Kategoriarkiv: Teaching

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The eightyfourth åsic- Fika as an ice-breaker is never wrong!

There are many times I have marvelled over the word fika and how it doesn’t seem to have any translation in many other languages. Today was another of those times! 

This morning at the ”Sweden Day” at the school I visit I shared the concept of FIKA and explained what it is to the members of the staff. I was surprised that so many seemed to like the idea of FIKA and that made me think of a completely different situation some years ago. I talked to an American woman, who was married to a Swedish man.

This woman had learned by being in Sweden what fika was, and her idea of it was pretty much like the one I wrote on the whiteboard today (which I share above). As we talked we realized that the two of us had talked to Americans about the concept of fika, but in different parts of the country. I have only met people on the East Coast and she had just talked to people in California about it. Both her friends and mine had to some extent started to USE the word fika in the American English. What I now hope for, is for both the actual WORD and also the CONCEPT to spread across the continent. That would be amazing!

One of the teachers who had fika with me this morning, came back to the classroom after a while and asked me how to use the word in a sentence if he wanted to invite someone for a fika. So now, let’s spread it! There are different ways to invite, depending of the situation, but in English you can say like this if you like:

  • Do you want some fika?
  • How about some fika?
  • Are you up to some fika?

Fika can mean just a cup of coffee or tea, or it can mean coffee+ a sandwich, or it can mean coffee+a bun, or it can mean, coffee+ bun+ cake+cookies+ tårta, which is a Swedish kind of cake with no frosting/icing, but more likely whipped cream. The funny part is that fika also can mean ALL of the mentioned categories… There are really SO many different connections to the word in Swedish that it is very difficult to explain. Instead it is necessary to see the phenomenon as something ELSE, but ”having coffee”. It is a chance to SHARE with friends. What do we share then? It is not just the COFFEE, but thoughts, ideas, gossip, memories, jokes… Having a fika with someone is paying attention to that person, having a good time together with someone for a while. That is why I want the word to spread… So please, help me ”spread the word”… 😀

TILL MINA ELEVER är här en liten ”språkruta”:

Ska vi ta en fika? Hänger du med och fikar? Kom så fikar vi! Nu skulle det sitta fint med en fika! En slät kopp (= kaffe utan något fikabröd till) fika räcker! Vi ses på fiket! Vi hinner kanske med en språngfika om vi skyndar oss? Jag har fikarast mellan nio och tio varje morgon. Men jag brukar kvällsfika vid TV:n också. Stina kör långtradare och hinner inte med så långa raster, men ibland stannar hon på ett långtradarfik. 

 

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The eightysecond åsic- Second Day in an American Teacher’s Hectic World

At home I don’t teach English, but Swedish as a Second Language. This evening I had the great opportunity to visit an adult learner’s group in Spanish at a College not far from where I am. The students were all taking lessons in Spanish, but volunteered to talk to me about what the conditions are for adult learners at this level in the school system. I found our conversation most interesting and will share their viewpoint with both my students and my teaching friend at basic level of English.

Earlier today I first met with a few children with special needs. I shared with them a few thoughts on what it is like to live in a country where we have monopoly money and a” fairy-tale-like” reality with a king…

I also had a chance to contribute with Swedish words in grade six while they were taking a Spanish lesson about furniture in different rooms of a house. Then I discussed with a group of eightgraders why so many Swedes left Sweden a hundred years ago.

I then had a nice and long chat with one of the teachers who has been a resident of Pitman almost all her life, apart from a short period down south. She told me all there is to know about the little town and I was happy to learn all that first hand, rather than read about it.

On Friday a few of the teachers have planned for a Sweden day, where the students will be getting a whole lot of information about Sweden, but also try some typical Swedish activities. I will contribute with a slideshow about Sweden and explain why the Dala horse is a symbol for  Sweden. The collaboration with an art teacher at this school also led to an idea where we let the kids know a little about how one can paint a typical ”kurbits”.

