Kategoriarkiv: Åsics ;)

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Twohundred and fortieth asic- Had The Beatles been the same without George Martin?

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Generally speaking one might assume that producers make an impact far beyond their actual work on a daily basis… I think of famous producers like for instance Stikkan Andersson for ABBA or George Martin for the Beatles. When I heard the other day that George Martin had passed away, I simply thought that such a musician must have been a very important person for the Beatles although we all know that both John Lennon and Paul McCartney specifically are known for being just the same… I can’t help thinking that there might have been other things but musical arrangements that could have lead the Beatles in one direction or the other.

So many of the Beatles’ tunes are very different from all other current music. They were one of a kind and I’m sure you all agree… My listening starting the day when they reported on TV about the murder of John Lennon in NYC in 1980. I hadn’t even heard about the Beatles before that date. A few years earlier I had the same experience with Elvis Presley… I asked: ”who is he?” just like I did with John Lennon…

I started of a constant listening and a year or so later I had a pretty good idea of the music of the Beatles. I had also had a chance to sing-along in school, just like I guess many other youth at that time. My music teacher at school was a devoted Beatles fan who let us all sing the Beatles almost every music lesson… We also watched the movie ”Help!” and I found out more about Indian religion and all of a sudden I knew who Kali was… The very same way I learnt what the French national anthem sounded like…since that’s possible to hear in the end of All you need is love…

All you need is love

I think music is like that always… I learn completely different things but just the music when I listen to music. I also notice that we are all different… I remember when comparing with some of my friends who focused on the tune, the music, I would more likely focus on the lyrics… Having said that I can make a long list of really good Beatles lyrics that all make a difference for everyone who take the time to listen carefully. My music teacher not only shared his favorite tunes by Beatles, but also his knowledge packed in a youth-friendly way… one detail at the time… We listened to ”Julia” while learning that John Lennon’s mother was the motive for this song.

Yellow submarine

Yellow submarine

We listened to Yellow submarine and learnt the word submarine meant ”u-båt” in Swedish… Learning languages through music is such a smart thing to do, really… Every language learner knows that it may be very tricky to know what idioms to translate and use, and what idioms not to use because they don’t make sense in the other language, however sleeping like a log DID… In Swedish a line like ”Sleeping like a log” is ”sova som en stock”. By singing Beatles songs I had found a new and much more fun way of learning, than by reading boring school books… 🙂

Hey_Jude

Hey Jude… starts off in a very kind and cautious way, but musical instruments are added one on top of the other and finally a whole orchestra plays along with Paul McCartney… The chords and the lyrics, the choir and the way Paul uses his imagination to make variations of the tune, makes this song one of my absolut favorites. At the very end they sing their catchy ”da da da da, Hey Jude!” and you just have to join them…

But interestingly enough as time pass I digged deeper into the music of the Beatles. From just listening just to the most common tunes, such as ”She loves you”, ”Help” and a ”I want to hold your hand” I started to listen to other tunes, not that common. I also decided not just to listen to their ”Greatest hits” however at that time, music was more difficult to access than now. No spotify and no iTunes would be possible for us to use… Instead we had to buy the music on EP:s or LP:s and so I bought ”Abbey Road” since I had completely fallen in love with ”Here Comes the Sun”… It’s such a beautiful tune! I bought the LP for that very tune, just as we had to, back then, but being economically wise…I of course listened to all the other songs on that LP and found new favorites among the other tunes as well.

One of the surprising tunes is the 26 seconds long ”Her Majesty”, that is very interesting since it has a point, at least in my opinion… really, what DO we know about the Queen of England…?

