Snapshot from today - new book

After Banned Book Week last week I will this week introduce my English 5 students to "A Day in the Life of Marlon Bundo" as an introduction for our work with the movie "The Miseducation of Cameron Post" which we will go and see on October 16 and then follow up with discussions. LGTBQ questions are extremely important to address in the classroom and why not do it via a children's book that has caused some controversy in the United States.

A summary of our Skypeathon 2019

The whole class in the early morning hours of day two...



We started the Skypeathon with a call #1 at 10 am to Erik Engström, meteorologist and climate researcher at the Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute. Erik told us about the future prospects of the climate...

Call #2 was to Tudor Hall Girls' School and Jonathan Galloway in Banbury, the UK. We had prepared a few questions around the theme of human rights and especially the case of Shamima Begum, which was a topicality in the UK at the moment. A very good discussion with clever students.

My students' start of a summary of the call:
We began the conversation with asking the girls about how it is to be in a school with only girls, to which they replied that it was really nice because you can be yourself and there are no distractions in the form of boys.

Tudor Hall Girls' School

Students at Tudor Hall Girls' School

Tudor Hall Girls' School

Call #3 went to climate activist and opera singer Samuel Jarrick in Stockholm, Sweden. We talked about the origin of his interest in climate questions, his brief meeting with Greta Thunberg and the fact that he had skiied Vasaloppet (all 90 kilometers of it) dressed as a snow angel, all to draw attention to the climate crisis.

Louise Epstein, national radio talk show host, was our call #4. Louise told us about her career as a journalist, the advantages and disadvantages of the job, what kind of credentials you need to have and her advice for future budding journalists. Very interesting to get an insight into the life of prominent journalist.

Call #5 went all the way to Gurgaon, India and Arti Chopra. We had some delays due to Arti's traffic challenges (she was stuck in traffic) but after 30 minutes we managed to connect for about 15 minutes, before it was time to hang up and prepare for our next call. Arti informed us about natural disasters and how to act effectively if a natural disaster happens.

Brian Johnson and the students at Lakeside Junior High in Springfield, Arkansas, the USA was call #6. It was a Mystery Skype call but we quickly understood that it was morning and the accents made my students think of North America. It is always a pleasure to talk to the students at this school, always well-behaved, curious and well-spoken. Such a delight!

Students at Lakeside Junior High School in Springfield, Arkansas

Kara Andrade, Pulitzer journalist reporting from Latin America, but currently stationed in Washington D.C., was a wonderful person to interview. My students had many questions regarding the situations for journalists today, the state of free press in the world, her personal experiences and much more. This was call #7.

Journalist Kara Andrade talks about her journalistic career, amongst other things..

Call #8 was a Google Hangout with students of English in Brasilia, Brazil.


Call #9 was to Amanda Killough and her colleague in Flower Mound, Texas, the USA.

Call #10 went to the Palm Coast in Florida, the USA and Christine Brink and students.

Call #11 was a virtual field trip to Thomas Jefferson's Monticello in Virginia, the USA. The guide Liz guided us through old documents, facts and figures as well as rumors and sad truths about slavery.

Liz from Monticello Education

Call #12 went to the neighbor in the north (from the USA speaking), namely to Canada and the Canadian Museum for Human Rights in Manitoba.

Call #13 connected with Dee Stonis and students at Michelle Obama School of Technology outside of Chicago, the USA.


Call #14 was picked up by Brittany DeJean in California. Brittany is a lecturer and speaker for the organization Hearts on Fire.

Call #15 went to California and Calaveras Big Tree State Park.

Here are the students' own summary of the call:

We connected with Ranger Jenny Comperda around 11 pm, who takes care of the park. It was a Virtual Field Trip in the Calaveras Big Tree State Park in California. The call was about giant sequoias which Jenny gave us a tour of. We got to see the big trees and she told us a lot about the trees and the fact that the trees won’t die by its own but also that the small cones are coming out from the big sequoias. We got to know that the cones actually can stay on the tree for 20 to 30 years but to get them down earlier than that, they need help from animals, like squirrels and some special kind of insects from the nature. The park is being visited of about 10.000 up to 20.000 people every year. The meaning of the park is mostly to protect the rare trees.

Huge pine cone

As March 7 turned into March 8 we connected with the most vivacious people ever - Adam, George and Jornea from Flipgrid, on tour in California. This was call #16 and here is the students' own account of the call:

We connected with George, Adam and Jornea from Flipgrid a little after midnight. 

