The Norwegian primary school is very different from the one we were used to, being in the Soviet Union, and then in the CIS. The traditions of the Soviet school were preserved for a long time. I will not go into details now, but I will say about myself that I would not have been able to work with Norwegian children. The conditions in school are good, no violence against the child — that is the main rule.
The primary school is in a one-storey building, separate from the upper school. Each class has its own entrance-exit. A corridor-cloakroom. But there are no lockers, only long benches and hooks for things. By the entrance there are stands for bicycles (many get to school by bicycle), and also in a little corridor at the entrance there is a place for skis. Clothing is free and comfortable. Very popular are waterproof and windproof overalls, often “soldered” to the boots, and to put on such an overall independently a six-year-old child has to lie on the floor. There are 15 people in the class, and an assistant helps the teacher.
And here is my first working moment — pick up the child. Lessons have ended, the children are dressing in the corridor, getting ready to go outside to ski at the stadium in the after-school group. “My” child is also dressing slowly, and I feel that he wants to be with everyone in the group, and not with me. And so he tries to “stretch” time, talks with the children, dresses unhurriedly; I try to “speed up the process,” help zip the zip, straighten the hat, check the backpack (he hasn’t forgotten anything). At last — ready! He remembered that he forgot to say “goodbye” to the teacher and get the duty hugs from her. We go out at last.
He says to me: “I’ll go on skis!” I offer to help carry the backpack — he refused. Ok. We cross all the roads “in skis.” Luckily the drivers treat it with understanding, they stop. We climb slowly uphill, a little more along a good road, and in 40 minutes we reach his house. The keys, naturally, at the bottom of the backpack; at last we opened the front door.
At once the “control” call from mama rang. “How did you get there? Is everything all right?” And a recommendation: “While you heat up food for him, he must read the Russian primer, and when he has eaten, start doing maths (a Russian problem book for 4th class) in writing in a squared notebook, then a 15-minute break, you will give him fruit, after that reading of a Norwegian book by himself, after that reading of a Russian fairy tale by you. And… be sure to go out for a walk. The child needs fresh air! And also: check the backpack, if there is an uneaten breakfast there, let him finish it!” — “It will be done!” I said, and in my head a German phrase flashed “Jawohl, mein Herr!”
…. to be continued