Questão de Inglês — Interpretação de Textos (Understanding) — VUNESP 2023

The beginning of a new school year can bring out many emotions in children. While some children are excited to reunite with their peers, others may feel nervous and afflicted about meeting a new teacher. Some children may be eager for playground time and others may fear feeling abandoned among unfamiliar children.

Children who are shy are particularly likely to feel uneasy as the new school year approaches. Shyness is characterized by nervousness and self-consciousness in new social settings, around new people or when being the centre of attention. For shy children, unfamiliarity and unpredictability can feed into feelings of fear and anxiety and be very difficult to deal with. For example, a shy child may wonder if their new teacher will be nice, if they will know the other children in their class, if they will know how to find their classroom and where their desk will be. In fact, anxiety due to everyday, ordinary school situations has been recorded in a number of studies worldwide.

When facing uncertainty, the shy child is often predisposed to make negative predictions. For example, they may predict that their new teacher will not be nice or they will not know anyone else in their class. However, eliminating some of the “unknowns” for shy children may help ease some feelings of anticipatory nervousness and anxiety. Among others, it would be helpful to show the child their school (or if possible, classroom) and practise how to get there, or if possible, meet school staff or teachers in advance.

Shy children may seem slow to warm up in new social situations if compared to their more outgoing peers. By exposing the shy child to their new environment, it is likely they will feel more at ease with the approach of the new school year.

(Kristie Poole. www.theconversation.com, 23.08.2023. Adaptado)