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The institution, founded in 2008, is a private maternal-infant kindergarten in Cutral Có, Neuquén. It focuses on children's overall growth, inclusion, and social-emotional well-being. Families love the personalized care and safe, warm environment. The school emphasizes social interaction and sharing, choosing to encourage social and emotional skills through play.

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19/06/2024

I visited the kindergarten today at 2 PM, and I was quite nervous since it was my first time in a maternal-infant institution. Even though I was only there to observe, it felt like a huge challenge.

As the children arrived at the institution, the teacher encouraged them to play with a variety of toys, such as balls and blocks, to motivate and engage them.

In the classroom, there are many resources, such as chairs, tables, a radio, brushes, tempera paints, sheets of paper, storybooks, toys, among others.

I had the opportunity to observe 10 children in the classroom and met the teacher. It was impossible to keep my distance as the children immediately approached me to talk and share their names, thoughts, and toys. It was an amazing first observation! The teacher informed me that two of the children have Autism/are autistic, and I observed how she managed the entire group together. I could learn almost all their names because they kept introducing themselves, which I absolutely loved.

I stayed until 3:30PM, which is when they finished having their snack that their parents send from home in their bags. After that, the teacher suggested that my next observation should start at 3:30 PM so I could see when they begin their activities.

The group is very lovely, and the children are very affectionate and sociable. I am very happy with how my first day of observation went.

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The group I was assigned to is in the afternoon and consists of 14 children in total; all are three years old, except one who is four and another who is two and a half. They arrive at the kindergarten at 2 p.m., and they go home at 5 p.m.

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The teaching team is composed entirely of women with a strong professional background and abilities to form emotional bonds with the children.

Alejandra Cid, the co-teacher assigned to me, is distinguished by her care and affectionate approach toward children up to 4 years old. She has a great vocation, and a deep love for early childhood education. Her dedication and empathy create a positive environment where every child feels valued and safe.

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21/06/2024

I was supposed to have my second observation on 21/06, but we did not realize it was a holiday, so they allowed me to do that observation on Tuesday (25/06).

This day everything was much more relaxed for me; I was focused on what the children and the teacher were doing. This time there were only 7 children in the classroom. When I entered, everyone greeted me very sweetly with a "Hola seño!". Two of them came to hug me, and during the class, when I sat down to observe, many were finishing their snack and approached me to talk or ask for hugs.

After everyone finished eating, the teacher gathered two tables together and had all the children sit around them. She got their attention with a song that all the children followed. Her explanation of the activity was very simple, and they understood it perfectly. Each child received a white sheet of paper and blue colored pieces of paper to create an Argentina flag. As the teacher applied glue to the sheets and asked them the colors, the children began sticking the blue paper pieces in place and to answer her until they finished.

Later, the teacher wrote each child's name on their respective sheets and then pinned them to the wall. Excitedly, all the children ran to show me their flags!

I stayed until 5 PM when their parents came to pick them up.

Each time I get to know them a little better, who is quieter, shyer, and who are more energetic and sociable! It was another exciting day for me.

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26/06/2024

Today I had my last observation, but unfortunately, only two children attended because it was too windy to go outside. When only a few children are present, the teacher usually lets them play since giving activities would leave the others behind. It is better to have more students to complete the tasks together. Therefore, they sang, played with blocks and toy cars, and finally listened a story.

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28/06/2024

Today was my first teaching assistantship, and the teacher had suggested that I bring something to see how the children would react to the language since they had never had an English class before. She gave me a lovely idea to make small hands with paper, one saying "hello" and the other "goodbye". I made hands for all the children in the classroom and brought them in a small bag with a picture of a dog on it. The children quickly asked whose dog was in the picture and what was inside the bag. It was adorable to have a conversation with them before the teacher started the planned activity.

She divided the children intro groups, seating them at three different tables where she placed the papers. Then, I helped distribute brushes to each child while she set out yellow and red paint for them to discover what color would form when mixed. Afterward, we hung the posters with the children's drawings on the wall outside the kindergarten.

When we came back, the teacher told them that I had brought a surprise, and I got a little nervous but managed it well. So, we formed a circle holding hands, sat on the floor, and I told them "hoy vamos a aprender a decir hola y chau en Inglés", they were very excited! and I began to give them the little paper hands I had made. After that, I told them that to say "hola," we should use the purple hand, and to say "chau," we should use the red hand.

I realized how challenging it will be to teach the entire class in English since they have no prior knowledge of the language.

