All the three groups
3.5 Study 4: Interviewing the kindergarten teachers
3.5.1 Context and participants
Conducting an interview with the kindergarten teachers is a crucial part of the interview series as they are not only one of the key participants of the educational process, but most of them are experienced actors whose professional knowledge, experience and opinions can be invaluable in a linguistic research. They are educators, employees of the kindergarten and contact persons between children and parents, parents and the management as well. The five interviewees were as follows with their pseudonyms:
1. Imola Szegedi, an experienced teacher, who has taken part in the project from the beginning. She had already taken an intermediate level English language exam before the programme started. In her group she is the one who is responsible for English language development.
2. Olga Asbóth joined the programme in the second year. She received her BA degree a few years ago and had an intermediate level English language exam. At present she is working in the United States and is going to return to the multilingual kindergarten of Pápa. She worked together with Hajna Agárdi, who she shared the English language duties with.
3. Hajna Agárdi, originally a primary school teacher, who works in this kindergarten as a pedagogical assistant till she gets her degree in kindergarten teaching, too.
4. Noémi Kiss graduated as a kindergarten teacher a few years ago. Her English language command made her able to take part in the programme. In her group she is the one who is responsible for the English language development.
5. Kati Horváth, a kindergarten teacher already on pension. She was called back to substitute Olga Asbóth while she is abroad. Kati is a very experienced kindergarten teacher who, in her active years, always worked in monolingual groups. She has also developed several educational programmes mostly in the field of mathematical education. Now she is responsible for the Hungarian language development.
From among the above teachers three took part in the in-service course titled English in the kindergarten at the Faculty of Education of the University of West Hungary. This training made the kindergarten teachers familiar with modern foreign language educational methods which might be of help in their new educational situation.
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3.5.2 Research design: the interview guide
Bearing in mind the major research aims and questions (cf. 1.4), I tried to compile an interview guide that makes kindergarten teachers think over their work from the beginnings and helps all of us to understand their special situation. Therefore, while in some respects the interview scheme was similar to the previous ones conducted with parents and children (cf.
3.3.2 and 3.4.2), some questions dig deeper, especially in language educational issues. This time an 18-item interview guide (Appendix 32) was assembled with the following broad categories:
I. Kindergarten educational questions (topics: preparation and start, changes in the kindergarten)
(e. g. Items: 1. How did you receive the idea of multicultural-multilingual education in the kindergarten?, 18. What would you change in the kindergarten?)
II. Language educational questions (topics: language development methods, language use, language aptitude, assessment, the comparison of monolingual and multilingual groups, linguistic problems and solutions)
(e. g. Items: 5. a) Does English pronunciation cause difficulties for children?, 5. b) Does Hungarian pronunciation cause difficulties for children?, 10. a) Do you influence language use in free playing time?, 10. b) Do you influence language use during kindergarten sessions?, 11. What kind of linguistic problems arise a) in the group b) with parents? How can you overcome them?, 12. How does a
kindergarten teacher’s task differ in a monolingual and in a multilingual group?) III. (Inter)cultural questions (topics: advantages and drawbacks, personal and professional influences of multiculturalism)
(e. g. Items: 15. a) What kind of advantages of a multicultural group can you see?, 15. b) What kind of drawbacks of a multicultural group can you see?, 16. What does multilingualism and multiculturalism mean in your personal and professional life at present?)
Just like in the previous cases, the items started with the introductory part and the majority of the questions were of linguistic or, in this case, of language educational characters. All the questions were asked in Hungarian, as all the kindergarten teachers’
mother tongue is Hungarian, and the addressing of the teachers was informal. Piloting of the questions was done with a kindergarten teacher who works in a kindergarten in a group of
139 German as an ethnic language. Naturally, while the questions to her referred to Hungarian–
German bilingualism, in the final version they referred to multilingualism (e.g. in Items 15, 16). After piloting only one more item was added to the actual interview guide: Item 18. What would you change in the kindergarten? According to the rules of a semi-structured interview, the kindergarten teachers were given the opportunity to add their own thoughts and perceptions connected to the guiding questions. Just like in the case of parents’ interviews (cf.
3.3.2) the aim of the interview was to elicit the interviewees’ opinions, attitude and experience in their special educational context.
3.5.3 Methodology
Unlike with parents and children where personal interviews were conducted (cf. 3.3.3 and 3.4.3), in the case of the kindergarten teachers another method was applied. Why I chose the small group interview method can be explained by the fact that by the time of the interview I had known most interviewees for three years and I had known about their special job in the kindergarten. I also knew that they worked well together and completed each other’s work in linguistic and pedagogical sense; and, just like in their work, I supposed they would help each other with their remarks during the interview as well. I firmly believe that they share a common knowledge that has accumulated, and discussing it together was not only a relevant experience or summary but also a stimulus for their personal and professional development. At the same time it is a treasury for the research.
The group interview was made with five kindergarten teachers in June 2011. Four teachers took part in the group interview and I made an extra interview on Skype with one of them who was working in the USA at the time of the interview. Yet, I insisted on interviewing her as she had been a very motivated member of the staff while in Hungary. The questions to her were the same as to all the other teachers, except for the additional question which inquired about her future plans after her return to Hungary.
