sharing

one of the reasons that i really like my preschool esl teaching job rather than traditional eikaiwa (english lesson-only) is because i get to teach social skills and not just english.
at two years old, many of my students have never been in a situation where they're around so many other kids. many of them have never really had to share. but once they're in preschool, they have to start sharing.
i find it pretty amusing to watch them throw temper tantrums when i make them share. tadashi, for example is having a really rough time of this.
he'll often have 4 trains in his hand, and when another kid wants one, he'll start to throw a fit. kana or i will point out that he has four trains, but the other kid doesn't have any. we will take one trian and give it to the other kid. tadashi will then start screaming and throw himself onto the floor. it only lasts about 30 seconds and it cracks me up.
recently, miona finished lunch first and was sitting on/playing with one of the lesson cushions that they sit on. tadashi finished his lunch and started to try to take the cushion from miona.
"tadashi! what are you doing?" i said, "there's 11 other cushions over there that no one is using. that one is miona's. go get a different one."
i figured he wouldn't have any idea what i said because that's a lot of english for them, but apparently he got the point because he started screaming and threw himself down on the floor.
eventually, miona got tired of that cushion and went to get another toy. i saw that tadashi claimed the cushion which was fair. then miona came back, saw that tadashi had the cushion and reasonably, went and got herself a different one.
well, wouldn't you know it, the second she sat down with that cushion, tadashi was practically sitting on top of her, trying to push her off of it.
frickin hilarious.
apparently he only has interest in something if someone else wants it.
Tags: esl, preschool, sharing

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