The most wonderful part was hearing all of them say "hello" and "goodbye" after I taught them. We started playing, and when the teacher left, they would say "goodbye", and when she came back, they would greet her with "hello" shaking the correct hand. They were all so happy!

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02/08/2024

Today I had my second assistantship, it was supposed to be on Wednesday, but the children did not come because there was a strike. The teacher told me I could make up for that day next Tuesday so I would not fall behind in my schedule.

Today, when I arrived after some time away, many of the children recognized me, while others did not or perhaps feel shy. The teacher told me that three new children had joined, and one of them is older, being five years old and attending kindergarten. She mentioned that one of the most challenging aspects of a maternal kindergarten is the constant arrival of new children, making it difficult for them to quickly adapt to the group.

Anyway, today I helped the teacher a lot by taking care of the group and chatting with them while she made some dough in the kitchen for the children to play with. Meanwhile, some were having their snack and others had already finished, so they showed me a yellow ball, and I could not resist teaching them to count to three in English before throw the ball into the air. I was very surprised when they counted along with me at the same time!

When the teacher returned, she had the children sing two songs: one to get their attention and another to name body parts, which is the topic they are currently learning. She pointed to parts of the body, and the children would say their names. One of the girls did not want to participate, so she stayed with me, asking for hugs all the time, it was very sweet! When they finished singing, the teacher divided them into three tables and gave each child some dough, explaining that they needed to mold a body. The children understood but started molding many other things like bracelets, carrots, balls, monsters, their imagination is incredible!

When the teacher saw that none of the children were molding a body, she sat down next to them and helped them do it some, so they could later stick their creations on a sheet of paper and take them home.

It was a fantastic day for me! :)

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06/08/2024

Today was my last day as a teaching assistant, and time seems to be flying by; it feels like just yesterday I began my observations.

The children seemed very happy to see me today. They hugged me, held my hand, showed me what they were eating, and even offered me some cookies.

After snack time, the children were very restless. They were running around, pushing each other, and moving chairs. The teacher did everything she could to control them, but it was very challenging. She used the strategy of singing their favorite song, but many of them still couldn't focus.

One of the girls stayed with me the entire hour and a half I was there and didn't want to participate in the activities. After the song, the teacher told them they would be painting some pictures she had brought. We handed out the sheets of paper and crayons to each child. Many of them argued over the colors, but in the end, they all colored their sheets with many different colors. Everyone participated except Manu. I met Manu yesterday; he is a boy with Autism and has very short attention spans. Despite the teacher's efforts to include him and the children's attempts as well, it's very difficult for him to complete any activity. He prefers to look out the window, and when he gets nervous, he spins around. Unfortunately, this was the first time I saw him; I would have liked to get to know him better through observations and my time as a teaching assistant.

At the end of the activity, the children were so restless that the teacher gave them blocks to play with, which helped them focus more.

It was a wonderful last day as a teaching assistant. Tomorrow, my challenge begins: my first class!

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08/08/2024

Today wasn't just my first teaching practice, but also the first time I taught such young children (2 and 3 years old). It was quite a challenge, but it brought so many surprises! I needed to experience it firsthand to better understand the material on specific didactics and teaching practice. It’s incredible how children imitate every one of your movements when they connect with you. It’s beautiful to hear their little voices repeating your words, even if they don't fully understand what they mean.

What’s even more wonderful is seeing them enjoy the class. I was really insecure about speaking to them in English throughout the entire lesson, fearing they wouldn’t understand anything. But once I started using simple gestures and body language, they understood me perfectly! My first lesson was about emotions, and it’s an experience I’ll carry with me forever.

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09/08/2024

Today I gave my second class, and I must admit that I'm not satisfied because I couldn't stick to the estimated time in the planning. The reality is that when Friday comes, the children are very tired and just want to go home. I was able to give the class as I had planned, with the activities I had prepared, but I had to do it quickly because the children were getting distracted a lot, or pushing each other, making some cry. It was a very difficult class today. However, I am happy because several of them repeated sentences like "She is happy!" or "He is angry" or "He is sleepy," and that filled my heart. Hearing them say words in English like "hello" or "bye" is so nice! Additionally, I had them repeat the songs I taught them in the first class to say hello and goodbye, and it was very nice. Some children who weren't present in the first class were there today, and they were hearing the language for the first time, so I reviewed what we covered in the previous class but with an extra surprise...a puppet!

I am their first contact with English, so I feel a great pressure to give them good first experiences with the language.

