TEACHING TINY TOTS.

I respect Pre-school teachers. I really really respect them. 😥

Teaching children generally is a special ministry for the patient, creative and strong, teaching children below the age of 5 is for the greatly patient, extra creative and super strong!

In the past six years, I have had to teach at different schools, churches, and organizations and you would assume my 'toughest' jobs would have been the ones that stretched my stamina during pregnancy. But as a matter of fact, the most challenging times I have faced in this Dance business, has to be the times I had to work with children of ages 3 and 4. Oh lawd! I just have to pause and give a special shout-out to EVERYONE who teaches pre-schoolers for a living. I give y'all humongous respect!!!

The thing with a three-year-old is that she does not naturally have a long attention span. This should not be an issue though, it is very NORMAL. But when you teach in a country like Nigeria, where school administrators think they are paying you way too much not to engage their pupils enough, then there is a BIG problem. Let me explain - A dance class for that age does not need to extend 45 minutes. You can even achieve more than enough in a 30-minutes-burst-of-dance-fun! I have worked with a number of schools that do not follow the Montessori system, so what goes on in Nursery classes is the usual chanting of ABCs, 123s, addition tables etc… From the tender age, kids are taught to cram, cram and cram. I think the continuous chants gives the idea that these little tots are busy – not bad, but you cannot expect that for a Dance class. Dance at this age is for a major purpose and that is FUN! If it is Ballet though, some form of technique can be introduced but it still must be done in a fun way.

When I teach kids between ages 3-5, I begin with fun warm-up exercises, like “The Wiggles”, “Pat your body”, “Rainbow arms”. Then we could do a little bit of Ballet technique – learning the terminologies and doing them the best we can for that age. Then we go into a bit of centre work and round off with cool-down stretches. Somewhere in between, we get into a lot of dancing around with the aim of promoting freedom of expression and love of movement. So even when the kids have to perform for a school program, the presentation would not centre much on how much technique they have acquired but how much it shows that their tiny tots love to dance. All I have described here is the IDEAL situation for a Dance teacher but it has not always gone that way for me. I have found myself in schools where a Class teacher is watching with the expression on her face like, “Is this what these children paid extra money to come and learn?” You hear comments like, “They are not even doing anything serious in that Ballet class, it is just play.” Gosh, how annoying and frustrating! Have you forgotten what age we are working with here? Is the expectation for me to come in and begin to flaunt all the available techniques and break your pupils’ legs into perfect form? I once taught in a school with such teachers and it made my work experience a very discouraging one. And then it was time for the school’s Christmas concert. The class teacher for the Nursery class came up with her pupils for their class song and rhyme presentation. Those kids looked amazing in the beautiful costumes the school made, but guess what? The kids just stood there – some did a little movement, some were even pulling at each other’s costumes, some cried, some just stood looking – the teacher and her assistant took the mics and did all the singing throughout the presentation! It was so funny and entertaining for everyone because that is what is expected for that age. As I stood watching with a wide smile, I was also slightly shocked. All I kept thinking was, seriously? This teacher spent the entire term trying to frustrate my work with these kids yet she really could not achieve ‘serious coordination’ from these same pupils?

Anyway, if you have to teach tiny tots and you are terrified that you cannot sustain them for the period of time or that their performance would not turn out exceptional, remember they are only TINY TOTS. Review your expectations with them as they are very little and sometimes unpredictable. Next week, I would do a blogpost on ways to make your Dance class for ages 3-5 fun and effective enough for them to look forward to coming back. Well-done to you!   

Tamara Ajasa,

DanceMusicologyConcepts, 2018.