Playground

            The playground at the elementary school is a simple courtyard of paved concrete. When I saw it, I wondered how the children could possibly amuse themselves in such a basic area. I thought about the playground at my elementary school. I played on monkey bars, swing sets, basketball courts, and tennis courts during recess. I felt bad for these kids and how bored they must be during their recess breaks.

            The first time I witnessed a recess break I was pleasantly surprised. The kids had no problem entertaining themselves. They were chasing each other, playing jump rope, playing clapping games, and singing. It seemed like a soda can of elementary school kids had been shaken and opened on the playground. They were running wild with no cares in the world. It was interesting to see the opposites that existed in the kids’ behavior in the classroom to their behavior during their breaks. During class they were calm and polite, during recess they were running wild.

            As time went on the children seemed to be getting more and more out of control. As they ran around, kids began to trip causing four or five other students to fall. I began to wonder how the teachers and I would ever calm the students and resume teaching when the time came. One teacher simply rang a bell and the teachers began instructing the students to line up. They lined up with their classes and entered the school quietly.

This experience made me wonder how I was as a child, surely one of the wild boys. I also reflected on why what I saw surprised me; was it because the kids in Madagascar are wilder than those I went to elementary school with? I don’t think so. I image that it was seeing with a new perspective that brought a new experience. I had observed these children as a teacher and not as a peer.