Translated material
Migrant school in Irkutsk
School No. 9, next to my house, is called the “migrant school.” A quarter of the students there are from Central Asia. Yesterday Vesti-Irkutsk was told that a special class for Kyrgyz people had been opened: http://www.vesti.irk.ru/obshestvo/2012/10/22/173615/
- “Russia is our sacred power, Russia is our beloved country, powerful will, great glory, your heritage for all time.”
In the first grade, Alik Akimov hardly spoke Russian, but now he speaks freely - without an accent. His family moved to Russia from Kyrgyzstan. Parents work, children go to school.
- Well, they said in unison: carrots. What's the letter in the middle? - "IN".
In this class, out of 29 students, only five are native Irkutsk students, the rest are visitors. Over the course of several years, Natalya Litvintseva managed to find, in the literal sense of the word, a “common” Russian language - with everyone.
“The children write everything, they all read, there are, of course, those who write with errors, but our children also write with errors,” says primary school teacher at school No. 9 Natalya Litvintseva.
“They are all ordinary children,” says Natalya Nikolaevna. — They study, play, and relax together. There are practically no serious conflicts.
“After lessons they speak in their own way, I don’t understand them, but in class in Russian, I understand them,” says Leonid Asokin, a 4th grade student at school No. 9.
“This year,” teachers admit, “there are more migrant children in the ninth Irkutsk school than ever before.” In August, so many children came that a separate class was created for them. Now more than 20% of the school is visiting students. Mostly from Kyrgyzstan.
— There was no need to convince teachers that it was necessary to teach children of different nationalities, because teachers are quite tolerant by nature. We must teach all children to be friends, so that there are no conflicts,” says the director of school No. 9, Antonina Semenyuk.
“Sometimes,” teachers say, “foreign children show much more interest in learning than local ones.”
“I like to write the numbers A, B, C, D, D, C, C. I want to study, says dad, then you will grow up and learn, says dad,” says Merenbek Bikibaev, a 1st grade student at school No. 9.
— There were cases when Irkutsk parents transferred their children from this school to another. But basically,” says the director, “people are friendly towards foreigners...