Kindergarten story

One day in particular stands out in my mind during my time working at Seijo Kindergarten.

It was the day that I discovered just how much the students were learning and how much they were listening to me, even when I didn't realise.

Most days, I would speak to the students in the garden in English about any topic that we could communicate on. We found common ground in games, likes and dislikes, and we tried to explain things to each other as best we could when we needed to.

One day, in the garden, a 3rd grade student had fallen in front of me. It was a bad fall and she was hurt and very upset. Instinctively, I picked up the student and took her to the top garden to calm her down and clean her up. As I knelt down with a wet paper towel in hand to start washing mud away from knees, I heard a small voice behind me;

"What happened?" the voice said with a familiar squeak.

I turned and was greeted by a 2nd grade student raising her hands up in a questioning manner. She spoke again…

"What happened, Emma sensei?"

"She fell down over there…" I replied with a sad face. "But she's okay because she's very brave."

"Oh no." The girl exclaimed and sat down next to the crying student.

I laughed at this sweet interaction and continued to tend to the patient. I hadn't formally taught this sentence (what happened?) in class, but this student had learnt it organically because I had said it so often on the playground.

A moment later, as the hurt student began to calm down, two more 2nd grade students approached and sat down next to us. One boy patted the 3rd grade student's head and asked in English: "Are you okay?"

Another student repeated "Are you okay?"

They both raised their hands questioningly.

"Yes." the sniffling student nodded and replied.

"Ouch?" the other students asked me.

"Yes, it hurt a lot I think." I answered.

"Are you okay, Emma sensei?" one of the girls asked me.

I laughed and said "I'm fine, thank you" which was our usual reply in class to the question "how are you?"

On that day I was touched and impressed with the progress and the empathy of the students at the Kindergarten. Without realising, they had tried to comfort someone in a language that wasn't their own and had the empathic ability to include me using my own language.

They learn many words and phrases in our lessons, about all different topics and themes. However, that was the day that I realised, as a teacher, that there are some things you cannot learn in a classroom.