As far as the process of interview making is concerned, the same interview schedule was used as in the case of the previous interviews (cf. 3.3.3). Additionally, the kindergarten teachers gave me an oral consent for letting me use the interviews for research purposes. On this occasion, too, a Dictaphone served to be a useful technical tool.
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3.5.4 Results
3.5.4.1 Preparation and start
First I asked the kindergarten teachers to recall their memories of the very first steps of multilingual-multicultural education in their institute. They all agreed that the first impressions were unique. Teachers, however, had ambivalent feelings: they were afraid of the sudden changes, at the same time they considered the arrival of the foreign children an educational challenge where they could show their linguistic and pedagogical skills. The first common memory was a concert for children where, among Hungarian children, the first family from Sweden took part. Nobody exactly knew what to do, or how to handle the situation. When a teacher saw the Swedish mother and her child falling in each other’s arms in tears because they did not understand a word, the teachers realised that parents had not been given the necessary information. What the teachers saw on parents’ face was that “they were coming to the Nirvana”, and they had had no idea about how they had got there. At the same time Imola as a kindergarten teacher also identified her own tasks:
“My God. The whole thing is not simply about that I’m a kindergarten teacher and I educate them. It’s absolutely different... I put myself in their shoes: ‘What would happen to me in the same situation?’ ... Here you should partially be a psychologist and a spiritual partner. So, it is really complex... You’ll have to support the child who’s leaving home.”
At the same time, the kindergarten teachers were carefully preparing the kindergarten itself by decorating rooms and corridors. They had to brush up their language command as well. Therefore some of them attended a language course, and all of them started a correspondent course on bilingual education at the Faculty of Pedagogy of the University of West Hungary. Besides, they started collecting English songs, rhymes and tales so that their everyday activities could be enriched with cultural examples of bilingualism.
3.5.4.2 Monolingual and multilingual education
Although the educational bases are the same in a monolingual and a multilingual kindergarten in Hungary, teachers, who all had had experience with monolingual groups, are generally happy by now to work under special, i.e. multilingual circumstances. They stress the cultural differences from educational point of view:
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“Foreign children come with different values which do differ from our norms. They are much more liberal. They are allowed to do lots of things which a Hungarian child is not allowed to do.” (Kati)
“It is worth knowing something about the children’s national customs. If you even know a few foreign words in their language, e.g. greetings or saying thanks, it does make wonders... and inspires confidence. No doubt, we have to be more empathetic. ... How to keep in touch with parents is also a key question: it is not enough to smile at each other; but we do have to discuss problems as well.” (Olga)
3.5.4.3 Teachers’ and children’s language use
When language use is examined, not only children’s but also kindergarten teachers’
language command has to be mentioned. Out of the five kindergarten teachers, four had studied English already when foreign families arrived at Pápa. Yet, they were all afraid of having to use the language in their everyday routine. Moreover, American parents thought that everybody spoke fluent English in the kindergarten. Hajna admits: “It hurt me so much that I couldn’t speak English as well as I was expected to”.
When I ask if it was important to employ a native English speaking kindergarten teacher, the answer is that not necessarily a kindergarten teacher would be useful but someone who can help with administration and language use; and “is always in the background”.
When I ask why not a kindergarten teacher, Imola’s reaction is that “children will go into a Hungarian school, and an American cannot see the Hungarian educational system.” When I remind them that their educational program is Hungarian–English bilingual, Imola says that they have to teach children Hungarian, while Noémi adds: “Those, whose mother tongue is not English, often ask us to teach their child English”. Olga reinforces her comment: “The Polish boy’s mother asked me to speak English to her son”.
When I ask which language is worth using with the Hungarian, native English and non-native English children, the answer comes in chorus: “Hungarian!” Only Olga makes distinctions. She thinks it is better to speak English to Hungarian children and use Hungarian with foreign children. This method worked best with memory card games. In the other cases she adjusted her language use to the number of the majority of children in a small group.
Another question is how languages are divided between kindergarten teachers. In every group there are two teachers. The one who works in the morning is the group leading teacher. There is an overlap between the working hours of the teachers in the late morning and
142 early afternoon during lunch time and sleeping time. In the multilingual groups there are also pedagogical assistants: one for each group. From among the kindergarten teachers at least one of them speaks English. The assistants all speak English. Yet, they do not follow the same routine of language use in each group:
“Till I worked with Olga, everything was going in two languages. Now we don’t do it. And I see that there’s no need for constant translation. When I translate somebody’s words it is by far not the same as if I said the same in the language that the children understand. The two methods don’t have the same effect!” (Hajna)
“Switching over languages comes naturally to me. It is embedded anywhere in the day: in the courtyard or in the group room. The children get lazy if we translate all the time. They think they don’t have to make any effort, they’ll understand what we’re going to say, anyway. But sometimes we do translate when children don’t understand.” (Imola)
In Noémi’s group the assistant speaks English to the children, but
“...by the end of the school year we realised that they understood Hungarian, too. They somehow ‘puzzle things out’. We connect everything to songs or movements. It works well. We are looking for an equivalent to each song. Whichever language we start them, children join in singing.”(Noémi)
In children’s language choice there is no rule to follow:
“Some children don’t want to speak English. Momchil, the Bulgarian boy for instance doesn’t want to speak English. He’s chosen Hungarian. He speaks Hungarian even to the American girl.” (Imola)
“Anastasiya from Bulgaria and Emily from the USA are friends. Anastasiya always speaks English when Emily is present. It happened that Emily went home for three weeks. Then Anastasiya spoke Hungarian.” (Hajna)
“The Polish Luboslaw and Emily also speak Hungarian in the sand pit.” (Kati)
Teachers also point out that there is a continuous language development in the groups:
“Hungarian children can count, know the names of colours, or we play memory games with them in English.” (Noémi)
3.5.4.4 Language aptitude
In a kindergarten where so many languages are used and heard day by day, the question of language aptitude inevitably arises. According to the teachers’ experience there
143 are children who acquire foreign languages easily and quicker than their peers. At this point three names appear: a Polish boy’s, a Bulgarian girl’s and a Finnish–Swedish girl’s name.