Her Majesty

I think there are tunes we need to listen to over and over again, and yet others that we can follow easily right away. With most of the Beatles’ music, they are of the second kind. You don’t just learn the lyrics, but also the catchy melodies and their treasure of songs thus belongs to all of us. Arrangements are more important than one may think…  To conclude this blogpost I’d like to add my assumption that George Martin was one of the most important reasons why the Beatleas actually produced so much music of high quality. I think these young boys needed a person that weren’t just ”one of them” to tell them what to do and how… Am I wrong? Maybe, then so be it… but please allow me to send a thought to the memory of George Martin and thank him for what he did for my many joyful moments when consuming music by the Beatles.

One of the most lovely songs in my opinion, was , as I am told, a kind of answer to the huge impact of ”Bridge Over Troubled Water” by Paul Simon… The Beatles wanted to prove that they were still the best:

Let it Be

At Skavlan the other day, the famous pianist Lang Lang was asked to perform something by Beatles to honor George Martin. He played Blackbird. I enjoyed his version very much and thought about what impact the Beatles still have.

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Two hundred and thirtyeighth asic- Kids vs Dinosaurs at Natural History Museum

Journey to the Centre of the Earth

Journey to the Center of the Earth, just like in Jules Verne’s book…

When entering the magnificant Natural History Museum in London, you virtually end up in the Center of the Earth… and when you reach the first floor you have a great opportunity to understand natural forces such as volcanoes and earthquakes and how rocks erode into pebbles and sand. When we walk through the many displays we comment on the fact that behind every single display hours and hours were spent in collecting facts, building suitable models by various materials, trying to explain to the visitors how things work… I think the very difficult topics in Natural History Museum were very well described and easily understood, both for adults and kids. That is a fantastic help for all the visiting teachers, since they can thus walk through the displays with their classes in a more relaxed way, trying to answer the many spontaneous questions they get from their students walking through . There were plenty of fantastic hands-on-displays and charts and maps of different kinds. A fantastic experience  for both teachers and students!

Oak leaves

Whatever adults think of dinosaurs, I know from my years of teaching young kids, that the long lost creatures are very popular for some reason. Why is that? I think one reason may be that they can be compared to the dragons we get to know through children’s stories and old fairy tales. Maybe kids also use their imagination more than we do and picture themselves walking around on earth at the same time as dinosaurs?

When visiting the Natural History Museum in London one thing that struck me was that it was crowded with kids…

Being a teacher off work among kids who learn is very interesting. I tend to follow closely behind trying to eavesdrop and also finding ways to see what they see…

Young audience at Natural History Museum

A dinosaur come's alive...

I remember twenty years ago when I taught an eight-year-old boy who told me all there was to know about dinosaurs. Despite his young age, he could hold a lecture about them, what they looked like, when they lived etc. I tried to keep up with him and borrowed books in the local library, but whatever I found there, was already known to him. I think books about dinosaurs may be the solution for some children’s reading problems… If they are eagerly trying to learn more about their favorite creatures, it may be more interesting for them to read an adapted fact book than to read anything else.

The very realistic looking dinosaurs at Natural History Museum serve the imagination and help many teachers, too, since they have a chance to explain very difficult things with the help of models and pictures and the many displays everywhere in the museum.

An area where we saw many students and teachers were where they kept the stuffed mammals.

A learning environment

A learning environment

Stuffed Mammals

Stuffed Mammals

 

 

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Twohundred and thirty-fifth Asic- Billy Elliot- The Musical

Yesterday I was at Victoria Palace Theatre watching an incredibly well directed and well performed show. The Musical Billy Elliot is about a young boy from the mine districts in England, who is pushed by his father to join the local boxing club, but instead ends up taking ballet lessons. The musical has two different stories in one, as the setting is the miner’s strike from 1985 and Billy’s father is active in the strike.

