Andakt

O come, O come, Emmanuel,
And ransom captive Israel,
That mourns in lonely exile here
Until the Son of God appear.

Refrain
Rejoice! Rejoice!
Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.

O come, Thou Day-spring, come and cheer
Our spirits by Thine advent here;
Disperse the gloomy clouds of night,
And death’s dark shadows put to flight.

En meditation om Marias och vår "JA" till Gud...

Men du, Herre, är vår fader.
Vi är leran och du har format oss,
vi är alla ett verk av din hand.

English week 50

This week, children and grown ups across Sweden are preparing for Friday when we celebrate "Lucia".

The Swedish celebration is very sweet on the surface, but the slow procession, red ribbons and candles hint at something deep, solemn and horrifying.

See what you think as we work on a text that attempts to recreate Santa Lucia's life and death: Lucia: Refusing to be moved or silenced

There are a lot of questions to help you identify details in the text, but I hope it also sets you thinking about people like Lucia and how much has changed in today's society.

English week 49

We're studying health and illness... and now I'm ill!

So if you're in school, you have a few options:

1. Continue with the worksheets from last week and Monday.
2. Help another person in the group with their worksheet.
3. Log into Twinspace (see icon on right) and do a new exercise called "Who is who" (see picture below) plus respond to anything else you have time for and find interesting - like the autumn thing, my generation or the new winter topic.

Twinspace

Remember your login? Any problems, ring/text me (look me up in Eniro/Hitta).

Everybody has a login and they're setup the same way, based on your First Class login - just ask a classmate to show you!

English week 48

In school right now, almost everyone seems to be coughing, sneezing and complaining about being tired so what better time to study the language of health and illness?

First, we're working our way through the following vocabulary exercises:

Health & illness (En4)
Health, illness, injury (En5)
Health & Medicine (En 6)

When classifying illnesses according to "not serious", "more serious" and "very serious", one of our bright students wanted to write, "1 heart attack", "2 heart attacks" and "3 heart attacks".

Well, that's something the book's author probably never thought of. Perhaps he might respond as Luigi Patrovita did in the classic 80s film, Raw Deal...

With our newfound vocabulary, it would be nice to try some role play and of course, no English class about health would be complete without us learning some Doctor doctor jokes.

There's a serious side to our study of health. It's important to be able to describe symptoms and ask for help in English - it might even save your life.

Here are 2 songs related to this week's topic...

Madness, "Cardiac arrest"" (songmeanings.com)

Regina Spektor, "Chemo Limo" (songmeanings.com)

English week 47

Wednesday 20 November

Today we have different tasks to do...

Great Women
If you have completed your study of a historically significant woman, make a summary on 1 page of A4 paper that we can add to our display of "Great women".

Include the key facts (dates and achievements) - enough to make us curious and want to learn more!

My generation
Everyone who wrote a text in answer to Monday's questions has received detailed feedback and corrections. So...

• log into Twinspace and add/edit your text. 
• comment on somebody else's text
• show a new group member how to log in and publish their work

Welcoming new group members
In the classroom, we're going to do some different types of exercise so we can learn about one another, see what works best and what each new participant can contribute.

Personal pronouns

Here is a link to the original document: Personal pronouns 1

Here are 2 copies that can be freely edited: Personal pronouns 1 - copy1
Personal pronouns 1 - copy 2

Monday 18 November

This week we welcome some new group members!

I'm in a meeting with my LISA colleagues from 9 - 12 so you don't need to be in school for the first lesson.

Those of you who have a login to Twinspace can work there on the topic "My generation".

For those of you who don't have a login or experience problems with Twinspace, here are the questions I'd like you to work with:

What year were you born?
What special experiences and memories do you have in common with other people of around your age?
What are the problems that face your generation?
What opportunities does your generation have?

What differences have you noticed between your generation and older generations?

You can email me the answers - gordon.mcculloch@folkbildning.net

I'll check my email at 10:15 on Monday and register class attendance then.

