I took Henry and Adelaide to their first day of school. Their reactions to school are worlds apart.
Adelaide is super excited. She has a couple of friends, and during the class lineup to walk in, several kids were gathered around her. She’s cool, confident, and the life of the party. She’s also very good at communicating, even though she doesn’t speak much Dutch.
On the other hand, Henry is terrified. He hid behind me in lineup and refused to look at or talk to his teacher. The principal told me I could walk him into his class. I did, but then he tears started welling up in his eyes every time I said I had to go.
Henry’s main teacher speaks a little bit of English, but her pronunciation is so bad I had to translate for Henry. The assistant teacher doesn’t speak any English, and the TA knows the basics but doesn’t know vocab for things like “toys” or “blocks.”
I stayed with Henry for about an hour and then snuck out while he was playing blocks. I give it about a 65% chance that we get a phone call saying he is crying uncontrollably and we need to go get him.
So, pray for Henry.
JJ and Timmy will start at the international school in English in a few days. More on that in my next post.
UPDATE: Henry did great! No phone call. When Linda picked him up he said it was a little boring, but otherwise fine.
Dutch Bentleys 