Apart from a lot of singing and dancing on a magnificant level, the overall impression is that the two main characters, two young boys are extraordinary in their performances respectively. Talent and hard work may be the answer to why these two young boys show such high standard in both singing, dancing and performing in their speaking acts. Being a teacher, I can’t help but wondering how they manage their schooldays and what kind of lives they lead if they are up late every evening performing! The musical is amazing. There are so many acts that are beyond every expectation. The whole ensemble are very well rehearsed together and there are no mistakes made whatsoever. Every line is set, every song they sing are in tune and not just that, but amazingly well sung! I’m so impressed! ❤

Billy Elliot the show

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Two hundred and thirty-fourth Asic- Long walks in London

Taking a walk in the forest leaves a certain feeling, as do a walk in a city like London. Oh how many things there are to see! There are of course a lot of things we would like to do quickly and then we’d most likely choose to catch a bus or maybe go by underground from one end of the city to the other. I do however prefer the long walks in London since they offer an experience where you actually get to see more of the city. Walking through Hyde Park an early morning gives an idea of London in earlier days when British society was different from what it is today. I mean, who would arrange such a lovely park nowadays? We all seem captured in the rapid life of IT and reluctant to go out IRL.IMG_00221

However taking that walk a very rainy day can be a true challenge. I bought a rain cap for my trip, knowing I might need to use it, but hoping for good luck with the London weather… träd 3Idegran i Hyde ParkI was however in a situation where the option was to end up soaking wet, or use the silly looking rain cap… so I used it…and I was happily dry after the rain… The walk past Albert Memorial on our way to Natural Science Museum and Victoria and Albert Museum was a nice stop, although the rain was pouring.

 

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Hyde Park shows a variety of trees and bushes and trees in bloom. To come from the wintery Sweden and find magnolia in bloom is a great reward! I didn’t even mind the rain that moment!

Magnolia

After spotting Albert Hall, we had just about ten minutes walk left until we could hide from the rain in Natural History Museum.

Albert Hall

The visit at the Museum was long enough for the rain to hold for a few minutes when we walked on to Victoria & Albert Museum. Both museums were interesting in many different ways and I guess I will need weeks to sort all my impressions from both visits. After a delicious lunch in Victoria & Albert Museum, we walked to Harrod’s to make sure the luxurious store was still standing… Honestly, after two Museums, a walk in the store and the rain…all together made my day and as early as seven o’clock we had our dinner and then returned to the hotel to relax. Walking is fun and you get to see a lot, but it’s also exhausting… I’ll share more pix here later when I get home and sort my photos properly.

 

 

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Twohundred and thirty-third Asic- London, always safe and secure!

I’ve been to London several times and it doesn’t really matter how often I visit this busy city of the world. There are always new things to see. The London fire in 1666 or the Blitz during the second world war are both examples of disasters from the past. Nowadays London may suffer from occasional terror attacks, but just like before London seems to be a city to trust… I always feel safe and secure when I walk the streets of London. I never worry. To me, the people I meet seem just as relaxed, too, as if there wasn’t anything to worry about. I do however notice that the huge trees in the parks do suffer… they seem to be victims of a no longer clean environment. Maybe the smog will win in the end?

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To me it seems as is the only serious threat London City may not cope with in the end IS environmental issues. This morning I watched the BBC for a weather forecast, but I also caught a glimpse of the news where a report of recent pollution was in focus. Obviously some parts of London deal with levels above what is recommended.

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When speaking about environment I have noticed that many things here are organised, such as the painted walls outside Royal Festival Hall. The minute before I noticed this ares, that may be a skateboard park, we had walked past a tunnel for pedestrians, right under Waterloo Bridge and I had noticed that there were almost no tags or grafitti on the walls. I guess the authorities have invited the grafitti-painters to share their artistery in a limited area…I enjoyed what I saw! ❤

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Two Hundred and Twentysecond Asic- Maybe it’s because I’m NOT a Londoner…

…that I love London so? My top sights that I tend to re-visit whenever I go to London are: 

