Russian kindergartens in the United States: the pros and cons

Bilingual kindergarten "Bright Minds" in New York. Photo from the personal archive of Marina Korostyshevskaya

Russian-speaking parents often have a dilemma: give your child to a Russian or American garden? In addition to language, these preschool institutions also differ in their approaches to learning, living conditions and nutrition. “Forum” found out what Russian kindergartens can offer and how much their services cost.

What, where and how much

Both traditional American and Russian gardens are very flexible in terms of visiting options - almost everywhere you can find places with a full and part-time stay, with a two-, three- and five-day schedule for the working week. You can agree on a free schedule: then the parents pay the fixed cost of each day of the visit.

American gardens ready to accept the child virtually from the cradle. They are equipped with a special room with boxes where babies lie, starting from four months. These groups are called "infants" [eng - “baby”]. For the youngest parents should be ready to pay a tidy sum - from 1500 $ to 2000 $ per month for a full day.

Next in age are groups of children from one year to one and a half to two years, which are called “toddlers.” [eng - a child starting to walk]. The maximum that American gardens can request as payment is 1400-1500 $.

After them come the “preschool” groups, which are attended by children from two to five years old. In large kindergartens, children are divided by age into two-year-olds, three-year-olds and four-year-olds. This is the most independent category of children, so fewer teachers are required per group, and therefore the payment will be less. It varies from $700-800 for the simplest option in inexpensive states to $1300-1500 in richer states.

At the age of five, children go to “kindergarten” - this is something like a zero grade at school, but in essence it resembles a preparatory group of a school.

Russian gardens, Mostly take children from one and a half to two years. For kids younger than this age, they, as a rule, organize developmental activities with their mothers. Prices are quite competitive: from 1000 $ to 1600 $ per month, and. It should be noted include a more varied menu. Additional classes in most cases - the same as in American gardens - are paid separately.

Illustration by Alexander Shatov

In order to open a kindergarten, you do not need to have pedagogical education, but you must have a special license, giving the right to conduct such activities.

Bring the menu

In American and Russian cultures there are a lot of differences, including gastronomical ones. And therefore it is quite natural to find nuggets, french fries, pizza or burritos in the menu of gardens in the USA. Parents who believe that the children's dinner should consist of the first, second and compote, find fast food harmful to the children's body and try to choose gardens with a European style of food.

In each Russian garden, this question is decided in its own way: some have their own chef who cooks on the spot, the second order ready-made food from proven catering companies, and others prefer to cook from semi-finished products that are easy to get from their packaging and reheat in the microwave.

American gardens, with an eye on the taste preferences of their young clients, often make hot meals a separate and optional item in the bill for payment. If the baby does not want to eat what is offered, he can bring a container with carefully prepared and packed mother's food from home.

However, not all this option suits. Hannah Firman from Sunnyvale, California has two girls. The fact that they give hot food every day in the Russian kindergarten was one of the main things when choosing a place for one of the daughters.

Hannah Firman with children. Photo from the personal archive of Hannah Firman

After searching and thinking, she gave her daughter to the network Russian garden Starbright. “When a mother has a five-day shift from nine to six, and the child is in the garden all day, hot food is not the last place on the list of parents’ priorities. I really need the child to be fed in the garden. The baby will go there for four years. I don’t have time to take on a function that a kindergarten can handle. That’s why I chose a Russian kindergarten,” she explains her decision.

Do sleep without beds

Others One reason for parental thinking when choosing a kindergarten is the living conditions. The object of close attention number two, after the menu, become cribs, or rather, their presence or absence. All those who visited kindergartens in the USSR, at the mention of a dream-hour before their eyes, have a picture with thirty beds in a separate bedroom, with signed bed-clothes on each. And we need to see the bewilderment of today's parents when they watch the tutors pull plastic trays or spread the mattresses right on the floor before the quiet hour in the American garden, and the children fall on them without bedding, in casual clothes and shoes.

