Although it is technically April now, I am just now getting around to writing my blog for March. Whoops! It's been a busy month full of adventure, and I've never been very good at keeping a consistent journal.
0 Comments
Pictured above is the outside of the daycare where I am volunteering. As I said in my last blog post, it is not in the nicest neighborhood or barrio of Granada, Spain. A lot of the children come from families of immigrants, and a lot of children come from broken families. However, when they are here at the escuela infantil, they are just another child who wants to play and sing songs about farm animals. The more I spend time here, the more I learn about these kids and the more I learn about why the teachers here make the choices that they do. Sometimes it may seem like their discipline is too harsh. Other times, it may not seem like enough. I am curious as to how discipline works here, and next time I go I am considering asking the teacher I help how she makes these decisions. I am also going to ask the woman in charge how funding works for daycares such as these. I do know that the teachers here want the children to learn manners, and learn to be respectful. It is difficult to tell how much they are learning at home, but sometimes we can tell that they are picking up some bad habits that they may be observing in their home environment. Therefore, when they are here at the escuela infantil, the teachers try to encourage the kids to practice good behavior such as sharing and asking for something instead of just taking it. The classroom I am volunteering in is one with 1-2 year olds. Therefore, some of the kids are chatterboxes, others I don't hear a peep out of. Some prefer to play on their own, some play side by side (sometimes interacting with each other, sometimes not), and others play together. It is interesting to observe all these different stages of play, since I know they correspond with different stages of development and social skills. I think it is great that these children have the opportunity to go this daycare, since it may be the only place where they are able to interact with children their own age and gain some more social skills.
|
|