Kvalitetsenkät - A bas 18 november

Hagaberg kvalitetsenkät - klicka här!

Andakt

In memoriam John Taverner (1944-2013)

Little Lamb, who made thee?
Dost thou know who made thee?
Gave thee life, and bid thee feed
By the stream and o'er the mead;
Gave thee clothing of delight,
Softest clothing, woolly, bright;
Gave thee such a tender voice,
Making all the vales rejoice?

Little Lamb, who made thee?
Dost thou know who made thee?
Little Lamb, I'll tell thee
Little Lamb, I'll tell thee;
He is called by thy name,
For he calls himself a Lamb.
He is meek, and he is mild.
He became a little child.

I, a child, and thou a lamb,
We are called by his name.
Little lamb, God bless thee!
Little lamb, God bless thee!

(William Blake - The Lamb)

Igår började Advent i Syrisk-Maronitiska kyrkan och även i andra kristna samfund tänker vi på vaksamhet och väntan när vi läsa Luk 12:35-40 om Tjänaren som är beredd

I en meditation förberedar vi oss för att träffa Gud idag. Samtidigt lyssnar vi till musik från rysk ortodox kyrkan: Anonymous - "Alleluia, Behold the Bridegroom"

Alleluia. Alleluia. Alleluia.
Behold, the Bridegroom comes at midnight, and blessed is the servant whom He shall find watching, but unworthy is the servant whom He shall find heedless.
Beware, therefore, O my soul, do not be weighted down with sleep, lest you be given up to
death, and be shut out of the Kingdom.
But rouse yourself crying: “Holy, Holy, Holy art Thou, O God! Through the Theotokos, have
mercy on us.”

Helig, helig, helig, Herre Gud Sebaot, himlarna och jorden är fulla av Din härlighet.

Om vi är modig, sjunger vi 422: O du som himlens stjärnor tänt (Conditor alme siderum)

English week 46

First of all, a grammar exercise:
Let's conjugate a verb today - positive & negative

I have to apologise - we forgot to cover "past perfect" (I had....) but we'll do that next time.

This week we're looking at the positive and negative aspects of being online from a teenager's perspective.

Do you know where your children go online? is a Guardian article based on the testimonies of several young people of different ages talking about what they do online.

In class, each student takes one young person's testimony, reads it and then answers the following questions:

a) Identify:

1) Things that person sees as positive about having access to the Internet.

2) Problems that person (or people they know) have encountered because of having access to the Internet.

3) What things that person does to keep themselves safe online.

b) Add your own reflection on what that person wrote – for example, if you agree, have a similar experience or would like to give advice.

English week 45

Variations on a sentence

We took a sentence and then did everything we could think of to manipulate it:

N. discovered a nice swimming pool in Gnesta.

N. didn't discover a nice swimming pool in Järna.

What did N. discover in Gnesta? A nice swimming pool.

Did N. discover anything nice in Gnesta? 
Yes, a swimming pool!

N. has discovered a nice swimming pool in Gnesta.

N. hasn't discovered a nice swimming pool in Järna.

What has N. discovered in Gnesta? A nice swimming pool!

Where has N. discovered a nice Swimming pool? In Gnesta.

and so on... 

Issues facing young people today

1) What do you think are the biggest issues facing young people today? Make a list.

Here's what the class came up with:

• Playing PC games all night instead of sleeping
• Stressed out due to being online 24/7
• The internet generally 
• Global warming
• Global economic crisis
• School
• Too large groups - hard to concentrate 
• Spoonfeeding information
• Homework - too much, wrong type, leading to disparities
• Burden of having to make important choices when young
• Overloaded with information and activities
• Family life
• Shortage of jobs - unemployment
• High pressure to be "successful"
• Uncertainty about what the future will bring
• Drugs
• Too many choices
• Declining mental and physical health

2) Once we've done our own list of issues, we'll take a look at this short film:


Here are some issues that these North American university students identify:

• Apathy
• Being yourself
• Cars and traffic
• Compassion for others
• Diet and obesity  
• Environmental problems
• Media influence
• Relationship with technology
• Tolerance
• World peace

3) Compare the issues they identified with what you came up with. 

