Paris Soir - Conjuring up magic at a Budapest kindergarten

The eighth district is one of the poorest in the Hungarian capital, home to ethnic Romas, Asians filling labour shortages, as well as Middle Eastern and African immigrants and middle-class Hungarian families.

Around one in 10 children in district kindergartens are not native Hungarian speakers -- but local officials have conjured up a plan to address that.

Their answer? Calling in award-winning professional magician Botond Kelle to help show staff simple tricks to teach five- and six-year-olds.

"When the kids do the tricks themselves, they practise the names of colours for example, and how to perform and speak in Hungarian," Kelle tells AFP.

With its 44-letter alphabet and no fewer than 35 verb endings, Hungarian is a notoriously tough language to crack.

"Magic is an international language that seriously develops communication," says local council employee Gabor Bernath, who came up with the project.

- 'Pearl merchant' -

At the Viragkoszoru (Flower Garland) kindergarten on the ground floor of a tower block, 39-year-old Kelle regularly pops in.

"They (the kids) can feel themselves as magicians, it gives them a great sense of achievement," he adds.

Afterwards, Kelle dazzles his young audience of Chinese, Hungarian and Vietnamese children with a Christmas show.

To delighted gasps and shrieks, he changes Rudolf's nose from blue to red.

Then he transforms a sheet of paper into falling snow, before magically colouring in a Santa Claus picture, with the help of a puzzled volunteer.

The project's launch has been timed to commemorate internationally renowned magician Rodolfo, who was born into poverty in the same neighbourhood 111 years ago and who died in 1983.

"Rodolfo learned his first trick from a grateful Chinese pearl merchant whom he rescued from drowning in the river Danube," Bernath said.

"When Chinese kids hear that, they are even more enchanted by the magic."

Famed escape artist and magician Harry Houdini was also born in Budapest in 1874, before he and his family moved to the United States when he was a boy.

- 'Extra energy' -

Kelle, who has performed across Hungary for over 10 years, says one of the children's favourite tricks is making a red ball vanish, then reappear in a vase.

"It's an easy trick," says Kelle.

"But to perform it, kids have to know what to do in a certain order and think about what the audience experiences, so it is quite complex," he adds.

"For some, the performance part is more difficult, for others the trick mechanics are more 'tricky'," he laughs.

Child development specialist Valeria Toth, 54, admits she was "sceptical" at first, not least about her own ability to learn magic tricks.

But she says, she now "smuggles" elements of magic into all her development classes.

"I saw how well these tricks can be used to develop abilities like motor skills, self-control, logical thinking," Toth told AFP.

"It literally brings magic into children's lives, and an extra energy to teaching."

B.Mercier--PS