Russian Children Visit Local School

With obvious enthusiasm, six students in a special English class at Sutter Middle School took part in a ritual most Americans learn almost from the cradle--doing the Hokey Pokey.

They put their right arms in, their right arms out, and sang, haltingly and punctuated with giggles, as they learned the song and went through the motions.

For these 11-year-olds visiting the school from St. Petersburg, Russia, the ditty was only one of many things they’ve learned about school and life, American-style.

“It’s a small world,” said their Russian teacher Raisa Zelenko, founder of the Bridges to Friendship program. “We all want them to be friends, and when they are young that is much easier.”

Zelenko, along with her vice principal, Olga Tumanova, brought the students to the United States from Russia on Saturday. They’ll stay in the Valley until Wednesday when they’ll travel to San Diego and then home on April 11.

Lorraine Krieger, a drama teacher at Sutter, said the American students were just as thrilled with the visit as those from Russia.

When the children arrived at Sutter on Monday, she said, the school library had a run on English/Russian dictionaries because so many students wanted to communicate with them.

“Part of it is the novelty,” said Krieger, who organized the visit, “and part of it is just a genuine interest in meeting students from far away.”

The Russians--Polina Dasmayeva, Tatyana Kosova, Marina Zubareva, Juliya Arutyunova, Andrey “Andrew” Sokolov and Elisey Nemytkin--attended regular class sessions in math, science and art.

But they also got a taste of ordinary life with their host families and sponsors, who took them ice skating and miniature golfing.

Asked what they think of America, the Russian students shyly answered in one-word, but glowing, descriptions.

The country was “beautiful” and “good,” and the people were “friendly,” “nice” and even, “beautiful” as well.