A week in a nursery (Léana):
MY SCHEDULE
MONDAY: 8:30 - 3pm
TUESDAY: 8:30 - 3pm
WEDNESDAY: 8:30 - 3pm
THRUSDAY: 8:30 - 1:30pm
FRIDAY: 8:30 - 1:30pm
Monday marks the first day of my work experience. I worked in "Little Oaks", a nursery in Beaconsfield.
Unexpectedly, I was quite relaxed for the first day. No stress or anything, I got there a bit earlier than asked so we could have time to talk before the children arrived. The staff turned out to be very nice and made me a heart-warming welcome. They are 6 in total: Ruthie, the head of the nursery (she owns 3 nursery so I didn't get to see her often), Jackie, the manager, Linda the second manager (with whom I spoke the most) and Jeni, Hannah and Kathy. So Ruthie was the one who showed me the nursery and Linda made me aware of the rules that I had to follow throughout the whole week. I had already done babysit before, so I was more or less familiar with the tasks that I had to do. You have to be aware and cautious and stay alert at all times, it's very important. However, it was a bit different this time, as there are more children running here and there!
The nursery itself was really lovely but, actually, it wasn't a nursery in the first place. It is was in fact a sort of "function room" that you could rent for the evening, for example. Therefore, we had to fill and decorate the room every morning and tidy, clean everything up after the children were gone! It was quite tiring to be honest, but I think somehow ended up enjoying this routine.
We had to organize the room by section of game/plays and set it up differently each day so that the children could try out different activities : from play dough to painting through cars, there was a big variety! ( I mainly enjoyed doing play dough and rolling on the ground with children)
At 9am, the children started to arrive and, in fact, before they even get the chance to go play, they had something to do first: at the entrance, there was a little table with some small cards with, written on it, the names of the children that were coming for the day. So what they actually had to do was to find their own name, and put it in a box. I truthfully felt my heart melt the first time I saw them. It was their first time seeing me and looking at their big small eyes filled with curiosity as they introduced themselves to me while putting their name inside the box was, without a doubt, the cutest thing I've ever seen in a while.
Afterwards they were free to play whatever they wanted for the following hour!
I was actually quite impressed by the children that were already responsible. There was for example, at the end of an activity, a "tidy up time" which meant that every children had to pick up one toy and put it back in its own place/box.
But instead of asking the children to come and tidy up, one of the teacher would actually SING it. That's what I mostly liked about that nursery, there was a sort of "high school musical" vibe. Around 10:30, there was also another "higschool musical" session. It was "blue carpet" time: everyone had to gather on the blue carpet. There were a lot of songs that were sang during the day, but a specific one remained part of the daily routine and it also was my favorite: the "Welcome to our nursery" one. Here are the lyrics:
♪ Welcome to our nursery
Come and sit right down
We are all together
Take a look around
Here inside our nursery
There's lot to see an do
I am happy being in here
And making friends with
You You You You You ♪
I even got the opportunity to sing some french nursery songs, such as "Les petits poissons dans l'eau" for example. At first, it was honestly embarrassing and awkward as the children didn't get a single word at what I was saying. But it ended up being fun, and they really enjoyed it!
After the blue carpet time was done, it was "Snack time". Served with one cracker and cucumbers, tomatoes, grappes, banana and even kiwis, their snack was generous.
I as well as the teachers, had to wait for noon to eat our lunch.
In the afternoon, the children would usually go play in the garden on in the park, if the weather was nice enough.
And it was everyday like this!
To conclude, I really enjoyed my work experience in this nursery, more than I expected to. I couldn't be more grateful for all the kindness and the positivity they (the teachers as well as the children) gave me. They even wished me good luck for the exam that I had to take the following week! Working there helped me improve my english and to communicate with native people and children. I even learnt some words, such as leek or asparagus. They told me to come visit and work again If I'd ever come back in London, which I gladly accepted. Hope I get to see them again one day!
From left to right, top to bottom: Nicholas, Jeni, Jackie, Kathy, Adelaine, Aran, Zahir, Javier and Linda
A week at M&S' shop (Kiara):
From Monday, January 29th to Friday, February 2nd, Wycombe And then began my wonderful adventure (see the irony here) at Marks&Spencer, a huge clothing/food/beauty products/houseware store in the Eden shopping center. Basically, I spent a week sorting some panties by size, telling clients that I couldn’t help them, drinking liters of coffee and fake smiling when our manager, Sharon, asked us if we were having fun. I say “we”, because, fortunately, I was with Daphne, a classmate.
