What does it mean to be a child in Sweden? Growing up in Sweden has many benefits.
Learn about school and vacation, family and leisure time, culture, hobbies and joining a club. What is Swedish children’s literature and do all parents work? Is there a support system for the young and how many children really play an instrument?
www.sweden.se shares the full story on Growing up in Sweden.
Join the Twitter chat on Sweden Aug 14! The community of #seetheworld will share and learn about Sweden! Whether you have already been to Sweden or not, live here or don’t, know something about it or nothing at all – come join us! This is a nice opportunity to chat about Sweden with fellow curious twitter friends. And, to connect with new friends! We all want to #seetheworld!
To join the conversation log in to Twitter and follow the hashtag #SeeTheWorld.
You can also follow
me, the co-host, @globatris
the founders @theCultureur and @RovingAltruist
and of course @SeeTheWorldChat
https://twitter.com/thecultureur/status/365212764148473856
Learning a language it is beneficial to listen to and sing along to music in that language. You learn new words but more importantly you get a sense of the rhythm and intonation of the language, as well as learning pronunciation.
Below is a link to a popular summer song in Swedish, by Tomas Ledin. It is called “Sommaren är kort” – summer is short.
To learn the Swedish language by listening to music you need to pick up the words in the song. I have made a Sommaren är kort – glosor translating Swedish into English.
Sing along!
1) Securing employment in Sweden can be a bit of a challenge. Often, the language barrier can be an issue, but as a native English speaker you will have an advantage among other expatriates.
2) Many English expatriates opt to become teachers at international schools. Having a British Post Graduate Certificate in Education is an asset as well as an intermediate level of Swedish. However, the qualifications will vary depending on your teaching level and school board.
3) You can find work online through company websites or through Arbetsförmedlingen, which is the largest job placement website in Sweden. You may also find work through Stepstone, Thelocal.se or Monster, which are also popular search engines.
4) Similar to other Scandinavian countries, the Swedish healthcare system is funded by taxpayers; however as with many other nations, the public health care system does not cover optometry, dentistry, or orthodontics to name a few.
5) Prescription medication must be provided by a physician, and it is provided through your personnummer then sent directly to the network of drugstores across the country. Thus, it is very important to receive this number as you will need it for many things.
6) When visiting a doctor, you may be required to pay a small fee of about 150 to 300 SEK. After 1,100 SEK have been paid within one year, further healthcare will be provided free of charge.
7) Primary education in Sweden is mandatory for children between the ages of 6/7 and 15/16 and it s free. Children can attend pre-school (förskola) between the ages of 1 to 5. Pre school is very common in Sweden as it aids in the child’s development and learning.
8) There are also a few options available for private schooling. Within greater Stockholm, you will find Sigtunaskolan, which offers boarding for boys and girls. Another notable private school is Lundbergs skola, which is located within proximity of Kristinehamn.
9) Higher Education institutions offer programs taught entirely in English or in Swedish. Sweden is home to many internationally recognized universities such as Uppsala University, Lund University and The Stockholm School of Economics.
10) You may also choose to learn Swedish through private institutions such as Folkuniversitetet or you may seek Swedish courses at a higher education institution. However, Swedish courses at a university are not publicly funded. Alternatively, many private firms offer Swedish language training to expatriates.
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Having moved to Sweden with children your family might want to listen to Swedish children’s music. Kid’s music is very much part of the cultural context, and apart from having fun a few bonuses to listening to it include
Barnplaneten (Children’s planet) provides lists in Spotify such as lists for classics, nap time, animals, play and dance as well as a teacher’s list.
Learning English, Swedish, French or Chinese? Or any other language?
To work on your vocabulary when learning a new language I want to share the following tip with you. Put washi tape on items, drawers, shelves and boxes and write the object’s name on it. Remove when you have learnt the word and choose new objects.
Great for bilingual kids too, expanding their vocabulary! At home I use it for my children (TCKs) to not forget words after returning to passport country after expat life.
