It was the first day with the new students at Johannelund. There are about 40 in the first-year class. In good Swedish fashion, we started with morning fika (coffee/tea break) with cinnamon rolls.
Kjell, the rektor (like a principal and my boss), invited me to join the students for the next introductory session. Through the Swedish, I could track the basics of what are goals of university education historically, going back to Thomas Aquinas (Kjell is a historian), and how this is seen in Johannelund today–in our 150-something academic year. Kjell is clearly an effective teacher, with an animated lecture and frequent interaction with students.
I previously learned that Johannelund is named after the second campus. It was a large house on a farm. The owner’s first wife was named Johanne. After she died, he married a second woman who was also named Johanne. He named the farm after his wives. So, the school–though no longer in that location–has a name that is feminine in origin. 🙂
While I am not the only woman faculty member, as other women serve part-time, I am the first “permanent” or regular faculty member that is a female. I have been pleased at the egalitarian nature here in the homes and in the workplace.
Part of the limited presence of women on the faculty is that faculty turn-over is generally very slow in Sweden. The person I am succeeding has been on faculty for 45 years! He’s the closest thing to permanent, but in reality, there is no permanent position. I start with a 2-year contract under EU immigration law, but it is clearly indicated that the intention is for me to continue.
There was an afternoon gathering to get to know the students a bit. The part-time music faculty member (another woman), did a great job getting us all learning names and getting to know a bit about the community. We now know who likes surströmming, fermented herring, which is notorious for its wickedly pungent smell (and which is banned from KLM flights)!
I had a bit of a challenge playing human bingo game, as I didn’t know all the vocabulary on the sheet. Elin, who is on staff, helped me with the words I didn’t know. The students are very much aware that I am from the USA, yet they are surprised to learn that I just showed up 2.5 weeks ago (but seem relieved to know that I have many years of teaching experience). I had a few nice conversations with some students with excellent English. They were very comfortable with conversation with a native English speaker. One worked with the Salvation Army in Vancouver, BC, for two years in rough parts of the city. Another is woman with a Pentecostal background and has been involved in Bible study for several years. Now, she wants to deepen her understanding. I affirmed her journey and welcomed her to a broader conversation.
Today, the weather is perfect! I biked home for lunch (less expensive than the cafeteria and gives me a mid-day stroll) and sat outside to eat.
At the end of the day, it was also a nice place to read one of the texts (in English) and review some Swedish.
Anya had a good day–her second–at Kathedral Skolan. She met two nice young women in her Spanish class. Because Anya has studied in a Spanish immersion program since kindergarten, the level of Spanish here is not very challenging for her. However, one of these new classmates lived in Spain for 15 years, so they will be able to talk and challenge each other. Her text book is Swedish to Spanish, so she’ll reverse the learning to use Spanish to learn Swedish!
Her economics instructor is an American. Anya says she’s really cool and engaging in class. Eric, who majored in economics, would be pleased to know that Anya is taking economics.
If you want to see her schedule:
- Follow this link
- In the upper left, in the välj typ box, choose elev (student)
- In the välj ID, scroll down to IB15 and find Anya’s name (last name first)
- Her schedule pops up.
So, things are picking up momentum. Hopefully, my Swedish learning will keep up the pace.
With blessings,
Beth