• Is there anything you'd like to add to your list? 
• Anything important they missed out?

4) Now we'll draw up a table with issues and how we should respond to those issues. The responses might be at a personal or social level, depending on the issue and how we think it should be handled.

Youth bulge

Young people are often viewed as a problem in themselves. Take a look at this article: Youth Bulge: A Demographic Dividend or a Demographic Bomb in Developing Countries?

Now look up some population pyramids here: http://populationpyramid.net/

What countries face problems due to a shortage or excess of young people?
How can we solve those problems?

English week 44

Game review: Helicopter

Imagine a world in which you must fly... or die. This is the world of Helicopter.

Basic scenario

You are in a cave, constantly moving towards your destiny. Random oblong shaped obstacles appear in your path. You can only move up or down, avoiding obstacles and the constantly changing terrain. The helicopter controls are very sensitive. If your helicopter touches anything, you are dead.

The click of life

You control the helicopter by pressing down your left mouse button to make it fly upwards and releasing the button to let it fall. It sounds like the simplest game in the world - and yet it's incredibly difficult. Try it...

Conclusion: Game versus Reality

	Game	Reality
Like being in a cave
Happens too fast
Constant difficulties
Random obstacles
Many opportunities to fly helicopter
Make friends
Easy to start again if you fail
Can start where you left off
A bit boring

English week 43

This week we're continuing to look at great women in history AND experimenting with some shared online English work with students in Sophie-Scholl-Schule Leutkirch.

We're using Twinspace to communicate, writing blogs, sharing our experiences and ideas and learning about one another. There's quite a lot to do there, so when you get the chance, log in, fix your profile and take a look at the project area - particularly the "My generation" project which we'll be working on next.

Many thanks for the class presentations so far on Coco Chanel, Cleopatra, Hypatia and Florence Nightingale. It's been really interesting to glimpse the different worlds that these women inhabited and see what they had in common. Looking forward to learning about more great women after the holiday!

Next week we have a half term break. So make the most of it. I mean, it's not like you're going to get another one before Christmas is it?

Whatever you do, don't swallow any musical instruments.

Min tolkning / Din tolkning v.6

I vår sista träff, vi ska fundera lite över konspirationsteriorier.

Varför tror vi eller andra på sådana teorier?

Hur kommunicerar vi med personer som ser allting som en konspiration?

Sen reflekterar vi över Ludwig Wittgensteins tankar om religion och predestinationsläran, med särskilt fokus på det här:

Christianity is not a doctrine, not, I mean, a theory about what has happened and will happen to the human soul, but a description of something that actually takes place in human life. For ‘consciousness of sin’ is a real event and so are despair and salvation through faith. Those who speak of such things (Bunyan for instance) are simply describing what has happened to them, whatever gloss anyone may want to put on it.

Predestination: It is only permissible to write like this out of the most dreadful suffering - and then it means something quite different. But for the same reason it is not permissible for someone to assert it as a truth, unless he himself says it in torment. - It simply isn’t a theory. - Or, to put it another way: If this is truth, it is not truth that seems at first sight to be expressed by these words. It’s less a theory than a sigh, or a cry.
Culture & Value 1937.

Vilka ord och handling kan tolkas som "a sigh or a cry"?

Tack så mycket till er som deltog i Min tolkning/Din tolkning.
Det har varit lärorikt och roligt!

Andakt

Meditation baserade på Ignatius examen: God in all things: Morning examen
Music for airports (Eno/Bang on a Can)
Psalm 176: Din klara sol

Min tolkning / Din tolkning v.5

Vad kan det här betyda?







Hur ändras våra tolkningar när vi ser hela bilden?


