Miss Tomalin was at the end of her tether. Her class of seven-year-olds was ungovernable. It was March and they were all acting antsy at the best of times, downright hyperactive when they got bored.

At lunchtime one Monday, her friend Nuala noticed how tired she looked.

'You have to do something about those bags under your eyes, Jenny. Have you been having man trouble?'

'Sorry? What?' said Miss Tomalin, who had been in a world of her own, dreaming of how to leave her job and start a new life in the Bahamas. 'No, it's the kids. They are so unruly... I don't know what to do with them any more.'

'Why don't you try role-playing?' Nuala suggested. 'It has worked with mine. They seem to enjoy it and so do I. At least it keeps them quiet.'

'Yeah, I might try that. I have nothing to loose.'

That evening at home, Miss Tomalin looked over their next lesson. It was about world leaders. Not exactly exciting material for little children.

'Maybe I'll take Nuala's advice after all.'

The next morning, Miss Tomalin walked into her classroom nervously. Despite her youth, she was a very traditional teacher and didn't like trying out new things.

Tom was on top of a table pretending to be a pirate and Mary was by the open window, looking out. She felt shivers going down her spine just by looking at them.

'Mary, get away from that window immediately. Everybody else, sit down. Now!'

The children reluctantly obeyed and in a couple of minutes a relative calm reigned in the classroom. It was early in the morning and they were still fresh... or sleepy, who knew.

'We are going to do something fun today,' Miss Tomalin told the kids.

'What is it, Miss?'

'We are going to pretend we are Presidents of different countries and we are going to try to decide what we can do to improve the world.'

'Like Obama, you mean? I like Obama,' Linda said in a little voice.

'Exactly like that, Linda.'
Suddenly, twenty little hands were raised at the same time and all the kids started talking excitedly.

'We'll have to speak in turns, children. Otherwise the world will go to the dogs.'

'What does that mean, Miss?'

'I means it will get even worse,' Miss Tomalin answered, reprimanding herself for having used such an unorthodox expression in the classroom.

She looked around and her eyes landed on a black boy with extremely long limbs.

'You go first, Leroy.'

'If I was President, I would be even better than Obama. I would feed all the hungry people int the world.'

'That's stupid,' Tom shouted. 'How would you do that?'

'I'd plant a lot of wheat in my back garden.'

'That wouldn't be enough,' Tom said, his face red. He was standing up and shaking his little fists.

'Then I'd tell my friends to do the same,' Leroy continued. He'd do anything to defend his position.

'That's a great idea, Leroy,' the teacher said. 'Let's hear from somebody else.

She looked at the kids and once again saw a forest of little raised hands and expectant faces.

'Your turn, Claire.'

Claire stood up, took off her glasses and pretended to speak into a microphone. Miss Tomalin made an effort not to laugh. Claire was a big drama queen, she'd probably be an actress when she grew up.

'If I was President,' she said, enunciating every word as if she was speaking on the radio, 'I would get rid of all the weapons there are in the whole world.'

'And how would you do that?' It was Tom again.

'I would bury them in the sea.'

'You would make a terrible President.'

Claire, feeling attacked, started crying. The teacher didn't pay much attention to her because she knew Claire could cry on cue and did it quite often.

'Let's go on. What about you, Richard? What would you do?'

'I would open a factory that would make free doughnuts for everyone.'

Mrs Tomalin was not surprised. Richard was so big, he once broke his chair and now had a custom-made metal one.

The role play went on till it was time for break. Time went past very quickly and some children had really great ideas on how to make the planet a better place.

That afternoon, when Miss Tomalin went home she was exhausted, but she felt happy as well.

'I'll have to thank Nuala tomorrow,' she thought just before falling asleep.