By Amelia Wyatt
One day in the four-year-old classroom at La Escuelita Bilingual Preschool, as the children sat eating their lunches of peanut-butter-jellies and pupusas, a girl decided to play a game. It was called “raise your hand if…?”: “Raise your hand if you like crackers; Raise your hand if you like Olaf from Frozen (applause!), Raise your hand if pink is better than purple”. Then, a boy said: “Raise your hand if you like to go to school!” Immediately, all hands reached up. One child even shook her hand like helicopter blades. I couldn’t help but raise my hand too. Only a few months into my gap-year internship, I am enthralled.
My favorite role as teacher is facilitating something called Dramatic Play. Dramatic Play (DP) offers props for familiar scenarios (such as a Vet Office, Restaurant, or Auto Shop) where the children act out different roles. Clearly play is inherent to children, but in a traditional educational setting, that instinct can be stifled. Dramatic Play can be one of the most thoughtful and instinctive way to teach. It’s all about playing within a learning framework.
In DP, the child becomes engrossed in the playing and learning is a byproduct.
An example DP is one I created: “Auto Shop”, where the child plays the role of mechanic and needs to fix the car. The child might consider: What needs fixing? What are the different parts of the car called? What tools might I need? Through play with their peers in this Auto Shop, they learn vocabulary such as car, engine, screwdriver, pliers, and mechanic in English and Spanish. They also learn the concepts of a store being “open” and “closed”. They internalize patience as they wait their turns and fairness as they share the roles of mechanic and receptionist. Most importantly, the children start to take agency for their learning, which fosters a love of knowledge in an organic way.
This concept of agency is at the core of Escuelita’s curriculum. I am reminded of an activity we did during Fossil Week. The children had made plaster of Paris molds of seashells the day before. I placed the “fossils” in a bucket of sudsy water with sand and small stones, The children’s job was that of an archeologist: locate their shell fossil, scrape off the Play-Doh, and scrub it clean with a toothbrush. They examined their finding under a stereo microscope. All were fascinated by the grooves and details they could see up close on the fossil. Then, shrieks of happiness ensued when they learned they could take home their discoveries. This hands-on activity allowed them not only to learn words like fossil, shell, and microscope, but it fostered the joy of discovery in tactile ways: THIS is hands-on science. The children are engaged, and learning is tangible.
I have come to understand that learning is more a process than a product. Education is a conversation between the student, the material, and the teacher. The more ways we involve the children through play and sensory experiences, the more ways the children grow. “Facilitator” might be a more apt title for what I do: creating environments that inspire children to ask questions, form conclusions, experiment, create boundaries, develop empathy, and nourish that intrinsic curiosity all children have about the world and their place in it.
I realize what an incredible task the teachers of Escuelita take on every day in these BILINGUAL classrooms. I appreciate too that success comes from careful planning and knowing that each morning when that first little smiling face expectantly pops in, it is showtime! Children teach us what being in the moment truly has to offer. Life is now. Learning is now. And as of now, when asked if I like to go to school, you bet my hand is raised too.