Det är inte alltid lätt att komma överens om vad nånting betyder. Till exempel, hur tolkar du Hesekiels syn (Hesekiel 1:4-28)?

Vad tror vi att Hesekiel beskriver?

Vad trodde folk före oss om Hesekiels syn?

Hur är vi påverkat av vår kultur och omgivning?






Sen byta vi ämne...

En vacker bild - vilka tänker har du när du titta på den?

Hur tolkar vi ansikter, klädder, blick, äpplen, löv, rök, solnedgång o.s.v.?


När Judas hade fått brödet for Satan in i honom. Jesus sade: ”Gör genast vad du skall göra!” 28Ingen av dem som var med vid bordet visste varför han sade detta till honom. Eftersom Judas hade hand om kassan trodde några att Jesus hade sagt åt honom att köpa vad som behövdes till högtiden eller att ge något till de fattiga. Men Judas tog brödet och gick genast ut. Det var natt.
Johannes 13:27-30

Vad betyder natt för dig och för Johannes?

Inför nästa vecka...

English week 41

First, a little handout derived from englishbanana.com to practice some common verbs in the simple past tense - From Bed to Work in 27 Easy Steps.

There's a lot of past tense this week because we're going to focus on women who changed history. We start on a religious note...

St Bridget of Sweden

Let the music to help you drift far back in time to the early 1300s. This was when a baby girl called Birgitta was born into a rich family, probably living near Uppsala, Sweden.

It's difficult to imagine how different life was back then. Sickness and death were never far away - even if you were rich. Rather than take comfort in riches and wealth, Bridget chose a very different path, asserting her right to preach the gospel and challenge injustice. She created religious communities where women could devote themselves to prayer, learning and provide hospitality for victims of poverty and injustice.

This old picture of Saint Bridget reveals some important aspects of her life - her pilgrim's hat, her writing, her inspiration, her noble birth, her greatest love and her religious habit (clothing).

She was declared a saint on 7th October 1391 - look at a Swedish calendar and you'll see the name, "Birgitta" on that day.

Here you can download our St Bridget story and worksheet.

Hypatia

Bridget of Sweden is the exception to the rule that history is made by, written by men and all about men. So having looked at Saint Bridget, we'll explore the lives and legacies of other important women in history. This time it's over to you to do some digging and present your findings in class!

If you need a bit of inspiration, browse the all encompassing Fordham University's Women's History Sourcebook, explore the different themes highlighted by Smithsonian - Women's History and Heritage Month, or use About.com A-Z Biographies of Women as a starting point for further research.

Min tolkning / Din tolkning v.4

"The law is reason free from passion" (Aristotle)

Hur tolkar vi regler och lagen?

Vi tittar på 3 tolkningsprinciper i England, nämligen:

Plain meaning (literal) rule
Mischief rule
Golden rule

Och sen på några exempel av lagar som påverka oss på olika sätt. Vi tolkar följande enligt "mischief rule" och reflekterar över hur mycket vi följer/bryter mot lagen:

Konvention om barnets rättigheter (FN)

De tio buden (Bibeln)

De fyra grundlagarna (Sverige)

English week 40

What if...?

How about this for a country and western start to the week...


Let's see if anyone gets the connection between this song's lyrics and other stuff we're doing this week...

Langston Hughes 1903-1967

This week, we'll develop our Autumn theme from last week via a very short story by Langston Hughes called "Early Autumn".

The story prompts a question: "What if...?"

To ask and answer this type of question in good English, we'll study and practise an area of grammar called "conditionals" or "if clauses" using this worksheet on conditionals.

As well as the writing exercises, we also have some a conversation exercise called "What would you do"?

You can also read/download the Early Autumn story and worksheet.

You might also like to look at these two different (but equally illuminating) interpretations of the story - one by Catherine Sustana and another by Morgan Heinrich.