  1. Victoria and Albert Museum ( …for the huge amount of things to see, the variation and professional exhibition and to get a glimpse of the uncountable collections of Queen Victoria and Albert)
  2. Covent Garden ( an Opera House, of course, but outside, in the square you will find people of all kinds, listening to music, watching street performances, having a relaxed and enjoyable time together in a beautiful setting of old buildings and little shops and cosy restaurants).
  3. Shakespeare’s ”The Globe”(This beautiful museum let you experience London as it was when Shakespeare lived there!)
  4. Natural History Museum (Amazing!!! SO much fun to do and see!)
  5. British Museum (one of THE best Museums in the world)
  6. Leicester Square (wonderful place where you can buy tickets for musicals and shows)
  7. Harrod’s (for the incredible exclusive display and for the many possibilities to watch wealth from a short distance…)
  8. Dillon’s (for the reason that there are no books in English that this bookstore doesn’t store)
  9. Hamley’s (for the wonderful feeling of finding all different kinds of toys in a huge five story building…)
  10. The Whispering Gallery (A perfect sight for kids and their parents if you enjoy physics…)

I don’t really know how many times I have visited London, but I have always enjoyed being there. It’s a wonderful City with international pulse that I enjoy tremendously!  In my opinion, strolling around is the best way to see London, but both buses and the tube is very safe and easy accessible, too. I guess it’s just a matter of taste.  I also enjoy going by taxi in London. Some drivers are quiet, of course, but I have been lucky enough to find drivers who enjoy chatting. If you read Swedish, read #sextonde åseriet

Londonbild 1_OLÅLondon tunnelbana

 

 

LondonflaggaI always try to visit a few of the Museums in London, and among others I think Victoria and Albert Museum is the very best. The collection of varied items let me understand, to some extent, what impact Queen Victoria made on the British Society. One thing I never miss to admire is the collection of cast iron. It’s wonderful!

victoria-and-albert-museum_1

I once went to Greenwich to actually stand with one foot in the West and one in the East, just for fun. On the site I noticed so many other things that I enjoyed, that just standing there on the Meridian seemed less important than the other impressions I got there. It is a wonderful place to be, especially when fruit trees are in blossom! But honestly, I find almost every moment in London interesting and rewarding and I don’t even mind the rain…I every corner there are umbrellas and other souvenirs to buy! 🙂

Souvenirer i London

Covent Garden is another place I always return to, since the atmosphere is so relaxed there. I also find the little shops in the surrounding area very pleasant. A walk in Notting Hill reveals the Asian touch with Indian curry served in every little restaurant, whereas Soho offers Chinese food at its best, but my all time favorite is a pub lunch. Maybe ”Steak and Kidney Pie” or a ”Ploughman’s Lunch”? Places like Fortnum and Mason’s are worth the effort to visit, too. Have some ”High Tea” and enjoy scones with clotted cream and jam!

I do however not expect to find any places where there are no tourists… Instead I hope for the Londoners to share their beautiful city with the rest of us when we visit for a few days. When walking on Bond Street or Piccadilly Circus, I almost always notice people around me speaking any of the Nordic languages, such as Swedish, Danish or Norwegian. Thus I have learned not to comment too much on others when I’m in a crowd… I wouldn’t want a person saying

”Jaså, är det fler svenskar här?!” 🙂

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Twohundred and Sixteenth Asic- Snowzilla, Milk and Cookies!

The major storm Snowzilla has now started its journey through the twenty states on the east coast of the USA… It was in a way very interesting to watch TV from a completely empty Washington DC where the Swedish TV reporter seemed all alone in the streets, sharing his report with us… We have snow every winter, but according to the TV reporter from Swedish TV4, some of the states suffering from Snowzilla, hardly get any snow an ordinary winter and may have difficulties getting rid of it, once the storm has passed.

