Course Review: Swedish for International Students, Beginners' Course I & II

These are the language courses provided by the university, in which will you not only learn about the language, but also have a deeper look into the Swedish culture and way of life.

Beginners' Course I

Credits: 15.0

Term: Autumn 2014

Language of Instruction: English/Swedish

Study Tempo: 50%

Beginners' Course II

Credits: 15.0

Term: Spring 2015

Language of Instruction: Swedish

Study Tempo: 50%

Prerequisites: Swedish for International Students, Beginners’ Course I or equivalent

At the beginning of each term, we are asked to register for this course at Humanities Building, and be divided into one of the classes/time periods. We meet twice a week, and the class lasts two hours each time. A few classes exist for course I while there is usually around two classes for course II. We use the same textbook for both levels ¨Rivstart A1+A2¨, and students would reach the level of A1 and A2 sequentially after course I and II. The textbook is usually cheaper online. It can be found it on www.adlibris.com/se or http://www.bokus.com.

My teacher in course I was Eva. Our classe is of 20+ people, and we usually sit in a circle or groups. The atmosphere is really casual, and we feel close to our teachers that we can raise any questions anytime and we would get an answer. We are usually asked to practice with our neighbors, or act out a dialogue in groups. After a few weeks of ¨sitting next to new people¨, everyone has gotten along with each other very well and have become outspoken in class. Basic grammer is taught in course I, and the rules are not hard to grasp. Swedish bears a resemblance to German in terms of vocabulary and grammar. Pronunciation wise, it is rather different. Therefore, listening and speaking abilities really take time to build up. Most of the times, we commuThere is a written test as well as a oral test at the end of course I. For the written test, some efforts are needed to memorize the verb forms, and expect the essay at the end to be a little harder than the text in class. We were divided into groups for the oral test, taking turns answering questions asked by Eva. The importance of verb forms is vital here as well. All in all, we had a really good time learning the basics of everyday topics in course I.

The biggest change in course II is probably the fact that it is taught in Swedish. Gun(pronounced as ¨goon¨) was our teacher in course II, and the pace seems much faster than course I as everything is explained and announced in Swedish, and repeated in English only if questioned by many students. Gun often responds us in Swedish when we ask in English(some friends who took Gun's level 1 course said that this is her teaching style regardless of level). It is quite challenging at first(unless you are from Germany) as Swedish people usually speak quite fast, so some reviewing(after a month of vacation) and previewing(to have an idea of what the new words sound like) is definitely needed to keep up with the class. Sometimes we had to ask around a few times just to confirm what we had for assignment that day. Each week, we present to our group a news article we've read by summarizing it in Swedish. Was that hard! Adding new words to the already tricky Swedish pronunciation. In retrospect, it was a precious opportunity to be immersed in an all-Swedish environment when we were encouraged to ask or explain what we know in Swedish. There were also written and oral tests for final evaluation. Not much was changed in the written part. For the oral exam, our task was to do a 10-minute presentation in Swedish.

Personally, I think Swedish has a very beautiful sound, and I have come to love it.

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