And while digesting all this, allow this week's grammar to work its way into your brain via another song:

Min tolkning / Din tolkning v.3

Som vuxen, hur tolkar jag en saga från barndom? Vad säga en saga om oss och om vårt samhälle?

Vi fortsätter att testa en tolkningsmetod som används i medeltiden (och tidigare) som heter "quadriga" (fyrfaldig tolkning) genom att fundera över:

• Vad händer i texten? 
• Vad kan delar av texten symbolisera/representera?
• Vad säga texten om hur vi kan leva ett gott liv?
• Vad säga texten om vårt samhälle och framtid?

Vi ska titta på minste en av följande...

Bröderna Grimm,  "Askungen" och "Hans och Greta"

Astrid Lindgren, "Allra käraste syster"

Barbro har en hemlighet: Hon har en tvillingsyster, som heter Ylva-li.

Barbros pappa tycker mest om hennes mamma och mamman tycker mest om lillebror, men Ylva-li, hon tycker mest om Barbro och hon kallar Barbro sin allrakäraste syster.

Ylva-li sprang och gömde sig direkt när hon föddes och hon är nu drottning i den Gyllene Salen. När Barbro hälsar på i Gyllene Salen leker flickorna med sina hundar, de rider på sina hästar och de äter de godaste av alla karameller.

En dag berättar Ylva-li att när alla rosor vissnat kommer hon och Gyllene Salen inte längre att finnas.

När Barbro kommer hem får hon veta att föräldrarna varit förskräckligt oroliga över att hon varit borta och de har köpt henne en underbar present. Nästa dag är ingången till Gyllene Salen försvunnen.

English week 39

Autumn leaves

The word Autumn comes from the French word, automne for the season stretching from September to November.

Here's a song with you that also has French origins - Autumn leaves.





This is a handout containing the lyrics and some related questions and exercises: Autumn leaves song and exercises

---

Why do leaves change colour in Autumn and why do they fall?

In groups of 3-4, let's find out. Then we'll present our explanations in the form of a diagram or mindmap that we can present to the rest of the class.

Here are some useful sources of information that approach the question from 3 quite different angles:

Horton, Jennifer. (2008, September 23). "Why do leaves change color and turn red?". HowStuffWorks.com. Retrieved September 22, 2013, from http://science.howstuffworks.com/life/botany/leaves-turn-red.htm/printable

Oneida Indian Nation.(13 July 2009). "Autumn Color". Retrieved 22 Sept 2013, from http://www.oneidaindiannation.com/culture/legends/Autumn-Color.html 

NASA/NOAA. "Why does Earth have seasons?" Sci Jinks. Retrieved 22 Sept 2013 from http://scijinks.nasa.gov/earths-seasons 

Plus the following articles in Wikipedia:

Autumn leaf color. (2013, September 21). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 22:02, September 22, 2013, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Autumn_leaf_color&oldid=573958381

Axial tilt. (2013, September 17). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 22:10, September 22, 2013, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Axial_tilt&oldid=573393938

Deciduous. (2013, September 20). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 22:04, September 22, 2013, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Deciduous&oldid=573786903

Good luck!

Min tolkning / Din tolkning v.2

Idag funderar vi över varför vi misstolkar, och sen hur vi kan tolka grejer på olika nivå.

 

Olika perspektiv

Tänk på andra situationer där vi har misstolkat nånting på ett liknande sätt (eller där folk har misstolkat oss).

Ostensiv definition och exemplifiering

Vad tror du att de säga?

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Lukas+12%3A22-34&version=SVL

Bekymra er inte för hur ni skall få mat att leva av eller kläder att sätta på kroppen. 

Livet är mer än födan och kroppen mer än kläderna. 

Tänk på korparna, de varken sår eller skördar, de har varken förrådskammare eller lador, men Gud föder dem. Och hur mycket mer värda är inte ni än fåglarna? 

Vem av er kan med sina bekymmer lägga en enda aln till sin livslängd? 

När ni nu inte ens förmår så lite, varför bekymrar ni er då om allt annat? 

