TUJ Internship September Journal Entries

I am interning for credit at GGIS, an English immersion school for children ages 0-5, and I'm really excited to tell you all about it! My internship overseer has asked me to keep a daily journal, so I figured this is also perfect to post on my blog as a nice way to remember my time there. Since I will be working there twice a week, I figured I would just put all of my entries from each month into their own post instead of making tons and tons of daily posts. Enjoy!

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Monday, September 5th

My first day at GGIS was very fun, but definitely more exhausting than I expected. I usually work 12-hour shifts as a waitress on my feet, but this was different because it was mostly mental energy rather than physical. I especially loved playing with the kids at the park. You could tell how happy they were to be outside of the classroom. I was excited to be able to jump right into interacting with the kids, but I often felt like I was doing things wrong because there was a teacher absent, so there wasn’t time to really train me or show me how things are done at the school.

I learned a great deal throughout the course of the day, and I appreciated that I didn’t feel like I was doing any busy work. I was immediately put to work by helping the kids wash their hands, then by playing and dancing, and even changing diapers later on. All of the staff members I met were warm and welcoming. Ms. Hitomi showed me the blog posts that the teachers write for family members during nap time. It was nice to be able to look at the previous months’ posts and see a typical week at GGIS.

Although the age group I am seeking to work with long-term is from 3-8, I had a wonderful time with the AA/BB kids. Even without being able to actively teach them language skills, I love how pure they are and how much they can convey without being able to form full sentences.

Wednesday, September 7th

Today was a bit more difficult than Monday because the kids couldn’t go to the park since it was raining. As a result, it was much harder to keep them attentive throughout the day. It was especially difficult to get them to go to sleep during nap time. Many of them woke up early and started to bother their sleeping classmates. Overall, there was much more to do, but very little time to learn how to do it the way Ms. Rowena or Ms. Amélie wanted, so there was time spent fixing things as well. I was also being given conflicting instructions by the two other teachers, so that made things complicated and frustrating.

It was fun to help the children do the craft today, even though it was quite difficult for their age group. I loved seeing how excited they were to play with something brand new. Today, they made mirrors out of cardboard and paper and got to decorate them with sticker jewels. They also had to say I’m special and glue the phrase onto their mirror, but I believe that was too advanced for them to understand.

I wish I had a better idea of what I was going to do throughout the day. I now know the standard sequence of things, but it would be nice to know what the craft of the day was, or a clearer idea of the lesson plan and its accompanying songs so I can provide better help in the classroom.

Wednesday, September 14th

Today was a lovely day! Ms. Hitomi and Mr. Nino switched and I learned a lot from working with Mr. Nino. He has such a fun approach to working and playing with the GG kids. The students did a cool craft in the morning making jellyfish with tissue paper and I laminated all of the projects for them once they were finished. They looked awesome and it was a perfect craft because it was easy for them to do and it was related to the day’s letter, “J.”

We went to K park, but it was quite hot outside. The kids still had a lot of fun playing in the sandbox in the shade or climbing on the area with the slides. They got very sweaty though and needed lots of water. Ms. Rowena wanted Ms. Amélie and I to talk to the kids as they were playing, but Ms. Amélie thought it was best to allow them some time to themselves. It seemed they were able to play on their own without getting too mischievous. They loved being outside so much that when it was time to go, a few of the kids didn’t want to leave and started to act up a bit when it was time.

The kids were especially messy during lunch time today, but that wasn’t a problem at all. I think they just had a lot of energy they wanted to get out. Nap time was especially difficult because Akito had a dirty diaper and was very active so he kept bothering the other kids, but he calmed down once we changed it.

The end of the day was very exciting because we had a birthday party, so I blew balloons up for the kids to play with and they had lots of fun. Unfortunately, some kids kept popping them either by accident or on purpose, so we eventually had to start taking them away because the sound was bothering other kids. Our birthday kids looked adorable though in their little crowns and everyone got small cupcakes to eat.

Monday, September 26th

Today, I was with CC kids and it was such a blast. It is incredible how big the leap is from BB to CC and it was nice to be able to have 2-way communication with the CCs. Every kid was able to talk a lot during circle time and had the physical ability to do a lot more themselves, such as go to the bathroom, clean their table setting, write letters, and put sunscreen on. Some kids even recognized that every Monday, the days of the week are inside the mystery box! Mr. Mikey and Ms. Moissa were so kind and encouraging. They allowed me to do story time and taught me things big and small throughout the whole day.

What surprised me the most about the CC kids is that they all wanted to do puzzles at the end of the day, but once they finished, they had even more energy than the AA/BBs! Lots of them wanted to run, jump, and dance around, whereas AA/BBs are usually pretty tired and sit down with their toys or stand by the sink and watch the CCs play.

I still wish I had a more concrete idea of what I was going to do today since the structure is quite 1different from the AA/BB class. I was able to go along with things, but I found myself being reluctant to step up just because I wasn’t sure what I could do to be helpful and didn’t want to step on Mr. Mikey or Ms. Moissa’s toes.

Wednesday, September 28th

The second day with the CC class was very fun. I was happy to have figured out all of the students’ names by the end of my time with them on Monday. I was also proud of myself that I had picked up the dance moves to the “More More More” song we always sing and dance to before circle time. One child was really acting up when I could not give him my undivided attention. I felt bad because I wanted to comfort him, but I knew that I could reward him misbehaving. I got to do a lot more with the kids today, like hand out their snack, teach their phonics lesson, lead them to the park, and read a book for story time.

When I got back from break, I learned how to mark the students sleeping every 10 minutes. I really enjoy being at the school during nap time and helping the students fall or stay asleep. I somehow don’t get tired from it myself. I like singing along to their music or gently patting or shaking the kids in their small futons.

The end of the day was exciting because there was an orientation for prospective GG families, so we had a lot of parents come in and take a peek at our classrooms. They came in towards the end of the day when the kids were playing separately before joining together to sing and dance. I was so impressed by the CC class’ eagerness to do puzzles before playing with LEGOs.