Tomorrow we’re off to Atlantic City, my teaching friend and I. We will study ESL as the NJ authorities wants it to be. I look forward to that very much. I don’t need anyone to rock my cradle! I am exhausted, but I’m having so much fun! Teaching is my life! ❤

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The eightyfirst åsic- Learning Among Friends

My first minute at school in Pitman

 

Yesterday when I took a walk to the school where I will spend the coming two weeks, I was surprised to find a welcoming greeting outside school. This morning when I arrived for my first day there, I was even more surprised to find another sign welcoming me to my school visit. As if this wasn’t enough, I have felt overwhelmingly welcomed by each and every one of the people I have met in Pitman Middle School. Both students and teachers met me with warmth and generosity.

There are plenty of things I noticed that are different from what I am used to. Even if I now teach adult students, I can miss teaching younger students especially if I meet such nice kids as the ones I met today! Many of them were making impact just by being themselves in their regular surrounding. 

Both students and teachers I met today seemed eager to know more about Sweden and that made me happy. I had anticipated a more anonymous role in this school, but I am very, very happy that it turned out to be so interactive, because it makes it really interesting. I will thus have multiple chances to explore the very soul of this particular school and get a chance to understand the nature of the school system in NJ.  The many opportunities to share thoughts and reflections from my experience of teaching with my new friends in this school will be like a treasure to get back to later when there is more time. Now I merely need a good night’s sleep in order to be fit for what tomorrow may bring of new experiences.

Last time I visited a school in NJ I marvelled at the dress code. I then wrote in Swedish, but I have summoned up that text in English as well:

Miniåaseri – A slingback would kill me!

 

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The eightieth åsic- Sharing teaching experience with friends abroad or from abroad

The coming two weeks I have the opportunity to join an American teacher in her everyday teaching routines.  I look forward to my two weeks in the NJ schools. I learn a lot by sharing experiences, note what is similar and what is different. Teaching is not at all the same if compared between different countries, not even if compared between different classrooms!

Several of my adult students are teachers from the start and when they meet me in the classroom they notice that a lot of things in my classroom differs from what they are used to in their own countries. When that happens, I always listen eagerly to what differences the students have noticed and then the student and I discuss what the different school systems have in common, too. Usually we  find that just getting a glimpse of something is not enough to draw conclusions from .

By speaking to teachers from Finland, Norway, Denmark, Belgium, China, Iraq, Somalia, Ukraine, Latvia, Kirgizistan, Russia, UK and the USA, I have been trying to get a picture of in what way there might be a difference from the Swedish school system on one hand and that of those mentioned countries on the other hand. By experiencing a school system first hand I learn more than by speaking. I hope during my stay here in NJ, that I will not only get a chance for comparison between the two school systems in general, but also a chance to talk to teachers and administrators. Hopefully we will all share good examples of teaching and instruction.I look forward to meeting new teaching friends.   If you like to learn more, please learn more in following ”åsics”! You are of course also welcome to read some of the already published texts.

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Det hundrade åseriet/The hundredth åsic- A Moment 22 for many teachers

In 1992, I started off as a class teacher of twelve-year-olds in grade six. My exam covered Swedish, English and the four different subjects that are called ”SO” in Swedish, i.e, Geography, Social Science, History, and Religion. I was supposed to teach grades 1-7 in the Swedish Compulsory School System.  In 1992, it wasn’t unusual for teachers to teach both subjects they were skilled for as well as subjects where they didn’t have any exams. In my case my first job as a teacher was a position as a ”class teacher” with both Math, Science and Art. You may think:

”So what? If you have graduated, it doesn’t matter what subject you teach!”

I strongly object to that point of view. It DOES matter! First of all you need more time to prepare lessons properly in subjects where you have no academical skills or grades. Secondly you may not find suitable examples for students to understand complex structures or important details. Students who need extra attention from the teacher in order to ”get it”, would be better off with a skilled teacher in Math, rather than a teacher in Swedish, who tries her very best.

A Moment 22

The subjects you love most of all, will be neglected since you need to make an effort and focus on subjects you didn’t even want to teach in the first place. The estimated time for planning of lessons will be up when you start planning for your own favourite subjects.

