Day in the Life of a Kindergarten Teacher in China
Every day I hang out with 18 kids for 8 hours a day. It’s crazy, it’s draining, but more importantly, it’s fun.
I moved to China in January 2020 right before the country shut down due to the pandemic. Since then I’ve worked at two schools, one that was absolutely horrible language center(a story for another time) and the other is my current job at a private international kindergarten.
One reason I love my current school is that it’s super small. We don’t have more than 50 students, which makes it easy to have relationships with each child. There are five classes in total: a daycare class, young bilingual, middle bilingual, old bilingual, and my mixed age international class.
My class has 18 kids with varying levels of English proficiency. I have some six-year-olds who speak fluently and a couple of three-year-olds who barely even speak Chinese. Even with all of these kids and the endless headaches I get from the screaming, I really enjoy my job!
In my current position, I’m not just an English teacher. I’m teaching all subjects, playing with them in the playground, and (hopefully) teaching them life lessons in how to not be an asshole.
Living in China for two years now, many of my friends back home in America ask me about what my day is like as a kindergarten teacher. So I decided to document my daily schedule.
If reading this schedule makes you exhausted, don’t worry! It makes me feel exhausted too.
Morning Minute-by-Minute Schedule
5:00 AM: It’s time to wake up (if I’m not a lazy bitch that day)! Go for a 5KM run and hustle back home for breakfast and a shower.
5:45–6:00 AM: Shower that starts cold, turns hot, and ends cold. I throw in some amazing ROTO menthol eye drops from Japan that wakes your ass up like nothing else.
6:00–7:00 AM: Cook some quick breakfast and eat. Typically some bacon, eggs, toast, and an apple.
7:20–7:50 AM: Take the subway to my school which is only two stations away. I typically go to a local coffee shop nearby for cheap iced coffee.
8:00–8:40 AM: Time to welcome the kiddos! Some are early every day, some are late as hell. Help them take off their jackets, escort them to the bathroom to wash their hands, and serve them their breakfast.
8:40–9:10 AM: It’s time to teach my first class of the day. This class consists of my international class, the older bilingual, and the more advanced English speakers from the younger classes. The subject of class changes each day.
9:10–9:20 AM: I have a ten-minute break before my next class.
9:20 AM-9:50 AM: My second class begins which consists of the daycare class, middle class, and youngest class. This is definitely the worst part of the day. The kids are too young to pay attention, so I just try to make them laugh as teaching them anything is nearly impossible. During this time my co-teachers are doing morning exercises with the children outside.
9:50–10:00 AM: I have a ten-minute break before my next class. During this time my co-teachers are serving the children their first snack.
10:00–10:45 AM: This is my main class of the day. I teach my international class, which will either be math, science, geography, vocabulary or reading. My Chinese co-teacher teaches music or art class once a week on Thursdays in my place. We will have a lesson, play some games, then complete a worksheet.
10:45–11:05: We take the kids outside to play. Controlling 18 kids in a playground is hard, but it’s pretty fun to play the monster that chases them around.
11:05–12:15 PM: My co-teachers and I help serve the children their food, set out their beds, help them brush their teeth once they finish, and put them to bed.
12:15–2:10 PM: The kids take their naps. Easily the best part of the day, this is when I get to eat the food that the school’s chef prepares and work on my writing. I sit at the computer in the classroom doing research or writing while watching the kids with one of my co-teachers. We wake them up at 2:10 every day.
2:10–3:00 PM: During this time we help the kids change out of their sleeping clothes. The other teachers and I put away their beds, escort them to the bathroom, and play with them while the kitchen prepares more food. Once their food is ready we serve them their last snack.
3:00–3:30 PM: At this time each day some kids will leave for their extra classes. Each student signs up for an extra-curricular class when they join the school. Our school offers taekwondo, basketball, drama, music, chess, and art classes. I play games and hang out with the children not partaking in extra classes that day.
3:30–4:00 PM: It’s near the end of the day! We help the kids clean up and put on their clothes to go home. I escort ten to twenty kids to the school bus and see them off every day. After we take the rest of our students to put on their jackets, hats, and mittens and take them to the gate to wait for their parents.
4:00–5:00 PM: It's the end of the day and man it always feels great. I spend most of this time preparing the materials for my class the next day. Besides this, I also have some time to work on my writing or just relax and chat with the other teachers at the school.
5:00–7:00 PM: If I’m not a lazy bitch (again) I’ll go to the gym next door to my school. This or I’ll play basketball with my friends at a park nearby.
7:00–7:50 PM: I take the subway back to my place and take a shower.
7:50–10:00 PM: During this time I’ll either cook my dinner or order delivery from Weimai. Before, during, and after eating I’ll continue working on my writing or one of my other projects.
10:00–11:00 PM: After eating I’ll play some games before heading to bed around 11 or 12, and that’s the end of the day! We’ll do it all again tomorrow.
It Actually Isn’t Bad!
Maybe I was exaggerating a bit before as the schedule really isn’t that bad.
Before I came to China I had prospects of teaching older children. In the United States, I taught adult-level ESL for two years, and I never saw myself working with little kids. However, after my first year, I realized all my favorite classes were with the youngest kids.
Once I made the move to a kindergarten I had no idea how much fun I would have. Even though it’s simple, playing with the kids each day makes me feel like a kid again as well.
It’s also extremely rewarding to see their growth academically. At my old school, I had 200 students a week and only saw them for about an hour. But at my kindergarten, I have the same kids every day for 8 hours! We’re able to build a strong relationship and friendship.
I’ve had some kids join my class who couldn’t even say “My name is blah blah blah” consistently. However, after six to seven months of chatting every day in normal conversations, having English classes, PLUS working at home with their parents (honestly more important than any class for little kids) their English ability has skyrocketed.
I didn’t document a lot of the small things, like the kids using the bathroom twenty times a day and all the small arguments and temper tantrums we deal with. Those things definitely take a lot of energy, but the positives of the job really balance it out.