They told us about their bus tour, they are visiting schools right now all over the country and are hoping to come to Europe in a few years. They also spoke about their company and education through video worldwide. Started by a teacher named Charlie, who used it in his classroom. And going from a startup company to being bought by Microsoft, now expanding rapidly.

They told us visiting schools is one of the best things because they get to see the impact of Flipgrid, how the app is used in real life and meet the students personally. The worst thing about the job is that there is no personal contact with the students, however their bus tour provides them with that now. Their tips for us were to: follow your passion, see the needs of the community, listening and adapting to their needs, Using social media as advertising, answering questions on Twitter, focusing on putting out genuine and fun content as advertising. working with people who are like-minded is important.

Skyping with Tokyo, Japan

St Mary's International Boys' School in Tokyo, Japan was our call #17 and we had prepared a few questions regarding human rights and especially equality between men and women. 

My students wrote: 

Our second and last call was with a boy school in Tokyo. We discussed their vision of the equality between the different genders. They told us that the women are made for cleaning and taking care of the kids/house, while the men are supposed to work and support his family. We realized that they were very old-fashioned when it comes to how society is built. The students were really surprised when we told them how it works in Sweden, that it is way more equal and that the genders are treated almost the same (except the salary, that we talked about)

We also discussed their opinions about going to an only boy school. Most of them actually prefer private school instead of an public school.

Sam Jordan in Juneau, Alaska picked up our #18th call to discuss the climate crisis. We chatted about Greta Thunberg, Netflix shows and had an honest talk about what each and everyone of us can do to help the environment. Such a great sport Sam! And a little bit of Viking blood in him there is.. :)

Sam Jordan in Alaska

Unfortunately call #19, to New Zealand, was canceled due to unforeseen circumstances. And instead of frantically deciding to look for a substituting call we just took the time to relax a little and build up some energy for the next exciting call instead.

Call #20 was supposed to be a surprise call for our exchange student Kwan from Thailand. Her English teacher in Thailand - Chris Rudd - and I had planned a session that would be a listening comprehension for his students and just a welcomed surprise for Kwan on our end. However, I do think Kwan had been told about the call and knew what was coming... Despite that this was a very engaging call.

Chris Rudd - the teacher in charge at the Thai school

Call #21 was picked up by an energetic Brett Fyfield in Brisbane, Australia.


Call #22 was a local connection - Swedish tv-journalist and musician Per-Olof Stjärnered.


The last call of our Skypeathon 2019, call #23 went to Burdur, Turkey and the students in Harun Cifti's class.


Here is a summary written by a student:

In the morning we talked with a school class from Turkey about human rights. Both the children (around 13 years old) in the Turkish class and us had a lot of common thoughts about how women and men should be treated equally. They also showed us some quotes that represented their view on women and men in Turkey. The children in the class told us that they liked their Turkey and that they felt equality between the two genders. We wrapped the conversation up with some questions about each other´s schools. It was a informative conversation and we learned a lot from it.

Snapshot from today - writers through time and place

Starting tomorrow the national tests for English 5 kick off with the writing test. On Friday the same procedure for the students in English 6. At the same time I am starting the first part of the final project in English 6 by giving them a picture of a famous person. Their job is to find out who the person is and to present their findings in a keynote accompanied by a voice-over. A critical evaluation of the sources used should also be included. Handing out the pictures I quickly understood that the majority of the writers were unknown to them, only Shakespeare and Churchill were subjects for identification. Below a few of the ones I handed out.

From top left to bottom right: Alice Walker, Jane Austen, Virginia Woolf, Wole Soyinka, Nadine Gordimer, Toni Morrison, Arundhati Roy and Oscar Wilde.

A quick summary of our Skype sessions and our Skypeathon

The map of documented Skype calls currently looks like this:

Documented calls from our Skypeathon - March 16-17 2017:

Call #1:
The first connection turned out to be Sara Gunneriusson, an English/Biology teacher at Bäckängsgymnasiet - due to the snow storm that hit the eastern coast of the USA - our original call was canceled and the next best thing was our own shining star Mrs Sara. With lots of vivacity she engaged the students and set a great standard for the calls to come.

Sara Gunneriusson and students - call #1

Call #2:

Marine geophysicist Dr. Kelly Hogan at the British Antarctic Survey in Cambridge, UK, was our second call and she quickly gave us a lot of information about her research and the state of the polar ice and glaciers.