An ordinary day when you have planned all for today’s lessons and come to school early enough to have a cup of coffee with your teaching friends, you notice that your dear friend in the classroom next to yours is on sick-leave. You hope for her (it’s often a she!) soon being back, but you also realize that you will be the one to fill her position in class, ALTHOUGH you have a classroom filled with students, too… What can you do about it? Not much, really. Hmmmm… 55 kids instead of 27? What is my options for today’s teaching…? As I said, I had planned it all from the start, right? But NOW, I will have to just dump my own plan, and also probably dump my teaching friend’s plan, because I am ONE teacher with TWO classes… I HOPE that is history by now!!!

I taught in a school where our policy was to be our own ”subteachers” in a flexible system. Quality??? Excuse me… We didn’t discuss that topic much. It was more about money. But why wasn’t it just possible to find a teacher who would be in our regular staff as an extra resource? Money… Again… OK… Then if there is no way to hire a TEACHER…can’t we just find SOMEONE????

For way too long it has been possible for principals in Swedish schools to hire ”teachers” who lack the required qualifications for teaching. Qualified teachers have also for way too long been responsible for ”helping” those subteachers in their job, instead of  teaching their own students with high quality. But why complain? It can’t be that difficult to help a friend who know nothing about teaching, right? No, not if it would be ONCE or maybe TWICE, but if it’s the rule rather than an exception, then it’s not fair at all. It is unfair to the students, both in my class and in the class where the subteacher works. We are all losing focus from our ongoing learning proccess.

A possible scenario

You rush into your own classroom, inform the students that  you will have to start a lesson together with a subteacher in the nextdoor classroom and will be back soon. Then you help the subteacher to find books or material, tell the students to help the subteacher as much as possible, also inform the subteacher about students with special needs, such as diabetes or epilepsy. You also try to write a short list of important details, such as at what hour you take a break, when students leave for PE, or when lunch is served. In some schools there is a binder filled with ”all a subteacher needs to know”, but despite the binder, many subteachers may either not have time to read the information, or are completely new to teaching and have never been in this particular school. Sometimes they are 18 years old and lack every experience there is to ask for. You help this person the best you can anyway, because you know it will turn out for the worse if you do nothing at all. Luckily, many subteachers have been teaching for a long time and also know the students in a few schools in their local community quite well. Then the options for a win-win-situation is a lot better. OK…It’s time to rush back to your own class and start off what you had planned for! Guess what? The students haven’t started doing what you asked them to… Instead you need to re-start the activity and sometimes you will have a hard time getting every student’s attention again. When you finally think, ”Yes!” and your class seems to be focused again, you hear a knock on your classroom door… The subteacher needs more help…

The results for Swedish school children in PISA and other international tests have never been as poor as the last few years. In my opinion it is possible to explain the failure as a misuse of resources and a slow motion in change or maybe blame the many changes in our school system. When will there be time to focus on learning again?

I am happy to say that I rarely hear about problems like these nowadays. I am also happy to say that some of the subteachers I have been teaching side-by-side with were really nice persons who did a wonderful job. A certain blonde whom I tried to persuade to become a teacher, instead decided to become a nurse. The lucky patients know who I mean! 

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One hundred and fiftyfirst åsic- February at its best?

Being a teacher means planning ahead of time and trying to find as interesting topics as possible for one’s students. I try to combine both methods and genres with something that students may find useful for the moment. One such topic that I keep working with every year in January and February is winter.

Cherry Covered in Winter Coat

My adult students may sometimes come from countries near ours, such as the Baltic countries or maybe Germany or the UK, but most of them don’t. Instead they started their lives in a country far away from Sweden, where there is no snow and where the Swedish winter may seem both everlasting, too cold to be outdoors in, dark and difficult to deal with. I try to find texts that are very different. There are lyrics from songs on winter topics, extracts from books, short stories, movies, chunks of news, weather reports as well as newspaper articles of different kinds.

Does it matter what whether it is outdoors to talk about winter? I’d say I have been lucky this year, since the weather has been very varied. I had the opportunity to talk about extremely cold weather and the words connecting to glistering snow, as well as the boring cloudy skies in a slushy morning when the ploughmen have not yet driven by… I have also had the chance to share with my students some of the typical winter songs or words one may need to label typical winter activites.

