Day 16, 17, and 18 – School Days

Linblommans skola - This is the front of the building where
the students attend school. In the background you can see
the sun starting to rise at 8:00 in the morning!

I know that a few days have passed and I have not updated my blog! I do not know where the time has gone. Ever since I have been in the classroom my days seem to go by faster than I imagine. I cannot believe that it is already Thursday and I have been in the classroom for 4 days now! I don’t think that it helps that I get up before the sun rises and then I get done with school around 3:00 when the sun is setting. It makes my days feel extremely short! I miss driving around in the daylight after school being able to see where I am going. Then after my days are done, I am heading back to Umeå to work on my homework and trying to get as much as I can before I got to bed.

One of the classrooms that I am working in.
There are two classrooms for the 5th and 6th
graders. This classroom primary has Swedish,
English, and Social Studies taught here.

The last few days have been very interesting for me. I am still trying to understand the classroom and how the school runs. I am trying to understand what the students are talking about all the time. Since everything is in Swedish, it is difficult for me to understand. But I can usually get a student to translate the words for me. At times it can be extremely difficult for the students to say the correct English word. There are times where they try to describe the word for me so that I can tell them correct English word. I can tell it is a challenge for them but they are enjoying having me around. Even the staff members at the school want to speak better English and ask me to help them as well!

Here are some differences that I am seeing in the schools:

1.    Students do not wear shoes. Students walk around in their socks or some students wear crocs in the school, but then change their shoes when they are to go outside.

2.    The school starts and end times vary throughout the week. This is a typical week for me: Monday 8:10 – 14:00 (8:10 – 2:00), Tuesday: 8:10 – 15:00 (8:10 – 3), Wednesday: 10:00 – 15:00 (10:00 – 3:00), Thursday: 8:10 – 14:50 (8:10 – 2:50), and Friday: 8:10 – 14:00 (8:10 – 2:00). Some of the girls that I am traveling with end their days around 13:00 (1:00) or so.

3.    Students call the teacher by their first name. So if you were all wondering, they call me Allison, instead of Miss Nelson. I had my notebook out on the table the other day and they could not figure out who Miss Nelson was. They had to ask their teacher Katarina who Miss Nelson was and she explained in Swedish that they call me by my last name in the United States. Then they asked me in English if the students back at home call me Miss Nelson and I said yes. They were surprised that the students in the United States call the teacher by their last name instead of their first name. One girls, Linda, pointed out the difference between the two countries to me.

4.    When multiplying they write the problem upside down. They write the smaller number on top of the multiplication problem. See my picture on how they multiply and divide.

5.    When they divide they leave the problem in fraction form. I am still trying to figure out how they divide. I tried to explain how I learned to multiply and divide and the girl I was helping with looked at me with great confusion. She said that she did not understand what I was doing. Also in their numbers, instead of using a decimal point, they use a comma. A difference that I noticed when I explained what the point was on the problem.

6.    They do not give out grades on the students. The student’s turn in their work in a binder and the teacher is to evaluate the work at the end of the year if it falls under the category of an A, B, C, D, E, or F. They do not give out points for grades or grade the homework immediately to return the work.  They students must take responsibility of their work and turn it into their binders in a timely manner.

7.    Students do not sit at desks. They sit at tables and all their supplies are kept in drawers in the classroom. They do not have big textbooks to work in. They have smaller paper workbooks that they write in directly to do their work. The books are designed to create independent learners in the classroom.

8.    Students are independent learners. They work in their workbooks and the teacher will help the students when they ask for help. Students will work in pairs when they are allowed to but otherwise most of the learning is done as an independent learner.

9.    Students receive a 10 – 15 minute break after each class. They go outside for recess and the teachers go into the teachers lounge for some coffee or tea. For lunch their recess begins when they finish eating their lunch. Usually teachers will go outside to supervise but there are not many supervisors outside on the playground.

10. Students do not bring their lunches. Lunch is provided everyday by the school. The students did not understand why I had brought my lunch to school and I had to explain that we can either bring our lunch or pay for lunch. Teachers get free lunches on the days that they are supervising the lunchroom because they have to eat with the students. Teachers can bring their lunches as well during the week when they do not have supervision of the lunchroom.

Front of the school where the students
keep their bikes during the day!

11. Teachers teach all the subjects. For example, teachers teach Swedish, Social Studies, Math, Religion, Science, English, Music, Physical Education, and Art. In the United States, we teach the primary subjects and there are other teachers who teach the elective classes.

12. All students either walk or bike to school. There are no school buses that transport the students to school. Because they live in such a small community, it is not necessary to have buses to transport the students. Plus there are not many people who drive their cars that it is very safe for the students to walk. The only buses that you really see are the transport buses that take you from different places around Umeå.

13. Students do not have their own supplies of colored pencils, crayons, or markers. There are three small buckets of colored pencils and that is all that they have. They must share all the colored pencils. The students also need to be careful on how fast they use the lead in their pencils because they must get their pencils to last awhile in the classroom. Students have a check by their name every time they use a pencil. It is the student’s responsibility to keep track of the pencil and if they lose it they are out of luck. Plus there is not electric pencil sharpener, they are all the hand-held mini sharpeners and if they all break, they are out of luck!

Homes where the civilians live in Röbeck

As I am continuing my adventure I am working and meeting all the students. They are all willing to help me learn Swedish and always want to walk me to the bus station after school. I am so grateful that they are all helping me through my experience. It is different for me because my partner is not in Sweden anymore, as she had to go home, so I am working in the school by myself. Everyone is so kind and helping me through this wonderful experience. It reminds me of being in the classroom at home, but the only real difference, is everything is spoken in Swedish.

Two of the students made a present for me!
It was even wrapped in beautiful
wrapping paper!

The teachers have asked me to teach lessons on the American History, since all they do is label a map of the United States using the internet or the Atlas. Some students want to learn about the “Cowboys and Indians” so I think I will focus some lessons on the Native Americans in American. I find that perfect because I was teaching about Native American before I left to come to Sweden. The teachers have also asked me to teach about the geography of the United States. I am willing to help them out in any way because they do not have the same resources as we do at home. This shall be interesting as to how I am going to teach it all because I have to be as green as possible! They love to save the Earth!

I cannot believe how fast this experience has been going for me. Tomorrow is already Friday, meaning I have three weeks left in the Swedish classroom and about 23 days until I am home! It is sad that I will be missing Thanksgiving and the wonderful turkey dinners and the black Friday shopping, but apparently they have some funfests that get them ready for Christmas that I will get to see.