After coming to Haffa and settling in for basic living, especially with a fixed place to live, we began to find a suitable kindergarten for Huhu near his new home. Today, let's talk about the experience of finding kindergarten and going to kindergarten.
First, let's talk about free education in Canada
Canada's free public education starts from the age of 5, and when school starts in September every year, if your child turns 5 years old before December 31 of that year, you can go to the primary school Primary-School, similar to our preschool, which is the official start of free public education. Of course, if the financial conditions allow, you can also choose to spend money to attend a private school.
But my family's tiger happened to be on his birthday in January, and I missed this year's preschool class perfectly, and I could only spend money on the previous year's Daycare, which is similar to our kindergarten. Although it costs a lot of money to convert into RMB, we also think that it is necessary to attend, one is that children go to kindergarten, adults can indeed have more time to deal with their own affairs during the day, and more importantly, this year's kindergarten will be very conducive to children adapt to new life and language. So we settled down and started making appointments to visit the kindergarten.
Second, find Daycare
Daycare information Enter your information here below to see all registered Daycare information.
When we started showing our children, it was the start of the school season in September, so the kindergarten space was tighter than we had expected. We searched for Daycare directly around our place on Google Maps, chose two to see, and went to see another farther away Daycare recommended by a friend. Unexpectedly, the two queues close to home will already be queued until next year.
Fortunately, the one recommended by a friend still has a quota, and although that one is far away, the outdoor play field is relatively larger, and the teacher who received us is also very nice, Huhu sees that the outdoor field has a lot of water pipes, wood, tires, he also likes it, and this brand is also a relatively good chain brand in Canada. So we just chose this daycare.
3. Registration and signing of contracts
The principal gave us a thick wad of documents for us to go back and sign before returning them to her. Take a look back, all the parents and kindergarten signed various agreements, including all aspects of the child's kindergarten. When I saw the first agreement, I also began to understand why foreign kindergartens can be more hands-off with children, because the contract clearly states that unless it is due to the teacher's negligence, the kindergarten is not responsible for the child's injury or property loss during activities.
In addition, there are about outdoor activities (the agreement says that below minus 30 degrees will consider terminating outdoor activities, in fact, the weather is bad and will not let the child go outdoors, everyone rest assured), first aid conditions, sun safety, about image authorization, and some about what items need to be brought, and some special courses. After signing all of them, return them to the kindergarten along with the check or bank note.
Unexpectedly, there was an online registration next, this registration is more about getting to know your child, and the number of questions asked is so detailed that I filled it out for more than an hour. The child's personality? Like what? What do you like to eat? What don't you like to eat? Do you take a nap at noon? Allergies to what? What does a child say when he wants to go to the bathroom? Does the child lose his temper a lot? When is a child prone to emotional breakdowns? What do parents do after a general crash? Is there anything that the child is afraid of? What will help him calm down?
These are the ones that impressed me deeply, and there are many more, and I have a detailed and comprehensive understanding of the child's temperament, eating and drinking Lasa before entering the kindergarten.
Fourth, Daycare can be customized by yourself
Canada's Daycare is really different from our kindergarten in terms of freedom of admission:
* You can choose between Full Time and Part Time, which is full day or half day, although the cost is different.
* Daycare can be sent from a small baby, of course, the smaller the baby, the fewer children corresponding to each teacher, and the corresponding price will be more expensive. There are several age groups: Infant under 12 months, Infant, Toddler (should be 2-3 years old), Pre-school (3-5 years old). There are also after-school care classes for elementary school children (the elementary school here ends at half past two.) Of course, hosting is play... ）
* The number of days can also be selected. You can choose to give 1/2/3/4/5 days a week, of course, the more days, the more expensive it is. Therefore, there are always little faces in the tiger class that have never been seen, and many children do not go to kindergarten every day
* The kindergarten does not have a fixed school time, it opens at 6:45 a.m. and closes at 6:00 p.m., and parents can pick up and drop off at any time.
The tiger is a 5-day pre-school, 20 children with three teachers, the cost is more than 900 knives. (The price will be different in each province, I looked at our brand, it seems that the cost of NS Province is still relatively low)
5. Enter the park
Canadian kindergartens are very attentive to the mood of children, and the first week of kindergarten is Transitioning Week, that is, Transition Week. There is no charge for this week. The kindergarten sent each parent a schedule suggestion for a transition week: the first day parents accompanied the kindergarten for an hour; The next day, parents accompanied the kindergarten for two hours; On the third day, parents accompany until the end of lunch, it is recommended that parents leave for a short period of time; On the fourth day, it is recommended that the child spend half a day in the kindergarten by himself; On the fifth day, it is recommended that the child be in the kindergarten by himself all day, but parents will pick up early. Of course, this is only a suggested time, and if some children adapt slowly, I heard that this transition time can be extended.
Tiger is different, the first two days of one or two hours was very happy, the third day directly with me and my father to worship themselves for half a day, came back and said that they would go all day after that, we asked the teacher, the teacher said of course no problem, so from the fourth day Tiger himself in kindergarten all day.
Tiger's rapid adaptation is one because he has been in kindergarten for two years in China, and he is already familiar with kindergarten, and it is estimated that there are no friends every day when he first arrived in Canada, but he is suffocated, this kindergarten is played with friends, so every day when my father and I go to pick up, he is not willing to go, always have to play for a while.