Washi tape is pretty masking tape, originating from Japan. It is removable and reusable, slightly transparent with a paper feel to it (made from rice paper). It comes in all sorts of patterns and colors; select one that goes well with text for this language learning project! Washi tape is commonly used for scrapbooking, art journaling and other creative projects.
Ready, craft, go! Learn!
Listening to the radio you probably can’t avoid the news. The news are usually read in a fast pace, and what I find after having returned to Sweden, contain a lot of slang words that didn’t use to belong there. Only the other day I heard them use the Swenglish word “hosta” as in “to host” talking about a major sports event on the news.
If you are learning Swedish you might want to try to listen to Klartext. Klartext is a news program by the Swedish Radio channel P4. The news is easier to follow than regular news since the pace is slower and the words used are easier to understand.
You can either listen to the radio (18-18.10 on weekdays), via the web page, as a podcast or via an app on your phone. The app is called SR Play. Listening to Klartext is a good way of practicing your understanding of spoken Swedish, perhaps in addition to your Swedish classes.
You can also read their news on the website.
Visit Klartext’s website to practice your Swedish! You will find links to the news, the app and pod casts here, as well as the written news.
For English info on Klartext go here.
Please leave a comment – have you tried it? Did you find it difficult?
Last year I remember we had a very vivid discussion in my expat network about the Swedish tradition of dressing up as an Easter witch. People were appalled by the thought of it; seeing Easter witches as something dark and scary. It can be hard to understand and accept other culture’s traditions and it can be equally hard for a person familiar to them to get why they can be provoking or upsetting. We are usually so caught up with and used to the traditions (hence the word) that we don’t really think about the whys and hows and what it can possible look like to an outsider.
I tried to explain that the Easter dressing up is like Halloween – kids knock on doors, sometimes leaving a homemade Easter card and hope for candy in return. But we all have different references to witches (come on, we do!) and it wasn’t until I googled pictures of cute little Easter witches that we all agreed that it wasn’t such a bad thing after all! Boys and girls dress up in long colorful skirts and headscarves (the most important attribute) and red colored cheeks and lots of freckles. Lately we also see little Easter Men and Bunnies.
The word “påskkärring” actually does not even mean Easter witch but rather “Easter Old Woman”. There is very little in common with the witches people believed in during the 17th Century – also people did not drink coffee in Sweden at the time, and a dressed up kid usually carries a coffee pot around accompanying the broomstick; sometimes even a black cat.
So, when can you expect them to arrive – the kids, not the witches? On the West coast of Sweden it is mostly common to be visited by påskkärringar during Easter Saturday, whereas Thursday is more common in the rest of the country.
If you’ve followed my blog you know I like photography. That’s why I immediately joined #worldcolors when I stumbled upon Naomi’s blog post. According to it March is all about Green! But is it really? Well, in my part of the world it is fairly grey right now; cold, winter and no snow at all. If you read my blog post the other day you know I’m more than ready to welcome spring and green colors into my world again.
For the photo project #worldcolors I first planned to go through old photos to find the lush green ones, filled with memories from all over the world. Then on Friday I spent a few hours outside in the biting cold and decided to make #worldcolors Green a real challenge. I would look for green objects to shoot during the day – outside. And yes it was quite a challenge, but a fun one! Below are my green finds! Please feel free to join the #worldcolors! You still have a couple of weeks to find your take on green!
Fika is the Swedish soul.
Fika is coffee/tea/juice/whatever-except-alcohol.
Fika is our daily excuse to savor cinnamon rolls/pastry/cake/cookies.
Fika is a daily routine at our work places. Twice a day actually.
Fika is when Swedes are not taciturn.
Fika is #fika on twitter.
Fika is at home. At the office, at a café.
Fika is at the playground, in a park and in our gardens.
Fika is for business and pleasure.
Fika can be just a cuppa.
Fika is always right.
