I've been thinking a lot about how much Anya has changed in the past 3 years. Gone are the days when she had chubby cheeks, and barely spoke a word.
Education in the orphanage is a little different than what we would consider education. Anya is very smart. She is quite an artist, can recite poetry, knows several dances. She has no problem singing songs in front of her group.
There is a lot of emphasis on the arts as opposed to science. She can count to 10, but then needs help. She can't write her name, and can't read. But - she loves to 'read'. She loves looking through books, and being read to. This shows me that she is hungry to learn.
When we were there a year ago - she couldn't count to 10. I think maybe we were the first ones to really count to 10 with her. She could count to 3, but then got confused (and it was like 1-2-3-5-6-4-8-7).
Anya also has some natural athletic ability. I've never seen the kids being schooled in the finer points of athletics at the orphanages...but who knows. That little girl can throw a ball, and catch it like you wouldn't believe.
Anya is very concerned about her appearance. One day, we got to the orphanage a little early - and she was outside playing with her group. She saw us, and RAN inside to "look pretty for mama and papa". It bothers me a little, that somehow she has learned that she has to look nice for us...which of course she doesn't. But, when a new 'mama and papa' come to the orphanage, there is talk among the caregivers about how they have to 'make the children look beautiful'. The kids do put on nicer clothes, bows and ribbons in the girl's hair and so on.
Kids are kids, I guess. And they pick up things, and learn things you wouldn't think they were paying attention to.
If other moms and dads are on this board, and can chime in on this Russian institutionalized education thing, I would love to hear what your experiences were.
4 comments:
I wish I could help you with this one. Nikolas was too small when he came home. Katie was 4 and just learning to read and write a little. Which amazed me for so young but she lost it quite quickly whatever she learned. She had the dance and music classes and she still love to sing and dance to this day and she had swimming lessons every day and can still swim like a fish.
Have you thought about asking for a private tutor to work with her once a week or so? When we were there we learned that some family had a guy work with their child on English. It was very inexpensive. We didn't consider it because our girls were too young.
Judy
We asked about that a year ago, and were told that wasn't possible. In talking to the people at the Adoption Center, they told us that 9 times out of 10, when families pay to have something like that done, it doesn't happen - or at least like they think they are paying for (does that even make any sence?)
One of my friends emailed me with some comments on this post. I thought I would share:
You mentioned about the children feeling a need to look their best and being concerned with their appearance.
I can tell you that both my girls are very concerned with how they look, what they wear, is there hair fixed appropriately, etc. Thank goodness they came to a Mama and Grandma who both love clothes and styling hair :)
I firmly believe that the children learn in the orphanage that looks and behavior are important to getting adopted. It is a competitive environment because they all know they need a home. My oldest was pretty competitive with other girls when she came home and it took her some time realize she did not have to be competitive with them. I had to tell her that all the children she would meet have parents, either a Mama or Daddy or both that love them and many will have nice clothes, homes, etc. Some may not dress as nice or some may have things that are nicer ...something to keep in mind, that just like speaking English, learning to spell and read, understanding the basic concepts of a new environment is something that also has to be learned/explained. Once it was explained to her then she understood.
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