Unwanted child - страница 11

After distribution on groups, educators conducted some demonstration classes with participation of parents of kids. Many of them, as it was recommended earlier by the headmistress, supported the children showing them that everything was fine and they were there for them. The classes were more like the first lessons of communication and familiarisation. First with the tutors, then with the classmates. The parents also got to know each other at this meeting and watched their children's behaviour with smiles.

Each group was in its own room. The children were seated in a circle on small stools. At the head of this circle at twelve o'clock level, sitting on the floor was the tutor Theodora. He was assigned to Mrs Donova. She was about forty-five years of age. The woman's black coloured hair was, tied in a small ponytail at her back. Dressed in an elegant bright blue business suit, consisting of a jacket and a long skirt, she looked at her pupils with a smile, radiating only positivity and warmth. Her experience in educating preschoolers totalled about twenty years. This woman knew exactly what good upbringing was, having trained and graduated seven groups. The age of the educator allowed her to apply previously studied methods of education, which have become classics, but also to improve their qualifications, quietly mastering new ones, not lagging behind the progress.

At first, the children fussed, getting up from their chairs, running around the room, crawling on the floor, not paying any attention to their new yet unfamiliar teacher. She chatted patiently with each of them, settling them back into their seats. Then she took out from her pocket some object that looked like an unusual pen shimmering with different colours, thus attracting attention to herself. Loud, surprised children's cries began to echo around the circle.

Ms Donova: ‘So, let's get acquainted! My name is Ms Donova. We will be talking and studying with you over the next few years. Let's get to know each of you better.’

She clicked one of the buttons on her mysterious pen and dimmed the lights in the room to semi-darkness. A spotlight came on over the circle in which the children were gathered. The floor inside this circle was coloured bright red, which was black striped into sectors according to the number of people inside it. It looked like a disproportionately marked clock with sixteen divisions. The teacher pressed the button of her fountain pen again and the sector she was in turned green. While the rest of the circle continued to burn red. The woman rose from her seat, and walked to the centre of the circle. The children watched the change of colours inside the circle with their eyes darting around in amazement. They kept shifting their gaze from the multi-coloured circle to the teacher holding a strange fountain pen in her hand.

Ms. Donova: ‘I want you, when you see the colour green in front of you, to come to the centre and say your name’.

She demonstrated what she wanted the children to do by example by repeating her surname. She then took her place in the circle and pressed the button again. The green sector moved anti-clockwise and positioned itself in front of the boy sitting next to her. He looked with interest at the glowing green triangle inviting him to take the first step. The teacher repeated her request, turning towards him, ‘Please come forward and tell me your name.’