Svenska B

Having finally, and with a great deal of perseverance on the part of my teacher, signed of on Svenska A, I'm now embarking down the road of Svenska B. The final stage of the immigrant language programme. Why am I continuing to subject myself to this torture ? I'm not exactly sure. Maybe it's because I've been doing it so long now that I don't know anything else to do. I started with SFI a few weeks after arriving in Sweden, so I guess it's just part of my life now. But there is a little method to the madness. I've spent so much of my life having the freedom to choose what I want to do. Now, I don't have that same freedom. Not to the same extent. So I'm trying to level the playing field as much as possible between myself and the native Swede. Note, I did say as much as "possible". Have to keep realism in there as well. And it's free. I still can't believe that. Go Sweden.

Having Svenska B will allow me to attend any class held at a Swedish university. I probably will never want to do that. But, the fact is that I could if I wanted. And that's important for me. Being able to choose, rather than have it chosen for me. The other side is that it feels like a job half done. Knowing that there was more to the process would eat away at me. Completing SFI was a condition of my employment. The rest, well that's just a condition for me.

First impressions of Svenska B is that it's quite a jump from Svenska A. In both level and direction. Svenska A was an introduction to extended Swedish writing, while raising the bar with regard to grammatical knowledge. Svenska B is almost entirely focused on extended writing. Lots of indepth reports to write, and opinions to express. A stronger emphasis on Swedish history and culture. Which I guess is fair enough.

Svenska B is a formal recognised qualification. There is a national exam at the end of it. As there is with SFI. Interestingly, for some unknown reason, the national exam is not compulsary for students studying through adult education centres. Such as Komvux. From a national point of view. But many learning centres, my own included, have decided that they will include the national exam as part of their course requirements. Damn them.

This might all come to nothing. Our teacher is taking a one term break from us, to find religion. Technically she's sudying a teaching religion course, but we all suspect that we know what has driven her to this. It's a bit late to apologise now, I guess. So, while I'm toiling my way through the coursework over the summer, there may not be a class for me to return to. We discussed this at some length, and I opted to continue. Regardless of whether or not there is a new class next term, my level of Swedish will have improved. And that's the whole point of the exercise, right ?