Class 2E
I haven't seen many Swedish schools from inside. Obviously. As I don't have kids myself and arrived in Sweden long after finishing school, my only way into Swedish schools has been through my job-since-over-a-year: teaching mother tongue lessons some hours every week. But in Helsingborg, I teach at the international school, which with its more formal style (one pupil calls me miss Paula) and employees from all over the world feels not so Swedish at all. Only when stepping in in Malmö, I got my introduction to a real Swedish school.
And Swedish schools seem friendly places. Lots of crafts to brighten up the corridors, lots of notes everywhere - from the fritids schedule to the warning to please not bring in ANY nuts in this land of allergies -, nice posters about the hard and soft vowels in the Swedish language - I could use a lecture or two - and of course there is always a canteen somewhere.*
As a mother tongue teacher, you're always a guest in someone else's classroom. Last fall in Malmö I taught in the classroom of class 2E and I honestly wasn't so fond of it. The students' desks could be opened (it had a space for their books and materials inside) and for some reason my pupils were more interested in playing with these desks than in listening to whatever I had to say. Moreover, they often forgot their books, bags or jackets and gladly interrupted my class about five times during the first quarter to pick them up.
No, 2E wasn't my favorite.
When I returned for the last time to the school last Thursday to give the regular teacher her books back, I saw that 2E had been doing a new craft. Outside the classroom door, every pupil had drawn theirselves on a paper which has "2016" at the top. Apart from that, they had to fill out the ending to two sentences: "This year I want to learn to" and "This year I want to get better at"... Almost all pupils filled out one thing in every category. "Cursive handwriting" seemed to be a popular goal, and many wanted to improve their music and sport skills.
Oh my, I long to be in class 2E again. Instead of pondering about whether to make good intentions for the new year ("Well, we all know that good intentions never work for longer than two weeks, on the other hand it's always good to be ambitious, right? But well, I have so many things I'd like to do more of and...") this is just how easy it can be: one thing to improve and one cool thing to learn.
In 2016 I want to learn...to play the guitar.
I want to get better at...going to bed in time. And in just publishing blogs even if I don't think they are perfect.
What are your two points?
*No, my primary school didn't have a canteen or even a place to buy *any food*. The only thing you could order was "school milk". For lunch you either went home or took a lunch box along. Swedish people are always quite surprised when I tell them this.
And Swedish schools seem friendly places. Lots of crafts to brighten up the corridors, lots of notes everywhere - from the fritids schedule to the warning to please not bring in ANY nuts in this land of allergies -, nice posters about the hard and soft vowels in the Swedish language - I could use a lecture or two - and of course there is always a canteen somewhere.*
As a mother tongue teacher, you're always a guest in someone else's classroom. Last fall in Malmö I taught in the classroom of class 2E and I honestly wasn't so fond of it. The students' desks could be opened (it had a space for their books and materials inside) and for some reason my pupils were more interested in playing with these desks than in listening to whatever I had to say. Moreover, they often forgot their books, bags or jackets and gladly interrupted my class about five times during the first quarter to pick them up.
No, 2E wasn't my favorite.
When I returned for the last time to the school last Thursday to give the regular teacher her books back, I saw that 2E had been doing a new craft. Outside the classroom door, every pupil had drawn theirselves on a paper which has "2016" at the top. Apart from that, they had to fill out the ending to two sentences: "This year I want to learn to" and "This year I want to get better at"... Almost all pupils filled out one thing in every category. "Cursive handwriting" seemed to be a popular goal, and many wanted to improve their music and sport skills.
Oh my, I long to be in class 2E again. Instead of pondering about whether to make good intentions for the new year ("Well, we all know that good intentions never work for longer than two weeks, on the other hand it's always good to be ambitious, right? But well, I have so many things I'd like to do more of and...") this is just how easy it can be: one thing to improve and one cool thing to learn.
In 2016 I want to learn...to play the guitar.
I want to get better at...going to bed in time. And in just publishing blogs even if I don't think they are perfect.
What are your two points?
*No, my primary school didn't have a canteen or even a place to buy *any food*. The only thing you could order was "school milk". For lunch you either went home or took a lunch box along. Swedish people are always quite surprised when I tell them this.
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