The second reason is that Huhu is a pure bilingual kindergarten in China, so English hearing and speaking has a certain foundation, come here there is not much obstacle in basic life, can also express their needs, in addition to several Chinese friends in the class, the language barrier is very small, the child will adapt quickly.
The kindergarten has a special APP, after parents download it, they can receive at least 5 photos of their children on it every day, as well as daily reports, but this report does not report much about the child's personal situation, mainly what activities the child has carried out in the kindergarten throughout the day, and what each meal eats, if you take a nap, the teacher will also indicate the time of the nap on it.
Sixth, I saw kindergartens in Canada
I have always had friends ask me to write about the difference between kindergartens in Canada and kindergartens in China, but I have never started writing, because it is true that the education system is different, the national conditions are different, and there is not much to compare.
However, because I watched two days during the transition week, and according to Tiger's usual description, I would like to talk about the Canadian kindergartens that I have seen so far that I appreciate:
* Children have a lot of free play time, in fact, free play is the most important way for children to learn. When Tiger went on the first day, he was still a little restrained, so as soon as he entered the classroom, he plunged into the puzzle area closest to the door, and did not participate in the teacher's leading activities with many children, the teacher greeted him, but he said that he wanted to play the puzzle, and the teacher said that it was completely fine. The leading activity is for children who want to participate to participate, and children who do not want to participate play their own games, which is very free.
The same is true for outdoor activities, children play with their own interests, of course, teachers will also organize children to play hockey, slide and other group activities, but there are no requirements in discipline and neatness. Under the premise of ensuring the safety of children, children can basically play in their own way.
* The materials are very rich. Every day when I see the photos of tigers, I will sigh that this day is really rich, the classroom is all kinds of toys, all kinds of handmade materials, painting materials, character costume props, tents, and a large basin, the contents are often changed, I have seen sand, branches, stones, flour... Kids can play casually.
Outdoors, there is a slide on a stone ground, and there are many water pipes, tires, wood, and the children's favorite is a dirt pit, playing with dirt when dry, and jumping directly into the mud pit when it rains. It rained lightly the morning I was with my class, and as soon as I went outdoors, I heard a little girl exclaiming, "What a pity!" No mud puddles today! Rain boots have become the most common outdoor shoes worn by tigers, and the babies are wet every time they jump into the mud puddles.
* Some activities involve children from the beginning of the preparation phase. The next day, I went to see the teacher take the children who wanted to participate to the kitchen to get flour and oil and other things, and came back to bring the children to make homemade mud with the noodles. In fact, children's activities do not need to pay attention to the so-called finished product and result, and the process of participation is an important experience and learning for children.
* Plenty of time for outdoor activities. As long as it doesn't rain, the children have an hour of outdoor activity in the morning, and in the afternoon, after eating at three o'clock, they have been playing outdoors until their parents come to pick them up. Tiger, a super energetic baby, although he was reluctant to go back when he picked him up every day the week before, he was directly tired when he returned home. But later, I got used to it more, and I felt that the tiger's body was a lot stronger.
* The teacher does not cruelly or punish the child at all, but encourages and praises every day. Tiger said that of course, when making mistakes, the teacher will still criticize, but it will not be fierce, that is, be reasonable, and talk about it. There is class order, for example, when collecting toys, the teacher presses an alarm clock, and familiar children will consciously begin to collect toys with the teacher. But the teacher does not spend any energy every day on maintaining discipline, such as the whole team, sitting well... In the photos received every day, the child is basically in a more casual state, and there is no posing. Even during teaching activities, children sit down at will, sing nursery rhymes and listen to stories with the teacher.
* The teacher eats with the children, very well demonstrated table manners, when I go to pick up the tiger at noon, I can see that when they eat, the teacher is quiet, the children are also quiet, the teacher eats, and the children also eat big. Children can do things that they can do on their own, such as adding food. And every time she goes to get a meal, the teacher will also call the children who want to go with her to get the meal.
* Drinking water, eating and going to the toilet are completely according to the child's own wishes, drinking water whenever he wants to drink, going to the toilet when he wants to go to the toilet, and not eating if he doesn't want to eat. There will be no uniform arrangement for going to the toilet and drinking water. Napping is not mandatory for children at this stage of the tiger. Nap time is called Quite Time here, which means that you can sleep if you want, and you can play quiet projects if you don't want to sleep.
Of course, there are some places that are weaker than domestic kindergartens: for example, teachers do not take too much care of children's clothing, drinking water and eating, and our parents may seem to be rough; The campus and hardware are certainly not as advanced as domestic kindergartens; There is not much communication with parents, but I don't see any parents asking teachers too many questions, it is very simple for children to be safe and happy here every day; The turnover rate of kindergarten teachers is also very high, and there is an urgent shortage of preschool teachers in NS Province, so this year it also opened a special immigration program for early educators. I also want to say that Daycare in Canada is not yet part of the public education system, so teachers' salaries are not high.
These are the real Canadian kindergartens I saw this month of Tiger Kindergarten.
What is particularly touching is that the teachers and children of the tiger kindergarten in China often send greetings, saying that they miss the tiger. Such a kindergarten experience in both places, the tiger should be very interesting to recall when he grows up.
If you have questions about kindergarten, please exchange.
I wonder what everyone thinks?
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