Kindergarten Graduation Ceremony

This past Saturday was the graduation ceremony at the kindergarten I teach at. In previous years, I’ve attended elementary school and junior high school graduations, however, this was my first full year of experience at the kindergarten level. Teaching the same 47 students each week, as opposed to twice a month or sometimes less as Assistant Language Teacher(ALT) has been a more rewarding experience. To educate kindergarten students and see the growth in their learning each week was truly amazing. It’s hard to explain the difference, other than I felt more responsible for their education. As an ALT on the JET Program, I taught at an elementary school once a week, while team-teaching at the junior high school level was my primary responsibility. These past weekly elementary school visits usually required teaching three classes a day from first to sixth graders. This past infrequency of not being able to teach the same students each week made educating challenging. As I’ve previously written about, English is not a formal subject at the elementary school level. ALTs are often teaching different lessons without the aid of a formal curriculum. While some good teachers are thinking progressively about each lesson they teach, others are simply teaching with no method, or don’t see the need for a system due to the infrequency of their visits. Having no formal guidelines has its benefits though, it means complete control in what you think should be taught… With this level of freedom to teach and the regularity of my visits to the same students each week, made this graduation an extra special day.

Note:  (Video link) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lV9litlfJOo