Role cards

Teacher W. Aged 35

You are a math teacher and a tutor of the 8th form. The disappear­ance of the form register upsets you. You intended to hold a tutor meeting with the pupils but they insisted upon clearing up the inci­dent themselves and you let them. You discuss it with your colleagues in the staff room informally, asking for their advice. You personally think that it was Nick, who really is a nuisance and far from being the best pupil, who has taken the register, possibly to erase some bad

marks (you've noticed some signs of this in his record book a few times). If he is found out you'll summon his father to school for a talk with the Head Teacher.

Teacher K. Aged 54

You are an experienced teacher and have been a tutor for many years. You've had similar experience before and you've dealt with it quite effi­ciently. You are surprised that teacher W. let the pupils deal with the situation themselves accusing her of lax authority. You believe that to decide on the possible punishment of the offender teacher W. should call a special meeting of the tutors with the Head Teacher and subject teach­ers. Suspension from school is, you think, an appropriate punishment serving as a deterrent for possible/potential offenders.

Teacher R. Aged 23

You are a trainee teacher. You think that teacher W. is perfectly right in letting the children deal with the situation themselves as you strong­ly believe in pupils' self-government. You object to teacher K.'s sugges­tion that the offender should be suspended from school as it may inflict a deep psychological wound and the poor child may never recover from the dreadful traumatic experience. You think that a telling off is suffi­cient punishment.

Teacher B. Aged 30

You are a literature teacher, you've been teaching these pupils for four years and know them well. You know Nick as a kind-hearted, well-behaved, well-read boy and you doubt his being the offender. You would rather suspect Mary who is not popular with her classmates and tries to attract their attention by any possible means. She is also at the bottom of your literature class. You are more concerned with the reason for the offence than the actual punishment, believing the type of punishment would depend on the pupil involved.

Julia/Peter Aged 14

You are a class leader. You lead the discussion. Possible suspects you think are Nick and Mary. Nick is more likely since he is poor at maths and has had more than one conflict with teacher W, who is always find­ing fault with him and whose classes Nick finds boring. He is a real nui­sance in her classes.

 

As class captain you've told him off more than once but it didn't work and you believe that if he is the offender he should be properly punished. To do so you need either evidence of his offence or Nick's confession.

Lucy/Eugene Aged 14

You suspect Mary who is new to your class and goes out of her way to make friends with the girls and become popular. You resent it. You don't exclude the possibility of Mary stealing the register just to attract ev­erybody's attention.

Nina/Alex Aged 14

You are convinced that nobody in your class is capable of such an offence. So you are hurt by teacher W.'s suspicion and demand a thor­ough search of the staff room thinking the register is there and possibly overlooked. You refuse to discuss the possible suspects.

Helen Aged 14

You follow the discussion without any comment as you are faced with a dilemma: to confess or not, since it was you who took the register from the staff room to erase your friend Nick's poor marks. He is totally un­aware of it, as of your "special" attitude to him. You've been hopelessly in love with him for two years. But you can't let him be a scapegoat so you confess and take the form register to the staff room yourself ready to face the consequences.

Dorothy Parker Aged 35

You are a visiting teacher and you happen to be in the teacher's staff room when the teachers discuss the incident. You explain that in En­glish school there is no book similar to our "form register" (журнал). You may also mention the possible sanctions a teacher may use to pun­ish a child in an English school.

Donald/Daisy Aged 15

You are 16. You live with your mother, Dorothy Parker, in Moscow at the moment, and you go to one of Moscow schools. The pupils of your class let you be present and participate in all kinds of meetings and dis­cussions they have. You are eager to learn more about their way of life. As that day the missing form register is the cause of an incident you

explain that in your English school there is no register/book of the kind. The marks are entered in the subject teacher's book.