Missing Key

Unfortunately, the missing key hasn't turned out yet. This is really very embarassing. We would post a note to the parents if any of their children has brought home a key. Of course not mentioning that this is the house key. So wish me all the best. Hope it would still come out.
Aside from that I was terrorized by a little girl yesterday. Kids can be really mean sometimes ( well in their own way). Today I tried to win her by asking her to teach me some words in danish (she comes from Denmark). Let's see if I remember them.
goodbye - farvel
hello - hej (pronounced like hi)
thank you - tak
yes - ja
no - nej
She really liked it and was very friendly to me till the end of the day. Let's see if this works out tomorrow. Meanwhile, another boy took her place. This boy is american so I cannot lure him into teaching me another language. Hmm.. I have to be creative. This is how it is when you work with kids, there's really never a dull moment.

So I thought

Well I just started this blog yesterday with good news that I'm quite doing well in my new job - of course with the usual uncertainties and stress. Little did I know that I spoke too soon... Last Friday just before ending my work day, the boss gave me the new key to the school. I was quite proud to have it, because it meant they trust me already to give me a key. Not to mention that it's a master key opening all front doors, back doors, classrooms and all the secret doors in between. I was able to use it yesterday and this morning. Then it was gone. Lost between the fine confines of those walls and I don't know where. I looked everywhere but no success at all. As I have told you this school is very organized to almost insanity so losing the key is a complicated manner. I have to change all those locks and give everyone a new key. For sure this would cost a fortune! Well the smart hubby checked if my insurance covers such disaster. Thank God, I just have to pay a fixed amount (also not little!) and the rest will be covered by the insurance. I thought I would give all my pay this month and next month just for the whole set of locks. Did I mention that the school is a bit exclusive catering to elites, diplomats and top managers etc.... so security is a priority in this school. That's why you have to have the key all the time with you. No door is ever left open!!!

This post is to end now except as I have promised you on that little thing about M's method. I will use M as Montessori so in the future if you ever see M then you know what I mean.

2. Pointing out an error in the middle of an activity is not good because it leads the child to a defensive reaction making him crawl into his shell.
(I have to get used to it and stop myself from correcting the children all the time.)

I survived the first week!

Well as some of you might know, I just started a new job last Monday! It's still pre-school but this time I just changed location and changed the whole teaching style and the teaching environment. From a german system, I now move to an international system dealing with children of expatriates and the elites. It sure will be an exciting or not so exciting career change.. who knows actually. I just know that with this job I have about 14 weeks paid vacation and of course I am intrigued and fascinated with the whole Montessori concept. So I'm not such a bad person at all changing jobs because of the perks (hey I'm only human here, don't you think so?) So bear with me. I want to develop my skills and expand my horizons. At the moment I will work as an Assistant Teacher. Since I don't have any Montessori Diploma I can't be a Montessori teacher. Well no worries about that because I have aspirations to take this degree in the next few months (or even years) to come.
A week is over and I have survived it! Yahoo! Whew this whole Montessori system is my ideal self. At work (I have to make a picture of the classroom the next time) each object and equipment has a definite place on the shelf. Marked with big signs you'll never miss it. At home I am the chaoitic me who drives her husband to insanity because of the chaos she creates. I think I'm going to be a new me after about 6 months of doing this job. Who knows? I might adopt the same system at home so the husband can find his staples and pencils and pens.
Nevertheless, my new colleagues have been helpful and accomodating to me. The kids have been nice (sometimes ), sweet and adorable and of course nasty and naughty. Well this is not new to me. Those little ones can be terrible especially if you are the new teacher. They test their boundaries and test you too. All this is tolerable and normal excepf this one mother who has been rather weird and unfriendly talking to me like a child uttering the syllable bel-la... (like the italians do it but she is english or american or who cares actually!! ) it seems the child had said I called her ....bel and she should be ...bella ... my oh my.. what a tragedy. well my colleague is my witness and she claims i have always uttered bella (the way the italians do it) oh well. so far i am learning new things here so that's what counts. Patience is the key to success. So I gave her my most polite smile.

So at the end of my post I'll end it with what I am learning as a Montessori (Asst.) teacher. If you find this not interesting you can stop reading from here. Thanks and till next time.

1. I learned that you should never point out to a child that he has made a mistake. You take a mental note of that mistake and let the child do it some time later again to give him the chance to correct himself. In the mean time you can get a new child to do the same thing again. If she does it correctly the other child will see this and will learn from it. The reason why you don't correct it immediately? I'll let you know in my next post.