Luboslaw chose Hungarian in the kindergarten:
“He likes being with adults and he literally forces us to deal with him in Hungarian. For example he brings a book to the kindergarten and asks us to speak about it. He is extremely eager to speak Hungarian. Yet, sometimes he inserts English or Polish words into Hungarian:
e.g. ‘Azt hiszem, Daddy katona.’ (‘I think Daddy is a soldier.’) or ’A barátom polska.’(‘My friend is Polish.’). Other children think his father’s real name is ‘Daddy’”. (Hajna)
The Polish boy’s sensitivity to Hungarian is obvious to Olga as well. She summarises that Luboslaw is a very success orientated child who wants to achieve the maximum in every area of life. At the same time he enjoys other children’s company and he wants to communicate with them.
Olga shares her colleagues’ opinion that the Bulgarian girl’s English command is due to the two families and girls’ friendship. They socialize with each other and the families often go out together. Not only the little girl, Anastasiya’s English developed but also her mother’s who did not speak much English when they came to Hungary.
Vuokko’s mother is Finnish and her father is Swedish. She speaks both languages at home and she uses Swedish with a Swedish boy in the kindergarten. She does not speak much Hungarian as she goes to the youngest group. However, she understands the language well (cf. 3.2.4.3).
Hajna adds a new aspect:
“We can notice that now we’re speaking exclusively about children who have learnt Hungarian well from a Hungarian kindergarten teacher. But what about English? I can name only Anastasyia who speaks very good English, but she did not learn the language from us but from her friend, Emily. The best is if the kindergarten teacher is a native speaker of a language. We can see that our children can speak Hungarian because we are Hungarian and we can pass on this language best.”
When I wondered if there were any American children who chose Hungarian (instead of English), Imola recalls the case of Andrew, who had a Hungarian baby-sitter at home and his mother very much wanted her son to speak Hungarian.
Examining difficulties in communication, the interviews with the kindergarten teachers reveal that there are children who have problems with communication. Teachers’
general impression is that children understand much more than they speak. A Dutch boy often
144 asks the other child with the same mother tongue to help him. Translation is a usual method among children to help each other in communication. An American boy, who never takes part in Hungarian sessions, sings Hungarian songs at home. Olga says that they never force children to use Hungarian: if the child is slow or shy, they give him/ her enough time to choose the language of communication. At the same time, they talk to children a lot about who come from where, what the flag of their country is like, and what language they speak in the given country. Sometimes children reject to speak English. For instance, a Hungarian girl said in Hungarian: “I’m Hungarian. I speak Hungarian,” remembers Olga. Later this girl made friends with an American boy, started mothering him and began speaking English.
Another Hungarian girl in Olga’s group wanted to thank for the birthday greetings to a Polish father. She asked the teacher’s help who said she could not say it in Polish, only in English.
The little girl then went up to the father and, lacking Polish, he used the English words her teacher had told her. Olga also states that Hungarian pronunciation causes more problems to foreign children than English pronunciation to Hungarians. Pronunciation is practised by hearing, e.g. by songs and rhymes. The English voiceless ‘th’ ϴ was pronounced best by the Hungarian child who had a speech impediment in Hungarian.
3.5.4.5 Best practices in language development
According to the teachers, small groups and relaxed setting are important for effective language development. They also underline the importance of activities with different senses:
“I see it, hear it, feel it, and touch it. Then there is a task connected to it; something rhythmic with movement for instance... and fun! Humour is absolutely motivating.”(Imola)
Olga is also in favour of “learning by doing”; that is why she likes e.g. physical exercises where directions can be learnt: “up and down, left and right”. It is especially important to use the same vocabulary in different situations. Another way of “learning by doing” is to make comments on the agenda: “We always say what we’re going to do next,”
explains Olga.
The kindergarten teachers do not direct children’s language use in free time playing either. Children can use the language they want or can. Yet, sometimes children go up to the teacher to ask for language help. Noémi remembers a Hungarian child’s request:
“’Would you ask Joseph to lend me his car?’, Tibi asked me.