I have a few friends in the USA. They have one thing in common… They all share stories about what one would do if a storm of any kind is predicted… Obviously everyone go to the store, get loads of food in general, but milk and cookies in particular, in order not to ”starve”during the storm… I’m sure we go to the store, too, but I also notice that this desperate ”I HAVE to go to the store” doesn’t seem to be as common here as over there… Maybe we have a more ”longterm” idea for our grocery shopping than Americans do? Milk and cookies??? Meat and potatoes would be more of the Swedish way in that case… 😉

From my heart, I hope you all wake up to a wonderful white world where very little is damaged or ruined by the storm and the only remaining issue is the layer of beautiful snow everywhere…  I also hope you have your cameras ready to take photos, to share with the rest of us and with your grandchildren one day! Winter is an amazing season. Quiet, white and cold! Well… I understand the very storm isn’t quiet!!! Snowzilla is probably very loud! Light a candle and listen to her! It might be the storm of your life! Enjoy!!!

b088e-stearinljus-bmp

 

For those of you who would like to know the sound of Swedish… and also follow the coverage in our biggest national Newspaper regarding the storm ”Jonas” I have now added a newspaper clip with a movie.  It’s Sunday evening; and a Swedish reporter doing his job interviewing people in NYC. According to the reporter, the film is from Saturday morning:

Peter Kadhammar interview’s NYC citizens

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Twohundred and Fifteenth Asic- A Day to Remember

I sit in my classroom, monitoring my students writing an essay. Since my students write in a language that is not their first language, I thought it fair to do the same… I write in MY second language, English, when they write in Swedish… Here’s my text on the topic ”A Day to Remember”, but I guess in my example it will spread over more than just one single day:

It had been a tough start filled with unexpected events and flight delays, but one memorable Monday morning in October 2003, I met up with the others in a group of Swedish teachers who had the great opportunity to meet the legendary principal Dr Lorraine Monroe for a four-day-long conference about School Development, Instruction and Teaching in NYC. During the flight I gave Dr Monroe a thought. What would she be like? According to her book, Nothing’s Impossible, she had first worked as a teacher, then she had become a principal, changed the way of teaching and instructing in her actual school and that had, in the long run, led to overwhelmingly good results in schools in Harlem, New York City. Dr Monroe’s ideas about school development were very focused on learning and in a way very strict and not at all negotiable ( Please read Dr Monroe’s book for more information!).

Nothing's impossible

We have a very democratic way of teaching in Sweden. We ask our students for their opinion in many different situations an ordinary day in school and lessons often has an element of discussion or mutual understanding. It is not meant to be a one-way-communicated ”lecture”. Learning is a joint effort…  At the time when I was in NYC I was taking a University course and thought it might be suitable to interview Dr Monroe for my project. She accepted and that was probably ”THE” most interesting talk I have ever had with anyone about ”teaching and instructing”… But let’s go back to the first meeting… The skyscrapers on Manhattan were taller than I had expected and being in NYC was fantastic! Meeting Dr Monroe in person was way beyond every anticipation I had before. She was, apart from being intelligent, also a born entertainer, wittily telling jokes. The conference was of high quality and we met brilliant teachers, devoted principals and engaged counselors from different schools in Harlem NYC. In comparison with the interesting lecturers, Dr Monroe was still outstanding. 

We made a few visits to schools in Harlem. I thought I’d check one of the things that Dr Monroe had said the day before. She had claimed that in her schools I could ask any student I liked if they could answer the question ”What did you learn during the lesson you just left?” Every student I asked, could share with me what they had learnt and since we had monitored the lessons the students were referring to, we could tell that they actually learned. The other teachers in my conference group had the same experience and we said this would be the first thing to ask our students back home! I think many students in the classes I taught back then would answer ”I don’t know… What do you mean? What did I learn??? I don’t understand your question!” At that point in my career, in 2003, I didn’t understand how important a META level is in learning… Now I try to help students gather information, draw conclusions, spend time thinking and reflecting and thus allow them to understand and comprehend. After that day in October 2003 I try to keep my lessons very strict in content. I also try to wrap it up at the end of a lesson, in order to help students to organize their thoughts. The students in my classroom now will more likely have a correct answer to the question about their learning…

