[Vocabulary] Nursery or kindergarten? Nursery governess? Nurse?

[englishhobby]

Because of some cultural differences I am not sure how to call this institution in English properly:
Here are its characteristics:
1) It's a building with several (usually about 10) rather big sections, called "groups".
2) There is a big yard around the building, divided into sections for each "group" for children to play during their walks (the "sections" are just nominal, of course).
3) Each "group" usually consists of two rooms - a play room and a beroom.
4) There is a two person "team" in each "group" consisting of a woman (nursery governess?) in charge of each "group" who cares about the children in general, goes for a walk with them, teaches them on the elementary level (counting, drawing etc.) and a woman who does the washing up, cleaning the rooms and is responsible for providing children with meals (a nurse?). The nurse plays an important role, she helps the governess to dress the children for a walk and to keep discipline, too.
5) Children can attend this institution from the age of 2 until they are about 6 or 7 years old (when they start school).

For many years in Russia we have had only this type of pre-school institution, they used to be state-owned only, now such instiutions can be both state-owned and private. We call them "children's gardens" (it's a literal translation, of course, I don't know myself why it's called a garden, the same word exists in English, from the German word kindergarten).
Now my questions:
1) Is kindergarten the best word for this kind of institution? How would you call this institution in the following context: Mother wakes up her little (3 year old) son in the morning and says:
Johnny, it's time to go to the ......(kindergarten?)

2) Is there a word in motherese (baby talk) for it? (Sometimes mothers add suffixes to words to make them sound gentler.)

3) Imagine you are a translator from Russian into English. What are the best terms to call the two women in charge of each group? A nursery governess and a nurse? A mentor and a caretaker?

 

[SoothingDave]

Sounds like a "pre-school" (if done for the purposes of educating and socializing the child) or "day care" (if done primarily to have someone watch the children while the parents work).

 

[englishhobby]

Sounds like a "pre-school" (if done for the purposes of educating and socializing the child) or "day care" (if done primarily to have someone watch the children while the parents work).

So how would a mother say to her child: Let's go to day care / pre-school, honey? Is there some word, a kind of baby talk, that a mother would use?
I am asking this question because in my language all people call it gently "sadik" (the suffix -ik makes it sound gentler) when talking to a child who attends it.
pre-schoolie :?:

SoothingDave, and what is the word kindergarten used for in AE? Is it used at all?

 

[SoothingDave]

No, there is no standard "babytalk" word for pre-school.

Kindergarten, in the US, is the very first grade in public schools. Traditionally this was for a half day, but more and more kindergarten is for a full day.

Schools in the US are said to cover K-12, from kindergarten to 12th grade. Thus, 13 years of instruction before issuing a high school diploma.

 

[englishhobby]

No, there is no standard "babytalk" word for pre-school.

Kindergarten, in the US, is the very first grade in public schools. Traditionally this was for a half day, but more and more kindergarten is for a full day.

Schools in the US are said to cover K-12, from kindergarten to 12th grade. Thus, 13 years of instruction before issuing a high school diploma.

It was really helpful and interesting, thank you, SoothingDave.
Can what has been written about pre-schools and kindergartens in the USA be applied to British culture, too?

 

[JMurray]

not a teacher

A widely used informal term for kindergarten in Aust/NZ is "kindy/kindie" (kin-dee).
http://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/kindie

 

[englishhobby]

not a teacher

A widely used informal term for kindergarten in Aust/NZ is "kindy/kindie" (kin-dee).
Kindie | Define Kindie at Dictionary.com

Thak you very much, JMurray. I was starting to think that there are no kind words in English for poor children who don't want to get up early in the morning.

I would be happy to know if there is something of the kind in BE. As I have found in the dictionary (http://www.ldoceonline.com/dictionary/kindergarten ), in BE kindergarten is for kids from 2 to 5 (like in Russia). Do you also call your kindergarten "kindie" in BE? Maybe "nursie"?
:?:

And how would you call the two women I described in the initial post?
:?:

 

[englishhobby]

Sounds like a "pre-school" (if done for the purposes of educating and socializing the child) or "day care" (if done primarily to have someone watch the children while the parents work).

Our "kindergartens" is a combination of these too - there the children are both watched while the parents work and educated.

 

[Rover_KE]

'Kindergarten' is rarely used in the UK.

 

[englishhobby]

'Kindergarten' is rarely used in the UK.

And which word is used instead to describe a similar kind of institution in the UK?
Could you also answer my three questions in the first post (so far unanswered for the UK)? Sorry, no offence)))

 

[emsr2d2]

In the UK, you see "kindergarten" used occasionally but children from around 2 to 5 tend to go to "pre-school" or "nursery school". When I was a child, it was just referred to as "nursery". There are places now which take children from birth - those are called "day care" because they are more like an extended creche.

Someone who works at a nursery school or pre-school is usually just called a "nursery school teacher" or "teaching assistant". "Governesses" are more like Mary Poppins - someone who lives in the same house as the children, looks after them and helps to educate them.