, bakit hindi ang tatay niya ang sinabihan? (Why didn't your daughter tell that to her dad?)Parent 1: Sinabihan nga, ayaw na ngang ibili ng sigarilyo 'pag nagpapabili.(She told her dad that, too. She doesn't like to buy her dad cigarette when she was asked to.)

I laughed when I heard that conversation between parents and was glad to know that the message got across. I hope that in the months to come, the class will learn more things and enjoy school even more. Here's to fun-filled learning! ☺