American Victoria Glenn-Perret, Assistant Director in the English-speaking Garden Action Day Primary Plus in California, such rules are explained by safety standards: “I understand why parents who come to us in the USA from other countries are confused about places to sleep. However, I want to assure everyone that this is due to generally accepted rules for the safety of children in the garden. In the event of earthquakes, which periodically occur in our area, nothing should interfere with the evacuation of the building. Children should be dressed and shod, even if they are alarmed while resting.”

Remarkably, in other states that do not fall under the category of earthquake-prone, the situation with children's sleep in clothes and shoes is similar. This requirement is explained by the fact that children must be prepared for any kind of emergency and not create unnecessary fuss.

In Russian gardens in the United States, the issue of beds is also decided differently. You will not often see classic bedrooms, but in most cases the replacement beds are children's folding beds, which are exhibited in one of the game rooms. Bed linen is always available. The above trays are also available, but in combination with pillows in pillowcases, sheets and blankets.

Everything is relative. And the attitude too

Since most kindergartens in the US are still paid, parents can choose the places where they like the staff and the attitude towards the child.

This is exactly what Ksenia Smirnova, the mother of Timur (five years old) and Artem (two years old), living in San Jose (California), did: “At first we wanted to send our eldest son to an English-speaking kindergarten. But before coming to the USA, Timur did not attend preschool. And we realized that adaptation to the garden is more important for us than language. I saw that Timur felt out of place when he did not understand what was being said to him. I was not ready to throw him overboard and hope that he would swim out on his own. And we both liked the Russian garden. The child hasn’t cried for a day, he feels comfortable there, and that’s the main thing.”

Ksenia Smirnova with children. Photos from the personal archive of Ksenia Smirnova

Indeed, educators and teachers of Russian-speaking gardens are bearers of a mentality that is close to the parents who come from the CIS countries.

Yana Gurevich. Photos from her personal archive

“We are trying to be more attentive and sensitive towards the child. How can you remain indifferent if your hat comes off your ear, your jacket is unbuttoned, and your baby doesn’t eat anything at lunch? Of course, we help - we put on clothes, button them up, and feed them. In English-speaking kindergartens they often advocate for independence and freedom of choice: if you don’t want to eat, eat at home; if you couldn’t tie your shoelaces, go with them untied. Another thing is that not all children of kindergarten age know how to do simple things that are required of them,” says Yana Gurevich, head "ELF Lyceum for Kids" in Rockville, Maryland.

However, the main thing in the Russian kindergarten is not to get to the teacher of the old school, who in the spirit of the Soviet time can raise the voice of the child. In the American preschool this situation is almost impossible - the mentality also affects, only the American one.

Let me be taught

Kindergarten is not a school yet, but, in a way, preparation for it. In this sense, the English word “preschool” (that is, preschool institution) well defines the essence and tasks of the kindergarten. All preschool institutions host educational classes that introduce the child to different aspects of the world around him.

Hannah Firman from California, whose daughter goes to a Russian kindergarten, describes the educational process this way: “In Russian kindergartens, they pay a lot of attention to academic preparation - they learn letters, numbers, and later they teach reading syllables. Few Russian-speaking parents will say that this is not important, and therefore this approach, in my opinion, meets the target audience. In addition, parents understand that there is little time before school, so they try to teach their child to read and write in Russian at an early age. Even in Russian kindergartens, discipline is quite strict; classes are more structured. Some people like it, some don't. They say that in American kindergartens there is more respect for the child. It seems to me that each parent chooses their own approach and attitude, depending on their wishes and their own philosophy of education.”

Lyceum for kids ELF. Photos from the personal archive of Yana Gurevich

Yana Gurevich, Head "ELF Lyceum for Kids", confirms the thesis about stricter discipline in Russian gardens: “We do not force, but stimulate children to study. If the child does not want to study, we do not persuade or force, but invite him to sit on a chair nearby. But he is not supposed to go play, all children understand this. Yes, our system is more demanding than the American one. If we praise children, it’s for the job, for specific achievements in learning.”

