SFI teachers need better education: expert
Published: 28 Dec 12 11:06 CET | Print version
Online: http://www.thelocal.se/45312/20121228/
The requirements for teaching a Swedish language course for immigrants (SFI) are far too low, according to experts who recommend doubling the teachers’ education.
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“If we want SFI teachers to be reasonably competent, the requirements ought to be at least double,” said the government’s SFI investigator Christer Hallerby to Sveriges Radio (SR).
While one term of Swedish as a second language is enough for SFI, teaching a subject in middle school requires studying that subject for three terms.
However, if the requirements are raised it may be difficult to find teachers.
At least 60 percent of SFI teachers must be certified and reach the minimum requirements, and according to representatives from Södertälje’s SFI education, it’s hard enough to find qualified teachers today.
“It would be very hard, at least at first. Unless the job becomes more appealing, so that more people want to become certified,” Jussi Koreila, principal of the SFI education in Södertälje, told SR.
Inga-Lena Rydén heads the National Centre for Swedish as a Second Language at Stockholm University. She also believes finding teachers may be difficult, but even so, remains critical of the low requirements for a job which often requires teaching illiterate students.
“I’d say that this is the most difficult teaching assignment you could have. You have to be able to alphabetize people who come from what we call spoken environments,” she said to SR.
She suggests an alternative to low competence requirements: giving SFI schools more time to find competent teachers.
“SFI teachers could have been exempt from the certification requirement, and been given more time, instead of just lowering the requirements, which I find hard to understand. Lowering the requirements means lowering the value of the subject, which is unfortunate from a societal perspective.”
What do you think? Leave your comment below.
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The fact is that Swedish language can hardly be considered a second language! Most of the times, Swedish language is a third or fourth language, because it's a language that seldom anybody learn anywhere in the world. You should be ended up in Sweden by some reasons to learn Swedish language. Most of the countries teach English in high schools or even junior high schools, in some countries French or German language or even Spanish but Swedish is almost impossible (may be just in Finland or Scandinavian countries!).
Why it is mentioned Swedish as a second language in the Medias, I just wonder!
The term "second language" refers to any language that is not your main mothertongue. If you are born and raised in France and French is the language you speak and think in, that is your "first" language. If you subsequently learn Spanish, German and Italian - all fluently - those are second languages. If you later on learn conversational Swahili and Finnish, those are also second languages. It has nothing to do with the order in which you learn them; it has to do with the fact that the first language is your emotive language, the language you think in, whereas the others are languages you speak but do not think in.
But now that I came to Stockholm, the teachers aren't very trained. Most of the times the classes are extremely slow.
Perhaps it has to do with the composition of the classes as well. In ronneby, my class mates used to be university students who were studying in Blekinge Tekniska Högskola. And here in Stockholm, the class mates are usually non-students.
Good point, but still for me it's a problem. As a matter of fact from linguistic point of view it's a problem.
You learn a foreign language better when you are young. I mean if somebody gets an ordinary education at school and learn a foreign language; the second one probably would be some common languages like English, French, German or Spanish not Swedish; unless you live in Sweden. In that case Swedish as a second or let say third language would be harder to learn than for example English (which actually is more useful and more common to use in different countries). However, I know people who replaced Swedish language with English. I mean I know persons, who could speak English or French (they learned it at school as second language) but learned Swedish and replaced English language. They speak Swedish better than English (they practiced Swedish and stopped practicing English) but their ability to communicate internationally is much limited now!
My point in Second and Third language is from scientific study of human language and human ability in communication; not the classification of all foreign languages as second one and the native language as first one! If somebody learn many different languages, then probably that person would speak some languages better than the others, and there is a first, second, third language for the person him/herself in the case of communication, understanding and expression in different levels.
Moreover, when I started to be better with my Swedish they moved me in more advanced classes and these little challenges keep me always motivated and willing to learn.
It is true that sometimes the classes are slow, but I think that students learn at different speeds and the ones who want to learn faster can still do it through films, music and real conversations and extra curses that are provided at the SFI.
I studied Swedish in a private school as weel and I would definitely recommend the SFI. It is free, it is flexible, you have a lot of different curses, and their goal is not to take money from the students and this means that in the class teachers and students share the same objects...to learn swedish!!!!!!
"Swedish as a Second Language" is a bit of a misnomer. In the USA they have changed the name of the courses from "English as a Second Language" to "English for Speakers of Other Languages" which is probably a more accurate description.
Sometimes the best education is experience and I am not sure I agree that more education will equal better teachers.Teachers don't choose this career path because it is easy, it isn't. They do it because they believe they can make a difference and that should be applauded and supported.
Few years back i was a SFI student, trying to learned Swedish, but most of the classes i been though none of the SFI teachers can explain why words are being this way or that way. All they said was ( svenska är konstig) and keep go on. If you're teaching the language you should know all the connection of the language. ex...adjektiv, konjunktioner, prepositioner, substantiv...etc.
i am immigrant myself and i agree.
although it took me only 7 weeks to finish my whole SFI program it still hard for me to speak the language.
i fail to see the point why Sweden insists to corrupt its immigrants by spoiling their very first days in the country, providing language courses??? language?
it should come itself! i should feel that i need it, then and only then i would find my way to learn it. otherwise, keep wasting your time and money Sweden!
the other day, i was talking to a friend of mine (Swede) about the same problem and i have expressed my point the same way i did here. he turned back to me (joking) saying "you f$%^^ Iraqis come here and instead of showing appreciating you blame the system! typical of you).
i blame no one! it is just wrong and it needs to be corrected as soon as possible.
There really just needs to be more structure to the lesson planning. Perhaps offering transport to neighboring towns in order to get more people into groups that fit. The younger students and students of language, who have an easier time, they rush right through. Those who lack formal education, they work with very closely. Those of us who are somewhere in between, who have an education, but may be older and/or have a more difficult time learning languages, they haven't a clue what to do with.