There is always a special magic about the pre-Christmas period at Bethel's Mamre-Patmos-School: decorated classrooms and the excitement in the corridors already give away the fact that the children are looking forward to a very special visit. When St Nicholas appears at the door with his big book and a sack full of presents, you can see sparkling eyes far and wide. Wearing a red robe and a white beard, he goes from door to door and has individualised praise in his book for every pupil in the seven classes.
He rewards hard work in class or friendliness, public spirit and helpfulness. "Nico, it's great how you participate in class. You're friendly to everyone and everyone likes you," says St Nicholas to the pupil in the kangaroo class. While Zeynep is pleased that she is being rewarded for eating more fruit and vegetables, Santa emphasises Dustin's value to the whole class: "You do your classmates a lot of good. You always have great ideas about what to play." In the coati class, the children receive recognition for their learning progress: "Kalle, you've learnt to read pretty quickly and you're getting better and better at maths too."
