Reader's Digest

READER’S DIGEST

July• 2018 | 139

Going Back to School

I

can’t explain to children who have

come to Germany as refugees why

it is that they are suddenly here”

says Basel Alsayed (pictured).

“But I think I know how they feel.”

A former teacher in Damascus

Alsayed left Syria to avoid being

conscripted into the war and ended

up near Berlin. Having taken an

18-month refugee teacher-training

course at Potsdam University he now

teaches at a primary school where

a third of the pupils are similarly

displaced hailing from countries such

as Bosnia Ghana and Syria.

“I was thrown in at the deep end”

says Alsayed who had to master

the language during his course.

Suddenly I was having to do my own

homework instead of handing it out.”

“He translates when there are

language problems with parents and

steps in when other teachers are ill”

says head teacher Gerald Schneider.

And according to the

Bertelsmann Foundation Germany

needs more teachers like him.

WOMEN THINK

DIFFERENTLY AND

THAT DIVERSITY IS

INVALUABLE TO

TECHNOLOGICAL

AND RESEARCH

DEVELOPMENT.

Professor Michelle Simmons

Quantum physicist

and 2018 Australian of the Year

PHOTOS: HANNA GIEFFERS; COURTESY OF LENNYTHEMOBILEBARBER.CO

.UK GETTY IMAGES

How to Talk to Dogs

Y

ou know that slightly

ridiculous high-pitched

voice we use when we’re

speaking to dogs? It turns out

that they actually love it.

Researchers at York University

in England say ‘dog-speak’ not

only helps improve attention

from our canine friends but

also strengthens the bond

between owner and pet.

Gi B kt Sh l

“