Lyngmyr Ungdomsskole

On October 10th, 2008 I presented to three 10th grade classes at Lyngmyr Ungdomsskole in Tvedestrand, “The City of Books.” I finally hit my stride in these lessons and even though the teachers told me there were several students with ADD, Autism, etc. the classes went really well. I finally got back into the groove of working with this level of kids and had a great time doing so.

Since this was a sleepy little tourist town, I was interested to see how these kids were similar or different to those in Arendal or Oslo. Once again, the students all told me that Americans are fat, eat a lot of fast food, have movie stars, and guns. They loved television and listed similar shows that the other students watchws. This group did struggle more in terms of writing and I found it easier to have them share verbally with me their ideas.

Some of the comments students said during the lessons were quite telling about the US reputation around the world. Here is a sample of the comments/writings of the kids at this school:

• USA is the strongest millitary contry in the world [sic].
• Right extremist (this was one of my favorites)
• Bad relationship to Russia
• Sky skrapers [sic]
• Donuts
• Grand Canian [sic]
• Chevrolet
• Paparazzi
• Gangsters
• That there also is nice people in Americka [sic]
• Cocksuckers
• Bloddy assholes [sic]
• Many movies we see in Norway comes from USA. [sic]
• Americans are nice baced on or teacher for today [sic]

And then I had my personal favorite… the two boys who turned in a blank sheet of paper.

I did have two interesting experiences while teaching. The first was in the middle of my lesson, I walked over to the side of the room where a small group of boys were working, but needed the presence of an adult to stay focus. But as I was standing there I saw of the corner of my eye and through the window a teenage boy outside on the playground light a stick on fire, drink something out of a bottle, and then blow it on the stick. The stick then would flare up. I said, "OMG what is he doing?" which of course drew the entire class to the window. The irony here is that no one seemed really stressed about it and when I asked about it, I was just told that he does this thing all the time.

The group of boys that I had originaly gone over to supervise were quit funny, though a bit a mischievious. They kept taking the clock off the wall and setting the time forward. The teacher at one point says to me that she doesn't know why this clock is always a bit fast. I finally walked over to the group of boys and told them that I was going by my watch so they didn't need to worry about the clock. Ahh... the fun of teaching 14 year olds!

From my first week in the schools, I would say my biggest impression is that the schools seem less structured and strict. The teachers dress more casually, the students call their teachers by their first names, the students are not supervised every second of the day. It is a more laid back environment. I love the fact that the teachers are treated more professionally and that the students are given more responsibility and ownership. However, all is not utopia here. The kids are just as squirrely. They write on each other with marker, they lay across the desks and don’t read, the turn in work that is done without a lot of thought since they know they are not getting graded on my work, they are disrespectful at times, and unruly. But they are teenagers and I wouldn’t expect anything else. They love the activities that have them up and moving around, talking with their friends, and drawing. They enjoyed the Q&A at the end when they could ask me anything they wanted about the US. I got questions like:

• Do the kids in high school dress like the Gossip Girls?
• Who are you voting for in the upcoming election?
• Do kids have piercings and if so where?
• Have you ever seen a gangster?
• Have you ever met a celebrity and if so who?
• Which is your favorite futbol team?
• What do you eat for lunch when you live in the US?
• What do you think about the Iraq war?
• Who will win the 2008 presidential election?

The other interesting component of presentations is that at each school, the teachers have mentioned their surprise that in every lesson there was a student who seemed to talk the most and it was always one of the students who normally was either doing the worst in the class or wouldn’t talk at all. I am not sure what it is about having a foreign teacher come in and present, but it never failed. The teachers would say, “Wow, I can’t believe ______ was so talkative. He never talks in class and especially not in English.” So, hopefully it gives students more confidence to know that they can be understood by a native English speaker.

Overall, the students understanding of English has been strong. They even keep up with me…though I always start off slow, it’s just as the lesson goes on I generally speed up a bit. So that is a huge accomplishment!