My interview with Dr Monroe back in 2003 again, started off with my question ”In what way do you negotiate with your students?” She seemed to be hooked on my QUESTION, as if it was wrong… and repeatedly said ” I don’t negotiate with my students!” I thought, being Swedish and speaking my second language, that I had said something that was difficult to understand… Therefore we had a long interesting chat about what the WORD negotiate meant… Obviously we both agreed on the meaning of the word, so I again asked my question, but surprisingly enough still got the same reply! Later on, after half an hour of discussion I understood… I had taken for granted that  of course Dr Monroe did negotiate with her students, but HOW?  But, the point was taken. She actually did not negotiate with her students…simply because (and she explained that) some things aren’t negotiable… 

Ever since that day I have always thought about how different RESULTS we may get in schools were ”everything” is negotiable, compared to schools were very little is… Anyone can understand that students who never ever question their teachers have a different school situation than those who constantly say to their teacher: ”Why are we supposed to to this?”, especially if the teacher is used to give such a question an answer… Dr Monroe said many times during that week in NYC: Focus on learning! The interview with Dr Monroe was an eye-opener for me as a teacher. I didn’t change everything when I returned to Sweden, but I did change a lot. I didn’t even change it into ”The Monroe Doctrine” but I did borrow a few of her ideas and I am forever grateful to her for being there in that interview and very patiently letting me understand her thoughts about negotiation (or not!) and about teaching and instruction in general. In my teaching career meeting her was absolutely A Day to Remember. 

 

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Twohundred and eleventh asic- As cold as in ”To Build a Fire”, by Jack London?

Today we had round -20C in my town. The crisp air and the cold did not bother me, since I had planned my walk in the forest thoroughly and was dressed in warm winter clothes.

Many years ago I read the wonderful short story To Build a Fire by Jack London. If you haven’t read it, then DO! It is one of the best short stories I have ever read. Here’s a link to the full text:

To Build a Fire by Jack London

I learned from reading the story long ago that whatever we think we accomplish, we never win a competition with Nature! Jack London tells his story from the point of view of a man who decides to leave the main trail and seek another way, thinking maybe it will be a shortcut… London lets us know that the protagonist is new in the area. He has never spent a winter in Yukon Territory before. Then the author adds:

”The trouble with him was that he was without imagination.”

That is all information we need, really… We understand that he will not be fully prepared for what he will experience in this unfriendly and cold whiteness. When London describes the extreme cold, we understand the danger, but does the man?

”He knew that at fifty below spittle crackled on the snow, but this spittle had crackled in the air.”

The man does realize that it has to be below fifty, but that doesn’t lead him into the conclusion that he will not manage in this weather for long. Throughout the story several situations point out how unaware the man seems to be of the hidden dangers in the surrounding landscape. The man chews tobacco and his beard is filled with ice and along the telling of the story we notice how the beard is slowly built up like an ice-muzzle. If he will take a pause, he will not be able to eat or drink…

London describes many aspects of the Yukon winter that this man is not familiar with and as he paints the icecold scenario the reader slowly comes to the insight that this will lead to a disaster of some sort. The protagonist is followed by a dog, a native husky that knows enough of this weather as to wait for the man to soon build a fire… but the man does not stop to build a fire… As the dog once breaks through and wets his forelegs when being forced by the man to cross over at a hidden creek, the man first admires the dog’s instinct to quickly get rid of the wet and ice, then he foolishly removes his own gloves to help the dog…unaware of the risk for his own sake. His fingers instantly turn numb and that is in a way the beginning of the end…

When I took a walk today, I was taking one single step aside of the track, because I was searching for a better angle for my photo… Afterwards, my boots were filled with snow that first melted for a while, then re-froze and from being perfectly comfortable with my situation I was now slowly getting more and more cold. I was however lucky to know I was only fifteen minutes from home. I didn’t even need to think of building a fire… Instead I went indoors, thinking I was lucky who lived in the middle of a town and not in Yukon Territory, but also remembering this wonderful short story by Jack London with warmth. What a great piece of literature that is!