As the tram trials continue near the school, a delegation from the municipality visited a first-grade class. For this first meeting, Jacques Peyrat assumed the role of the teacher. After a brief introduction: “I am the mayor of Nice, I built the tram,” he shared some valuable advice with the students. “There are safety rules you need to learn:
– Do not play near the tracks
– Do not cross just anywhere
– Step back when the tram arrives at a station.”
Before leaving, the mayor revealed a pamphlet with safety instructions, “this is a rule of life for you,” he told the students.
For the children, the program included watching a video. This medium helps to clearly visualize dangerous situations. The hands-on experience will come in September, or maybe October, when the tram starts operating, and will include a visit to the tram maintenance center. For now, the learning remains theoretical. The stated goal of the exercise is to make the children responsible. But not only that, they are expected to be an effective communication link with their parents. When asked if they have cell phones, the answer was no. “You will tell your parents what you have learned.” Specifically: “so as not to be caught off guard, the tram has a bell, but you can’t hear it if you are on the phone.” Information in the pamphlets handed out to the children is almost the same as that found in adult pamphlets, the only difference being the use of drawings and bright colors for the younger audience. This similarity in the messages proves the intent to make children effective messengers to adults.
The message seems to have hit its mark. The children were both amazed and very curious. The teacher struggled to contain the enthusiasm of the children, who had a myriad of questions to ask. Some were technical, “how much does the tram weigh? How long is it? What are the bars at the front for?” while others were more surprising, “my mom has a music player, should I tell her to take it off?” “I learned a lot of things,” Lucas, a 7-year-old, declared joyfully. For Fatima, the morning was also full of learning, “now I can explain to my parents how it works.” The interest of the students was certainly driven by the novelty of the tram, but also by the distribution of t-shirts and other goodies with the slogan “the tram and I, we are made to get along.”
