Spring Activities at Kindergarten in China

I’ve been a kindergarten English teacher for 7 months now and I can’t believe how fast this spring semester is going! We’ve been learning about pets, clothes, shapes, counting 1 to 20, as well as other spring vocabulary. It’s such a joy to watch these little guys learn words and songs and then actually use their English!

Here’s a few things we’ve been up to this spring! (And an excuse to share more photos of my kids!)

EASTER EGGS

GROWING GARLIC

The kindergarten gave us the task of growing something with our kids. Given that I have 32 three- and four-year olds and limited planting experience I wanted something easy to do, and also something that would grow quickly so the kids aren’t waiting a long time to see results. One of the other teachers suggested garlic so I grabbed some garlic, cups, decorations, and I tried it.

And three weeks later…walaaaaa! Our garlic grew and the kids loved it.

garlic comparison.jpg — This is probably old news for most people but I had no idea garlic did this

CLOTHES

The kids learned all kinds of clothing vocabulary – shirt, dress, shoes, jacket, pajamas, hat, scarf. We then made little hats and decorated clothes in class.

KINDERGARTEN LIFE LESSONS

The kindergarten has also been teaching the kids about being responsible and helping around the house. The parents had to send in photos of their kids sweeping and washing their clothes and some of these photos they sent in were priceless.

I still use my money system to reward the kids if they’re good during their English lesson. Everyday they get one dollar and at the end of the week they get to buy a toy. Every Friday I ask them, “Do you want to go shopping?” And they’re always yelling, “YES!!!” So I tell them, “You need to sit nicely and listen,” and it’s so cute because they sit at attention immediately.

Current Kindergarten Favorites

Their favorite song: Counting 1-20 Singing Walrus Song and “Put on Your Shoes” song (the part where the kid wraps his scarf around his head is the funniest to them)
Their favorite English phrase: “Can you see a triangle? Yes I can. Can you see a Rachel? Yes I can.”
Their favorite game: Musical Chairs
My favorite song to sing to them: I started singing the “Name Game” song to each of them when I give them water and it’s so funny. Like, Ron Ron Bo Bon, banana fanana fo Fon, fe fi fo Fon, Ron.
Current Kindergarten “Hao Pengyou” (Best Friends): Mia and Nemo, Qu Wei Wei and Fair, Candy and Olina

I have three more months teaching at the kindergarten and I’m excited to spend more time with some of my favorite little humans.