Marina Korostyshevskaya, Program Manager at Bright minds center, New York, recognizes: Russian teaching methods seem unusual to Americans.

Marina Korostyshevskaya (pictured on the left) at the Bright Minds Center. Photos from her personal archive

“In our kindergarten, the attendance system is similar to college: children do not sit in one room with one teacher, but go to another mini-class with another teacher and study a different topic. Thanks to this change of environment, children can easily endure a three-hour lesson with breaks. When American parents see such perseverance and discipline, they tend to get scared. For them, this is violence against the individual; they are more accustomed to the fact that at this age their children often play outdoor games. So in this sense, Russian-speaking families take a more responsible approach to the development of children.”

Russ on invention tricky

If you continue to compare, in the Russian-speaking and English-speaking gardens adopted different methods of interaction with children. For example, in the USA, the system founded by the Italian teacher Maria Montessori is very popular. She invites adults not to interfere with the child's cognitive activity, taking an observant position and interfering only in extreme cases. The methods used by Russian preschool institutions imply a more active participation of the teacher in the learning process. In addition, leaders and educators are more resourceful in finding and applying educational and educational methods.

Marina Korostyshevskaya from a New York garden shares her experience: “We combine several proprietary approaches, integrating them into the program in such a way as to work effectively with bilingual children. In addition, in our garden we have a different vision of the role of the teacher. In my understanding, a teacher working with children from two to five years old should act as a mentor, because at this age the child does not yet have the life experience to learn about the world in a quick and productive way. And our teachers set parameters that allow young researchers to receive the maximum useful information.”

Yana Gurevich in her garden in Maryland also uses a different method of education from the American one. “Our system is taken from the classical Russian school and adapted for modern bilingual children. If we talk about the Russian language, then we have 30 lexical topics that we study with children throughout the year. The topics are the same for children of different ages, we simply fill them in accordance with the development level of each group.”

In addition to the main educational tasks, Russian kindergartens set the maximum program for themselves: the development of bilingualism in children. On the one hand - the preservation of Russian, on the other - the study of English.

Anna Lazareva from San Francisco has two sons - Savely (five years old) and Luke (eleven months). She gave the older one to one of the local Russian gardens. I am not satisfied with my choice now, because Savely has not yet spoken in English. He wants to give his younger son to an American garden.

Anna Lazareva with her husband and children. Photos from the personal archive

“I actually pointed my finger at the sky and sent Savely to a Russian kindergarten that is quite famous in our area. Subsequently, I was not delighted with my choice; the “soviet-ness” of views was visible everywhere, which was not at all close to me, says Anna. – Yes, my son was taught basic English words and concepts, which allowed him to enter school a year later. But his lack of knowledge of English greatly affects him: he can only play with Russian-speaking children, because he literally does not find a common language with his American peers.”

But if the goal of Russian-speaking parents is to introduce a child growing up in the conditions of American reality to their culture, then Russian kindergartens can help with this. There is no shortage of them. Preschool institutions react promptly to the growing demand, offering all new educational services in Russian. For example, kindergarten "Rossinka" in San Jose (California) has recently become a large educational center. "When opening the kindergarten, the idea was not only to preserve the language of children from Russian-speaking families, but also to give everyone the opportunity to plunge into the Russian environment, learn Russian culture and generally rally Russian-speaking people - both children and adults. It sounds lofty, but I always dreamed that my children would know what I am proud of and what cultural heritage I am carrying, ”says pride Natalia Venzon, the founder of “Rossinki”.

In short, the choice - for each. The main thing is that thousands of kilometers away from home, everyone has this choice.

Read also on ForumDaily:

How are kindergartens in America

Temporary home: families in the United States accept children from Ukrainian orphanages for the summer

Kindergarten teacher in Russia fed the baby with waste from the garbage

Top 5 states with the most expensive kindergartens in the US

"Kindergarten" for Russian-speaking grandparents in Miami

Go to the page ForumDaily on Facebook to keep abreast of the latest news and comment material.