A kindergarten teacher’s schedule is far more tight than how we used to imagine. Not only does a kindergarten teacher need to build up childrens’ speaking skills, much time is needed for them to prepare various teaching materials as well as connecting with parents.
Young post meets Mary Li, who works in an international kindergarten with 26 years of experience.
Requirements
You have to be patient with many different kids. You should not gone mad, instead you should understand that more time is required for children to learn even if the knowledge seems to be easy to understand. Not only do you need to teach your children with patience, you will also need to communicate with their parents patiently, explaining their children’s situation bit by bit to ease their worries. If you are flexible and adaptive, you may consider this job. Li told us that every child acts very differently and they ask everything out of their mind. To respond to them, you have to change the tone according to their questions and actively approach them base on their personality so as to care for their mental development at a young age. Being original is also crucial for a kindergarten teacher. You have to plan for daily lessons and search for different tools to allow children to explore the world. To be exact, Li explained she has to teach children different sensations by providing them soft materials such as sand, round materials such as ball and more. You also have to search for different stories so as to match different value-education or personal-skill-theme with different simple musical instruments play along. They require much originality. Last but not least, energetic, which is always being ignored by those who want to become a kindergarten teacher. Li shared her experience that she has to hold children in arm sometimes so as to comfort them, especially when their parents are not able to pick them up as soon as the other children. You have to cheer them up and give them security. Much energy is needed for you to react with children’s drama, too. Li says children are very likely to invite you to be one of the characters in their story and you have to go into it instantly.
Qualifications
A bachelor degree in Early Childhood Education (ECE) is necessary. Li introduced that some schools take degree in other subjects plus a PGCE or PGDE as concerns. As a Chinese University of Hong Kong graduate, Li studied her BA in ECE for 2 years as an extra experience to polish herself with more teaching skills beyond documented theories. Owning nursery work experiences or knowing to play various musical instruments will be a bonus to enter the industry. Participating in an internship is a short way to learn from the more experienced teachers and instantly improve your way to communicate with children by hearing different teachers’ sharing. Li stressed that at least 1 year of teaching experience or native in English speaking is always preferred in recent years.
Prospects
Once you are trained, you are eligible to register as qualified kindergarten teachers. It is also available for you to register as a child care worker and child care supervisor under the Child Care Services Regulations. If you aim higher, Li said, may try to apply for kindergarten principal as you have already met the academic qualification to be a principal in kindergarten. As commonly found in Hong Kong, You may become a teacher as part time, teaching either in the morning or the afternoon, or you may get a full-time job, working from morning classes to the afternoon classes. Furthermore, with the degree, you may consider further study of courses related to students with special needs.
A Day at Work
To kick off, Li arrives at school at 8 am and starts to cut the notice and to stamp 30 children’s names on each notice for easy distribution later. At 9, the 26-pupils-morning class begin and she has to introduce a story book to her class and teaches them a few vocabulary words in the book. Li says she enjoys the most when her class sits in a circle to share their thoughts on the development of the story with their “imaginative little brain”. She is always energetic to invite different kids to have rold-and-play inside the circle. “Laughs are filled in the classroom”, said LI, with her satisfied smile. Li also takes the responsibility to teach art at school. She will always demonstrate how to draw with many colorful crayons and observe her kids’ work and chat with them so as to allow them to learn to express themselves. It can be a pain sometimes for her to lower her body to teach some kids to draw, Li shared. In afternoon class, Li brings her class outside to exercise and dance along with quite a few children’s songs. “Today, my kids learn how to dance ‘head-and-shoulders-knees-and-toes’’, said Li, dancing along. It is crucial nowadays for kindergarten kids to have a taste on STEM education. Li shares her experience on producing bubbles for her students and taught them some simple relevant knowledge through this activity. When all the class ends, her jobs continue. She has to contact every parent to have a simple update of their children’s performance at school. Last but not least, she has to discuss with the other teachers to figure out what books will be introduced on the next day and borrow them from the library. ‘For some people, my job is repetitive since I meet the same group of people every day and repeat every task week by week. However, I don’t regret having this choice.’ Li expressed, telling us much satisfaction is found when getting along with different kids. She is always grateful for her kids as they, at the same time, are reminding her to have a kind and creative mind and encourage her to stay curious about simple things around her.