Tänk på liljorna, hur de växer. De arbetar inte och spinner inte. Men jag säger er: inte ens Salomo i all sin prakt var klädd som en av dem.

En bild

Berättelsen om Ikaros

För länge sedan på ön Kreta i Medelhavet hette kungen Minos.  
Hos kung Minos arbetade en byggmästare och uppfinnare som hette Daidalos. Daidalos byggde stora fina palats med torn klädda med guld, vackra trädgårdar med miljontals blommor och en stor labyrint. Labyrinten bestod av täta buskar som var så höga att man inte kunde se över dem och det var lätt att gå vilse i 
labyrinten. Det var bara Daidalos som visste hur man hittade i labyrinten och han fick inte avslöja detta för någon, det hade kung Minos bestämt.  

Men så en dag avslöjade Daidalos hemligheten med labyrinten. Kung Minos blev rasande! Kungen stängde in Daidalos och hans son Ikaros i labyrinten. Vid alla labyrintens utgångar satte han vakter som skulle se till att Daidalos och Ikaros inte kunde komma ut.   

Daidalos funderade på hur han och Ikaros skulle kunna fly från sin fångenskap. Daidalos var ju uppfinnare och han kom på att om han kunde uppfinna vingar till dem så skulle de kunna fly. Han gjorde vingar av fågelfjädrar och bivax, bivaxet fungerade som klister som höll vingarna på plats. Så en dag satte Daidalos och 
Ikaros på sig vingarna och började röra dem precis som fåglarna gör. Och de kunde flyga! Vakterna sköt pilar mot dem, men Daidalos och Ikaros flög högt upp mot himlen och blev inte träffade.  

Daidalos hade varnat sin son för att flyga för nära solen. Där var det varmt och bivaxet kunde smälta och vingarna gå sönder. Men när Ikaros kände hur underbart det var att flyga glömde han sin fars varningar och flög högre och högre. Till slut var han så nära solen att bivaxet smälte av värmen. Vingarna föll sönder och Ikaros störtade i havet. 

Möjliga frågor...

Vad säga berättelsen om:

1) Kreta 3000 år sen?
2) människor?
3) hur vi bodde leva ett gott liv?
4) människors framtid?

Min tolkning / Din tolkning v.1

Välkomna!

Första veckan och vi börja med några korta, lättare belägg.

Vi delar våra tolkningar och kanske drar slutsatser senare...

Mind movie meme

Har han rätt? I så fall, vilka sorts böcker?
Hur fungerar ordet "like" i meningen?
Kan man vända om meningen?
Vad säga ni om mannen i bilden? Hur påverkas texten av bild och vice versa?
 

Hälsovarningar

Kan man vända om första två hälsovarningar? Vad händer då?
Vad gör dem mer eller mindre effektiva?
Hur påverkas den sista hälsovarningen av färgen?
Vad kan ojämlikhet och skadar betyder i den sista meningen?

Beskrivningar 

Huset är rött

Anna har ont

Jag har ont

De ser enkla ut, men är de lätt att tolka? 
I vilka sammanhang kan man höra såna meningar?

Carl Sagan, "Cosmos" - introduktion (engelska)

Carl Sagan - Cosmos Intro

The surface of the Earth is the shore of the cosmic ocean.

On this shore, we've learned most of what we know.

Recently, we've waded a little way out, maybe ankle-deep, and the water seems inviting.

Some part of our being knows this is where we came from.

We long to return, and we can, because the cosmos is also within us. We're made of star stuff.

We are a way for the cosmos to know itself.

Carl Sagan, Cosmos

 

Jämför med "Cosmos" citat

Jämför med "mind movies" citat

The book is a film

that takes place 

in the mind of the reader.

That's why we go to movies

and say, "Oh, the book is better.”

(Paulo Coehlo)

 

Hur reagerar du till det här jämfört med den först bilden?

Läxa - gå hem!