Unwanted child. Scott Melani

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СКАЧАТЬ That boy!’

      The headmistress shifted her gaze to the child and smiled back at him: ‘Found you… So, your name is Theodore…’

      Getting to know the CEC

      The first day at the children's educational centre started with an introduction, which took a week, maybe a week and a half in total. Familiarisation with his peers, new teachers, unusual rooms filled with all sorts of thematic subjects. For him, as for the overwhelming majority of kids, all this was strange. Children at that age have a lot of energy, which they gladly spend on lessons. There was not a single child in Theodore's group who was eager to go back home to his parents. On the contrary. When the children crossed the threshold of the centre, it was as if they had forgotten about their existence. And when the time came to return home, many of them did not want to do so. After all, here, in a gigantic entertainment complex (as the children saw the centre), all attention was directed only at them. A lot of different entertainments, games and adventures.

      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.’

      The little boy got off his chair and with slow steps made his way to the centre of the circle, patting the glowing section. Donova repeated: ‘Tell me your name.’ The boy, merrily shaking his head from side to side, reached the centre of the circle and after a little stomping in one place said loudly and clearly, ‘Derek. My name is Derek!’

      The pupil, with all his seriousness, looked at the teacher, waiting for her to praise him for his accomplished task. She nodded in response, clapped her hands and said: ‘Well done. Nice to meet you Derek. You can go back to your seat.’

      The boy stood in the centre for a while longer, enjoying the attention and the sense of accomplishment, and with the same leisurely steps he reached his chair and then sat on it. So each of the kids introduced themselves in turn, stepping out into the circle. The one who was less concentrated and comprehensible Mrs Donova took him to the centre by the hand and repeated her request several times. Finally, it was Theodore's turn. His sector lit up green and everyone stared at him.

      Ted understood perfectly well what he was required to do, so based on the example of the previous kids he leisurely went to the centre of the circle and said his name. After that he remained standing in the same place, scrutinising those present. Throwing a glance outside the circle, he noticed the parents of his classmates watching their every move with awe. Looking at one and the other, he tried to spot Lars in the crowd of people he didn't know, but he never found him.

      At the age of three, children cannot yet analyse their parents' actions, build a logical chain and conclude whether they are well taken care of or not. They do not know how to take offence over the long term, as their life now consists of momentary emotions. For example, at the moment he feels good because he was given a lollipop, but five minutes later he feels bad because it was taken away. This was approximately the stage of development of the child logic of Ted and his classmates, which the teachers had to develop by the end of the CEC training and bring it to a completely different level.

      Mrs Donova: ‘Theodore, you can take your seat. Let's give your other classmates a chance to introduce themselves.’

      At the moment of finding his father among the crowd of people standing in front of the boy, strangers to him, he felt nothing. No sadness, no regret. The only thought circling in his head was that his dad wasn't around.

      After a couple of small and uncomplicated orientation sessions, the teacher said goodbye to the parents and the group started the next lesson in the drawing room. On the first day, the children reacted differently to their parents leaving. Some cried and were hysterical, others were unwavering and didn't give it a second thought. Theodore felt some relief when the adults left the little ones alone with their teacher. Ted was no different from the other children now. The only difference was that when Lars left him home alone, the boy was left to his own devices. But now, there were other children in the same room with him. Some of them even began to socialise with each other, increasing the general interest in the task at hand.

      On the one hand, it was another familiarisation task for the newcomers, which everyone could handle without much difficulty, as everyone in the group understood what a family was. On the one hand, it was another familiarisation task for the newcomers, which each of them could cope with without much difficulty, because everyone in the group understood perfectly well what a family was. Everyone except Theodore. The kids sat down on the colourful floor, armed with markers and pencils, and began to draw banal pictures of suns, clouds, circles and sticks resembling human beings. Davel was the only one who sat still and did not understand what he had to draw on a piece of paper. No one had ever talked to him about family. The boy saw the children around him drawing with interest, but he had no interest in the class. Several times Mrs Donova came up to him and explained the task again, sketching ideas and projecting them on her piece of paper.

      The СКАЧАТЬ