A New Job!!
Sitting here watching the MSNBC special Hubris: Selling the Iraq War, a documentary showing the circumstances under which the American public was sold the idea of going to war in Iraq. I can’t adequately give a review of it here, but encourage those who have basic cable to see about viewing it. It is also a book, so it is available in print media. It is published under the same title as the documentary.
While I’m sitting here, I am also drinking the herbal tea that W made for my back and ribs, and which seems to make quite a difference in the level of pain I sense. The dishes are done, and I have some time to compose a short post giving the most recent news - that I just got hired by the Scandinavian Language Institute (http://www.sliseattle.com/home), housed at the Nordic Heritage Museum here in Seattle. The circumstances were remarkable, since I was contacted because of a spontaneous and non-elicited positive recommendation from a person I had never even met! I felt as if it was a tremendous validation of my Swedish linguistic and teaching skills, among a teaching community here in Seattle led primarily by native, immigrant teachers.
After a preliminary meeting with the administrative head of the Institute, I was introduced to the most active students who were left after the passing of the previous teacher last December. We are planning a Meet-and-Greet on February 25th, and I am to have an “audition” session to teach the class that has persisted the following Monday. The new quarter begins at the end of March, when weekly classes will resume. At that point, there may be a new group of beginner students, as well as a break-out session for the advanced students. If the program really takes off, I may have the opportunity to have at least four classes a week, which will make this truly a part-time job.
Of course, there is the occasional moment of anxiety (whenever one starts a new position). Mine focus on the fact that the last time I was actually in Sweden was in 2001, and so the fluency-level has suffered somewhat. Active utterances come somewhat more haltingly than I would like. But that’s what happens. My mom would pepper her family phone calls with what we derisively called “Swenglish.” I remember how I would chuckle as I listened to her as she used modern terminology in English with a Swedish pronunciation. Sometimes she was just correct - the modern-Swedish was actually just the English word with a Swedish punch. But sometimes we made stuff up, because we were so separated geographically from the linguistic and cultural epicenter. We were a small community, immigrants with no regular contact with the daily language. We didn’t subscribe to the big daily newspapers, we didn’t have the internet, and phone calls were expensive at best, of low quality at worst.
So, now I am the Swedish specialist. Yes, I speak Swedish. It is one of two mother tongues for me. But a cultural attaché I am not. I can teach the language. I’ve had over twenty-five years’ experience teaching it to adults in a college and university setting. I’ve got all the proverbial tricks up my sleeve. I guess what I’m saying is, I hope they like me.
And today was our Monday holiday, and with this post, I’m caught up with myself on all the items on my to-do list. The documentary is concluded. I will put on a CD and return to my other primary love, writing. I am currently working on two chapters concurrently - one on swords, and one on cauldrons. Good balance, n’est-ce pas?
Peace, gentle reader. BB
While I’m sitting here, I am also drinking the herbal tea that W made for my back and ribs, and which seems to make quite a difference in the level of pain I sense. The dishes are done, and I have some time to compose a short post giving the most recent news - that I just got hired by the Scandinavian Language Institute (http://www.sliseattle.com/home), housed at the Nordic Heritage Museum here in Seattle. The circumstances were remarkable, since I was contacted because of a spontaneous and non-elicited positive recommendation from a person I had never even met! I felt as if it was a tremendous validation of my Swedish linguistic and teaching skills, among a teaching community here in Seattle led primarily by native, immigrant teachers.
After a preliminary meeting with the administrative head of the Institute, I was introduced to the most active students who were left after the passing of the previous teacher last December. We are planning a Meet-and-Greet on February 25th, and I am to have an “audition” session to teach the class that has persisted the following Monday. The new quarter begins at the end of March, when weekly classes will resume. At that point, there may be a new group of beginner students, as well as a break-out session for the advanced students. If the program really takes off, I may have the opportunity to have at least four classes a week, which will make this truly a part-time job.
Of course, there is the occasional moment of anxiety (whenever one starts a new position). Mine focus on the fact that the last time I was actually in Sweden was in 2001, and so the fluency-level has suffered somewhat. Active utterances come somewhat more haltingly than I would like. But that’s what happens. My mom would pepper her family phone calls with what we derisively called “Swenglish.” I remember how I would chuckle as I listened to her as she used modern terminology in English with a Swedish pronunciation. Sometimes she was just correct - the modern-Swedish was actually just the English word with a Swedish punch. But sometimes we made stuff up, because we were so separated geographically from the linguistic and cultural epicenter. We were a small community, immigrants with no regular contact with the daily language. We didn’t subscribe to the big daily newspapers, we didn’t have the internet, and phone calls were expensive at best, of low quality at worst.
So, now I am the Swedish specialist. Yes, I speak Swedish. It is one of two mother tongues for me. But a cultural attaché I am not. I can teach the language. I’ve had over twenty-five years’ experience teaching it to adults in a college and university setting. I’ve got all the proverbial tricks up my sleeve. I guess what I’m saying is, I hope they like me.
And today was our Monday holiday, and with this post, I’m caught up with myself on all the items on my to-do list. The documentary is concluded. I will put on a CD and return to my other primary love, writing. I am currently working on two chapters concurrently - one on swords, and one on cauldrons. Good balance, n’est-ce pas?
Peace, gentle reader. BB