The war in ukraine continues and the uncertainty about how long the invasion will last forces the refugee families who have arrived in the province of León to specify routines in their new life. One of them, which directly affects the little ones, is going to school. The arrival of Vladimir Putin’s troops caused Ukrainian children who have had to flee their country to leave behind their notes, backpacks and textbooks. This March, little by little and with the obstacle of the language, they are getting used to new classmates, teachers and subjects. Also in rural areas, in schools such as Almanza.
There arrived a few weeks ago two Ukrainian families who crossed all of Europe in their van. A grandmother, her two daughters and her four grandchildren. The oldest of them, 16, attends the Cistierna institute, but the other three children have enrolled in the Almanza school: the sisters Dasha y Monika and his cousin Ivan. Three new ‘chigüitos’ from this town, to which are added those who have arrived in other towns in the area: Nikitawho has come with his mother to Villaverde de Arcayos, and Arina, Yevanhelina and Robert, who were welcomed a few weeks ago with their parents by a family of Sahechores de Rueda. In total, seven Ukrainian students who have been received by their new colleagues from Almanza with drawings of Ukrainian flags and welcome messages in their language.
Dasha: “The children and teachers are very kind. They are charming and we are delighted”Almanza This is how they do ‘their homework’ with Ukraine, as they are also doing in many other towns in the province that have taken in families with children fleeing Putin’s bombings. Throughout this month of March, around 4,000 refugee students have been enrolled in school throughout Spain who, although they do not speak Spanish, are beginning to understand each other in the universal language of every schoolyard.
Adapting to classrooms “very different” from those in their country is slow, but these children say that, although the study methods, classes and even the alphabet are different, they are “delighted” with the way their schooling in Spain. With the help of Mary, mother of Russian origin of another girl who studies in Almanza, this newspaper has been able to translate the statements of Dasha and Nikita, two of the Ukrainian children who recently arrived in this town. “We like it a lot because all the children and the teachers are very friendly. There is a lot of difference between the Ukrainian ‘school’ and the Spanish ‘school’, but we really like it. I have been studying English since I was six years old and that helps me,” he says. the 13-year-old girl.
first words in spanish
‘Thank you, ‘hello’ and ‘goodbye’ are the first words that Dasha has learned in Spanish. However, with the help of the templates made by her teachers, she discovers new ones every day: the numbers from zero to ten, ‘spring’, ‘butterfly’, ‘cookies’ or ‘spider’. The latter to avoid scares with the greatest fear of her. “I’m really scared of spiders. When the teacher showed us the drawing, the teacher even scared me on paper,” jokes Dasha.
Nikita: “I’ve already met two girls and we’ve already said we’re friends. I’m very happy at ‘school'”Although there are phobias, such as the fear of spiders, that do not understand borders, childhood shows that the game is not governed by them either. For this reason, these boys and girls who have come from the Ukraine begin to lose their embarrassment and play and share entertainment with the Spanish students and those of other nationalities who study at Almanza. “I am very happy because the first days at ‘school’ in Spain are being wonderful. I have already met two girls and we have said that we are friends,” says Nikita, also a 13-year-old boy.
The adaptation of the little ones is faster if possible. Monika, six years old and Dasha’s sister, is already one more in Almanza’s yard. She jumps, she runs and screams like she used to do with her friends from Vinnytsia. “They are children who have an incredible ability to adapt to new circumstances. The children are very affable, they are very happy, they have integrated very well and I think that in three months they will master Spanish perfectly, which will help us a lot because we will begin to be able to provide curricular content”, explains one of its teachers, Raquel Sanz.
More boys and girls than ever
Both she and the rest of the teachers of this Rural Grouped School (CRA) in which Puente Almuhey and Prioro are also found, are turning to the education of refugee children. Multiplying to continue with the course program and helping in the learning of the language of its new students, Raquel Sanz, Katia Vidanes, Maria Escanciano and Ana Orive They are making a titanic effort in recent weeks so that no one is left behind in a school that has seen its enrollment skyrocket to 38, with up to eight nationalities of origin. It had been decades since there had been so many boys and girls in Almanza. “The problem is that there are not only Ukrainian children. In my class there are 11 other children, from three other levels, fourth, fifth and sixth, and I have to give a curriculum that Education imposes on me. It is a bit of an arduous job and we are devoting part of the time to helping these children with the language”, explains the teacher.
And it is that although the vocation of these teachers is almost heroic and is covering the needs of the students, they ask the Administration for help to continue reaching everyone. In this way, they demand that the Board extend the half-time of the teacher of therapeutic pedagogy to “make a compensatory group” that focuses on teaching Spanish to these new Ukrainian students who have arrived in rural areas.
Teachers: “These are children who have an incredible ability to adapt to new circumstances” Although these boys and girls continue with the lessons they received in Ukraine in subjects such as English and math, this is not possible in all subjects. For this reason, the main battle horse is now learning Spanish. These first weeks have served as a “contact” to find out “what curricular level they have” the new students and now efforts must focus on teaching the language. Despite the support of the City Council, which will lend the facilities of the House of Culture for reinforcement classes with a translator, the teachers They ask Education to provide more personal resources this is CRA.
A rural school that, although very different from its big cities in Ukraine, is also “liked very much” by Ukrainian children. In their country they had more homework and in Almanza the work is focused on the classroom, but the classmates and teachers help make everything a little easier. “They are all lovely and we are delighted,” says Dasha.
While they inevitably miss the parents they left behind in the war and their old schoolmates, these kids show that it’s possible to fast-track a new life 2,000 miles away, whether it’s for a few months or a few months. how many years. Everything is easier when the older ones don’t get in the way. Seeing Agnia and Monika play in Almanza’s courtyard, recently arrived respectively from Russia and Ukraine, makes it clear. They make it possible for peace to be child’s play.
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