Week 1 @ Linghemsskolan (Yk)

This is week 1 in Linghemsskolan. The school was far and about 24km away from my student hostel but it was worth the travel. Just the first week alone and I am already impressed with the way the teachers carry out the lessons. I can’t help but be envious on the way students enjoy learning so much more than students back in Singapore. Here in Sweden, the teachers have the luxury of time to spend it with the students, to really change their lives and work on their character instead of the “conventional”, exam-focused, syllabus driven kind of curriculum. The teachers here are more pastoral in nature, they talk to the kids more about their lives and the teachers earn the students’ respect, they do not demand it. The students call the teachers without salutations, they honor the teachers because the teachers sowed into their lives. The heart of the teachers in the school never grew cold as I can still see the passion in them and their heart for the students when we conversed about the tough lives the refugees (whom Sweden accepted) led before they reached Sweden for asylum. I can see the love in their eyes when they talk to the students one on one in their free time, to find out about their lives. These teachers are definitely not saints, they are as human as us because my teacher does show detest on some of the task or roles she has to be involved in. But despite so, she speaks about teaching much more passionate, admittedly, than I ever would.

Moreover, these Swedish students certainly did not lack in skills. But they obtain higher order thinking skills earlier because their lessons is not all about the memory work, but about the skills they need to think and argue. It is all about arguments, not plain regurgitating. All in all, week 1’s classes were great. Can’t wait for more!