Submitted by Victoria Giannini on the 2017 winter session program in Barbados sponsored by the Department of Human Development and Family Studies…
This week was the start of our placements in the Primary Schools in Barbados. I can easily say that I was very eager to meet the children and see how school is similar and/or different here than in the United States. I was placed at Sharon Primary School and I get to work in a classroom of 4-5 year old children (one of my favorite ages!). When we got there on the first day, we got a lot of stares and puzzled looks from the children which was to be expected.
However, the children were so welcoming and eager to ask me questions, play with my hair and just to make a new friend in general. I left this week with a happy heart for sure. The kids were so kind to me and knew that I was different physically, but they still wanted to be my friend and play with me. I thought this was a beautiful example of how children do not care about the color of your skin or eyes or how tall or short you are. They just want friendships! I think this is a remarkable characteristic that children possess both here in Barbados and the United States. And this is something I aspire to teach my future students when I am a teacher – to be kind to one another regardless of differences. With all of the hatred that goes on in our world every day, it was so reassuring and remarkable to see these children be fascinated by difference and welcome it with open arms right away.
These children inspire me to have more of an open mind in every situation. Like our professor said, just because something is done one way in another country, does not make it “wrong”, it is just different. Being in the school here in Barbados has opened my eyes to another culture. The schools here are stricter in comparison to the schools in the United States, as children are taught to be respectful to adults and authority figures. An important aspect of our study abroad program is service-learning. We are not only giving our time in the schools and working with the children, but we are learning about another country and their cultural ways. Although I am a minority here in Barbados, these children had the capability of making me feel so loved – to where I honestly didn’t even feel out of place.
The children in my classroom (ages 4-5) would typically be considered a Pre-K class in the United States. I was truly blown away at how well these children can read. These little guys were reading words and sentences, and are learning how to write letters, words and numbers. They are definitely taught these skills earlier than children in the United States. I believe this is one of the big reasons that Barbados has such a high literacy rate overall as a country! It was really surprising to see how much these children knew as it was their first year in school.
I am eager to see where the rest of my career goes from here and I am so grateful for this amazing opportunity.
