Off to School

Monday morning KJ started the Uranienborg School. It is located about 5 minutes walking time from our apartment. She insisted that Kent come with to the registration which took all of 5 minutes. Kent commented that they don't ask for much documentation. Hmm, they did look at her passport.

Off to meet the teacher and class in room 5M. The class she's in is called mottak. This is a class for kids who don't speak Norwegian. They are in this class until they are able to learn in Norwegian then they move into the class according to their age.
Guro is one of KJ's teachers and the only one we've met. She is an older woman who speaks 10 languages! She told us they've been waiting months for the American girl to arrive. When introducing Kayleigh to the class, she had them all go up to the front and say their names, age, and where they're from. They also pointed it out on a huge map she pulled down. I rather liked this.
There are only 12 kids in the class ranging in age from 8 -12. The students come from Poland, (a bunch) India, (the only other kids that speak English and they are brothers) Turkey, Hungary, and Brazil.

After the introduction Kent went back to work but I stayed with Kayleigh for support. I must admit of how proud I am of her for going to a foreign school. I told her when I was her age I didn't even know what a passport was and she's already been to 4 countries. I thought moving to Portland was a big deal.

Being a former teacher this class is different. How do you teach kids who speak so many languages and come from such different cultures? Guro proved to be very chatty. While the kids ate lunch (they eat in the classroom) she and I visited. She worked as a secretary in Yugoslavia at the embassy, studied in Moscow got married and then moved to Bulgaria.

Other then learning Norwegian the class has a math teacher who comes in on Tuesday. They have another teacher Lilianna who comes Wednesday-Friday. They have gymanstics (P.E.) on Wednesday followed by arts and crafts. They are knitting now so that will be fun, very Norwegian and KJ can knit.

After lunch the kids continued working. Kayleigh's assignment for tomorrow: learning the colors in Norwegian which all three of us did last night.