Kindergarten, just what are they really like?

I have seen a Chinese Kindergarten described as hell, I do not know personally I have never been to one. Might raise a few eyebrows if I try to join the class 

I ask since this is the only interest I seem to be getting. I already have a few classes of 10-15 of these 3 year old monsters cute angels at a time for nearly 2 hours. How does it compare?

I spent an afternoon following an FT around my village kindergarten.  Damn did he have a lot of energy.

If you can keep a happy face, sing simple songs (over and over), play silly games, and don't mind having piles of small children all trying to climb all over you at once, it could be an interesting experience.

That does not sound too dissimilar to my current placement so "I have the habit" as the locals would say 

I just went through some of my e-mails from answers from these places and a typical work schedule seems to be along the lines of

Monday to Friday 9:00 - 16:00
Where you work 9:00 to 11:30 then it is "lunch/nap time" then 14:30 to 16:00

Think:

Herding drunk kittens

Monday to Friday 9:00 - 16:00
Where you work 9:00 to 11:30 then it is "lunch/nap time" then 14:30 to 16:00

Only 4 hours of being used as human playground equipment class time per day.  Not bad compared to some I've heard of.  Make sure they really intend to let you eat, nap, whatever during those 3 hours and don't plan to force you to sit on display during that time.

I don't work at a Kindy but...  I have a friend who does; her hours are definitely not "nine to five with a nap". She works 50+ hours of every weekend, teaching for 32 of those hours. The rest of the time she's babysitting and unable to leave the campus. On the upside, the crazy weekend schedule means the rest of her week is free but for a couple of meetings.

Another friend went to a kindy in Hangzhou and found they had a 9pm curfew for staff and enforced gender segregation in the staff dorms (IE couldn't even invite male colleagues or friends for a chat, let alone have a sleep-over).  With every month I spent in China, my list of "Things to get in writing" increases.  

After you've uncovered unreasonable policies like curfews and whatnot, I recommend you personally speak with the foreign staff, OFF CAMPUS. Get their opinion over a beer and some duck tongues!

I couldn't teach kids. I'm happy to clown it up occasionally to help a class relax and get settled but I couldn't do it for every lesson of the day!

I taught kindy for 6 months to get free tuition for my kids. It really depends on what sort of setup you have. I was working at an international kindergarten as a bilingual assistant. I had to be in the classroom all day, but I only gave actual lessons for about a half an hour each day. The rest of the time was spent on classroom management. My school was a Montessori so I was actually expected to be relatively hands off most of the time, to sit back and observe, step in when the kids needed help, occasionally present some English language work to them.

It wasn't horrible, but working with kids can be really exhausting. If you're young and energetic and don't mind acting the fool a bit then kindy isn't as horrible as some people make it out to be. Depends a lot on the school and what's expected of you though.

I've probably put this story on here before I worked for a school that did kindergarten classes in the morning. Before they put me in charge I was allowed to sit in on the guy I was taking over from for a couple of weeks. His classes were amazing, much more fun than teaching older children because the kids were so enthusiastic and they picked everything up so quickly, you could see tangible improvements in their English and their knowledge over the course of the week
Then I took over and it was absolute hell, they wouldn't listen, the only time that they ever did anything coordinated was when they ganged up on me, the only way that I could get them to STFU was by giving them colouring, otherwise they just trashed everything trashable

So if you know what you're doing and have the energy it's one of the best gigs, it's usually better paid as well. If you aren't sure about it then don't do it though because it can be as bad as you think

Con Ate Dog loves this kind of gig.  He hasn't been on here much of late, but you could shoot him a PM   I think we did have a Thread here somewhere with Tips

I know a few people who've gone the kindergarten route, and with mixed results. Some say it's quite repetitious and you're mainly a babysitter, although this will suit some, it's presumably pretty mindless, although mentally draining I'd imagine. Others enjoy it, depends on you and your propensity for babies crawling all over you....only temporarily cute in my experience.

Kindergarten teaching is really easy and can be fun, but it's incredibly tiring.

Wish I'd seen this sooner!

Kindergarten classes (if a training centre is parachuting you in) are a burst of singing and quick games, punctuated by use of new vocabulary, phrases and modelled dialogue- in English class.

For the full time teacher of the class, there will also be math, PE, music appreciation, science, dance, geography… stuff about life.  But the main teaching will be between lessons, as the kids observe and mimic your behaviour.  After all, for most of them you are the first adult they know outside of their home.  They will absorb your attitudes, way of treating others, habits of speech, grooming and cleaning, etiquette…

As the others have said, it's a very tiring job.  But it's more rewarding than anything else I've done- and I've pretty much done it all.  The difference between the little buggers you start out with in autumn and what they grow into by summer, well, it's humbling.

I've noticed that these gigs don't pay as well as they used to, but they're still pretty lucrative.  It's a small subset of laowai teacher who is willing to take these gigs on, so there are always positions out there.

My last gig was teaching English in a kindy.  It was easy compared to my current one, not much lesson planning to do, but you do need lots of ENERGY, kiddy songs and games to keep the students engaged. As I only taught oral English to the kids, my working hours were 8.30-11.00 then 14.30-16.00, weekends off.

Now, I am teaching English conversation and writing in an international primary school, lots of lesson planning and essay corrections, how I wish to go back to a kindy....