It doesn’t matter what the weather is like. The more varied it gets, the better for my purpose at school! Using here and now as a resource for teaching makes learning more hands-on for students. Students find their learning meaningful if they can use their new vocabulary already on their way home from school. Who wouldn’t? Learning things that are supposed to be put away for later, tend to be boring very quickly, whereas useful phrases and vocabulary for instant use makes the effort worth while.


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Seeing is believing

I have noticed in my own teaching that the students who DO watch my face find their correct sounds in Swedish easier. If adding on comments on what I do, I help them even more. I talk about how I form my mouth compared to similar sounds in for example English, a language many of my students know quite well, but with completely different SOUNDS. Read below to find out more.

Seeing is believing.

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One hundred and thirtyninth åsic- A New Year Brings New Ideas

Let’s hope the headline for this Åsic is true! I believe it is. SO far, a new year has meant a brand new start to so many things in my working life as a teacher, that I dare to hope for 2015 to be likewise.

change-4-1imepyc.jpg (640×655)A few times my start off in January after relaxing days off during Christmas Holidays has meant a completely new setting with either new students or a new school to work in. Sometimes I have even changed level in the Swedish education system. After 23 years as a teacher I have experienced the changes of curricula on a state level a couple of times. I have also decided for myself to start teaching a new subject and thus I have needed to focus on learning, for instance by getting university grades in that subject. No matter what kind of changes I have experienced as a teacher, they all seem to have had a lot of things in common, if a whole school or a group of teachers are involved.

What first might be a challenging struggle where everyone is interested and engaged, might turn into a nightmare where all fight for their own ideas. But it may also be a very good opportunity for teachers to listen to each other and share ideas to define or develop the main idea together. Different viewpoints or ideas for solutions need to be negotiated and exposed to the whole group, in order to go on to the next level of change. This ciritical point in the group process is where many teachers and for that matter, principals, tend to give up, instead of forcing themselves to ride through the storm and realize that there will be a calm sea on the other side of whatever the problem might be.

To some extent changes are difficult to deal with and steal a lot of energy before everything is settled, but in a way I always know that there will be many advantages in the end if I just go on. It is interesting to note how different teachers think when our little world of education in the local school is to be changed. If you like to read about a certain example from my own teaching, then please read the next åsic, #one hundred and fortieth åsic. Education on a general level is a change in itself. I agree completely with the quote below:

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The Swedish Government will still find difficulties in getting the message of change through since the oppositional parties in the Swedish Parliament (Riksdagen)are reluctant to give up their ideas of education management. Although representatives for all political parties in the Riksdagen except Swedish Democrats (SD) came to a mutual agreement for passing minority governments’ ideas through the Riksdagen, we might still have to wait another four years for any kind of major change for teachers and students in Sweden. But hey, let’s find new ways together!

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One hundred and thirtyeighth åsic- Teacher of the Year 2015

I had the great opportunity to share the everyday teaching life with a marvellous teacher, Cathy Jacobo. During my stay in NJ in October/November 2014, I experienced teaching and instructing from an American point of view. I am sure my visit had been less interesting without Cathy and I am so happy to share that she was awarded the title ”Teacher of the Year”!

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Congratulations, Cathy!! ♥

⇒For those of you who’d like to read about our adventures, please follow the links below! Please also note that there are no ”ninety-third” and ”ninety-fourth”, since those texts are written in Swedish… 🙂

The eightieth åsic- Sharing teaching experience with friends abroad or from abroad

The eighty-first åsic- Learning Among Friends

The eighty-second åsic- Second Day in an American Teacher’s Hectic World

The eighty-third åsic- Uppe med tuppen!- Being an early bird!

The eighty-fourth åsic- Fika as an ice-breaker is never wrong!

The eighty-fifth åsic- ”HALF & HALF” or Completely Wrong!

The eighty-sixth åsic- Höstlöv, höstlov, hostlov, Fall Break!

The eighty-ninth åsic- From Påskkärring to Tomten in Twenty

The ninetieth åsic- My New Favourite Tree

The ninety-first åsic- To help students understand and find connections is what teaching’s all about!

The ninety-second åsic- Being happy for having friends

The ninety-fifth åsic- The Yellow Wall and The Blue Wallpaper