Anyway, it was a really nice second class :)

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14/08/2024

Today was my third class, and I loved it! We learned the primary colors, and the children played games with balls and also did color classification activities. I felt very good despite the chaos that sometimes occurs when you allow them to play freely with a given task.

Today, all the children attended, so there were two teachers in the classroom. However, I felt very comfortable because they helped me a lot, not only to get their attention but also to arrange the resources for the activities.

The class lasted almost an hour because the children were engaged in the activities, and I am very happy for that!

Apart from that, I want to say that one of the children with autism was very attentive to all the activities, which gave me a sense of accomplishment. The other child paid attention sometimes for short periods but never participated in the class; he just observed.

I would love to know if there are any techniques or strategies to involve autistic children more in the classes; it would be really useful for me. So, I decided to take a course on working with autistic children, it is called "Autismo y la enseñanza del Inglés" and I have already started.

Let's see what happen tomorrow with my next class!

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15/08/2024

Today was my fourth class, and the children were quite restless because their regular teacher couldn't attend, so there was a substitute in her place. Despite the challenges, it turned out to be a very special class for me. Not only was I able to complete all the planned activities, but I also connected for the first time with one of the children I mentioned in the previous class. Manu and Franco are two children with autism who often struggle to focus on activities. Today, Franco participated in all the activities and even repeated the colors with me, just like the other children! On the other hand, Manu spent most of the class looking out the window, as he usually does, or spinning in place while watching his hands. I wanted to do something more to involve him, so I came up with an impromptu activity before leaving. I asked the substitute teacher if we could use the blocks they have for building towers, houses, etc., and she agreed. When I distributed the blocks for the children to play with, I started asking them to name the colors in English, encouraging them to repeat after me. Manu was still sitting in his chair, but he was watching what we were doing, so I went over to him and started handing him blocks one by one. He took them and began building on his own while I repeated the colors in English for each block, even though he didn’t say them aloud. For me, that moment of connection with him was incredible.

It was a beautiful class!

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21/08/2024

Today they learned to count up to 5! It's so cute to hear them say words in English, sing the songs, and even remember the colors! I decided to give them a very challenging activity today; they had to sort leaves and sticks according to the number on the paper. It was difficult for them (some managed to sort them, but others didn't, even though I explained how to do it). In the next class, I planned to teach them numbers from 6 to 10, but the teacher recommended that I stick with numbers 1 to 5 because those are the only ones they can recognize and say in Spanish. So, I'm going to change the materials and adapt them to the numbers we learned today.

It was a beautiful class, and I feel like I learn something new every day. They were very happy and hugged me all the time.

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23/08/2024

Today was my sixth class at kindergarten, and each day I feel more relaxed, more connected, and more comfortable with the children and the activities I bring to them. I'm so happy with the progress I'm making, step by step. Today, we continued working on the theme of nature, using the story of a family of ladybugs. The little houses you see in the photos were created by the children for each ladybug, and they were so excited! They learned to count to five by counting the number of sticks and leaves I gave them for the activity. Some of them now say "Hi five!" on their own; I don't even have to prompt them, and I love it! They join me in the routine songs, give me hugs, hold my hand, and seek me out to show me their toys and talk to me. Next week is my last week with them, and I already feel like I'm going to miss them a lot! We're going to learn body parts in English to finish up my teaching practice, and I'm so excited!

Let's see what happen!

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28/08/2024

Today was my seventh class, and we focused on learning body parts with the help of a cardboard robot I made. The children absolutely loved it! His name is Robby, and they were so fascinated by him that it naturally led to the next activities: a Robby puzzle and then the excitement of making their own robots! I gave each child different parts to assemble their own robots while asking them about the body parts in English. It was a wonderful class, and of course, we couldn't miss singing "Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes." They loved it!

Almost everyone attended today, making it a very challenging class, but I managed it well, so I am really happy! :)

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30/08/2024

Today was my last class at kindergarten, and I felt a mix of emotions. Last night, I burned my hand with hot oil while preparing gifts for each child (I prepared all their folders with their work and some bags of popcorn to give them.) I felt so frustrated, and I’m thankful that my mom came to help me; otherwise, I wouldn’t have been able to get everything ready. When I arrived today, not all the children had come, so unfortunately, I couldn’t say goodbye to everyone. The kids were very energetic today, which made it difficult to keep the class fully organized, but I still enjoyed every second because I knew it was the last one. Also, I realized that I did more than four hours of practice thanks to the videos, and it was a beautiful experience that I will carry with me always.

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30/08/2024