Page 173 - Interchange English 5

But Dalisay was not happy to hear this news. She missed her friends back
home, and although she did want to get out of the house more, she was
FOR SAMPLE ONLY
scared of going to school because she did not know anybody. Dalisay had
seen lots of children as she and her mother explored the city of Birmingham,
but none had spoken to her and she did not speak much English which she

knew was going to be difficult in school.

When the morning arrived, Dalisay tried to pretend that she had a fever and
was too sick for school, but her mother could always tell when Dalisay way
pretending and so she was forced to get dressed and have her breakfast.

Dalisay and her mother walked hand in hand all the way to the school
gates where they were met by a teacher called Mrs Murry. The teacher
was very friendly and welcomed Dalisay to the school and told her mother
that she could come and collect her daughter again at three o’clock.

The morning passed in a blur as Dalisay was introduced to more teachers

and lots and lots of children who all smiled and said hello. Dalisay did not
understand a lot of what was said to her but it was explained that in the
afternoon she would go to a special class with other children who had
moved to England from all over the world.

When Dalisay arrived at the classroom later that afternoon, she knocked
on the door and walked inside. She was very nervous and also very tired
from such a long day of meeting strangers. But when she walked in she

was greeted with a big smile by Mrs Mahmood who was from Pakistan.
‘Come on in, Dalisay,’ said the friendly teacher, ‘today we are reading a
book called Puss in Boots and later we will be playing some games and
painting.’

The young girl noticed that all of the children in the classroom were very
different from one another. There was a boy from Zimbabwe and two girls
from Poland. There was an older girl from Albania and a boy who was
even younger than Dalisay who said that he was from Iran. And to her
great surprise, sitting at the back of the classroom with a copy of Puss in

Interchange Communicative English 5 165