Appendices 253 Transition question 20 minutes I want to discuss with you a case study that I came across because one of the teachers talked about it in the interviews. Then, I want to ask you what you would do if you were the teacher. This teacher, Peter (24), is a teacher at a small village school. Almost all children in the class attend the same Reformed church, as do the staff. Peter grew up in this village and still lives there. Immediately after completing his teacher training, he was able to start working at his former primary school and now he is working there for the second year. Peter teaches fifth grade and I asked him if other faiths sometimes were brought up in class. Peter then said: “Yes, recently there was a kind of campaign by some sort of charismatic evangelical organisation. They distributed lots of leaflets and had meetings in the village hall during the week. They tried to get people to go there to tell them about what they believe. Then you noticed that there was unrest throughout the village. They rang doorbells everywhere and talked to everyone. You just couldn’t get around it. There were posters everywhere about life and death, and the Judgement Day. I don’t remember exactly what they said. But those posters made a big impression. The children took the posters that had been blown off with them, and things like that. It became a situation where we were truly confronted with another faith. Then you noticed that the children thought: “Oh, so there is more than just our vision”. I can say something about the parents, they also reacted differently. Some just kept the door shut. And I did say: “If those people start talking to you, don’t run away, just hold a conversation and try to listen. It was the same when we had PE [physical education] on Thursdays. Normally the children walk, but this time they ran back to the gym. And when the man from the campaign came they all ran away. They were actually afraid of the man. A few of them were acting a little crazy, so I said, “You can talk to him.” And then the man came and talked with them and at least made it clear that he is just someone you can talk to and who thinks differently to you. It was also discussed at the children’s Sunday School. And at school we also talked about the difference between the doctrines of those people and the doctrines in our church. And that sometimes it can seem a small difference, but it is nevertheless big. • What would you do if you were a teacher in this situation? o What would you think/feel if this happened? o What would you want to pass on to the children? Knowledge / skills / attitudes?
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