Kelly Hogan, call #2

Call #3:
Our third call went to Melanie LeJeune and her students at St. Louis Catholic High School in Lake Charles, Louisiana. My students were very happy to talk to students their own age and they got many informative answers to their questions. We hope to do something more with these students in the future.

A photo from the Louisiana side of things....

The students at St. Louis Catholic High School in Louisiana on the screen in the background, call #3

Call #4:
Jennifer Nolan greeted us from a wintery Maine and we were quickly drawn into her enthusiastic way of stressing the importance of the oceans and sea animals. Great call.

Jennifer Nolan, call #4

Call #5:
After a few trial calls with technological mishaps, we were happy to see everything working like clockwork when connecting with Dee Stonis and her students at Michelle Obama School of Technology and the Arts in Park Forest, Illinois.

Dee Stonis and students, call #5

Call #6: 
Nathan Doerr, at Wyoming State Museum, welcomed us in an entertaining and educational Mystery Skype manner which we took to heart.

Nathan Doerr, call #6

Call #7: 
Next thing on the list was to visit Dan Horton and his students at Broadway High School in Harrisonburg, Virginia.

Students in Virginia, call #7

Call #8:
At 5 pm it was time to focus even further west and we connected easily with Vicky Trevino and students at Colegio San Patricio in Monterrey, Mexico. It just happened to be a Twin Day for them (during Spirit Week) so some students were dressed up in similar outfits. They sang their national anthem and persuaded us to do the same. 

Call #9: 
Chrissy Gregg was nice to escort us around the World War II Museum in New Orleans, Louisiana. She showed us planes and war memorabilia while being very hospitable during this Q&A/Virtual Field Trip-session. Thank you! :) 

Call #10:
Next up was a Mystery Skype and the students quickly understood that we were dealing with the USA again. Questions back and forth until we had pinpointed them at North Plainfield High School, North Plainfield, New Jersey. Kelli Beard was teacher in charge on the American side.

New Jersey students on the screen, call #10

Call #11:
My American colleague and fellow teacher Rick Bleemel was helping us out and let us touch down with him north of Dallas in Texas. He revealed that he is cheering for Notre Dame in College basketball and (I think) they actually beat their opponents in the latest game. Yay! One student asked what his favorite historical era is (he is a History/Geography teacher) and I believe he said "the American Revolution."


Call #12: 
We turned a little east for the next call with friend Kelly Fykes and students in Vero Beach, Florida. We played a Mystery Skype version and it took a little time to find them on the east coast of FL. Great questioners and answerers. Always a pleasure Kelly! :)

Students from NA16F were in charge of this call, call #12.

Call #13:
I had arranged a session with Debra Erdmann and her students and today Veralice Estrada helped out in actually going through with the activity. We could find the students at Oxnard High School about one hour's drive north of Los Angeles. Excellent questions were asked on both parts, with special focus on political systems, and it sure was fun to be able to get an insight into the differences between the schools.

A look into a classroom at Oxnard High School in Oxnard, California.

Call #14: 
You could tell that Yellowstone ranger Greg Malloure was used to educational and informational sessions with students telling us about the importance of the national parks and Yellowstone in particular. The students learned that Wyoming is the least populated state in the US with around 600,000 inhabitants.

Call #15:
Our first (and only this time) visit with Canada came true through Dean Vendramin, teacher at O'Neill Catholic High School in Regina, Saskatchewan. I sent over a few questions from my students to his last week and earlier this week we received answers in a flip grid. Next week I will make sure my students answers with flip grids of their own. Thank you helping us out, Dean!

In between sessions this happened:

Call #16:
Is a canceled call still is a call? Well, if it is then we connected with Hampton High School in Hampton, Nevada. But, we really didn't, because our call wasn't picked up. :(

Call #17:
Kerri Thompson is wonderfully creative teacher that I come back to now and then since she is so committed in using digital tools. Her colleagues Alastair and Debbie joined in while we played Mystery Skype/Q&A with students at Tamatea Intermediate School in Napier, New Zealand. Love their uniforms and manners!

Students at Tamatea Intermediate, Napier, NZ. Call #17

Call #18:
Brian Johnson is also a teacher that I have come back to, because we share a common interest in digital tools and collaborations. He graciously answered my students' questions and gave us book tips (he's also a librarian). Brian lives in Arkansas, USA.

Brian Johnson, call #18

Call #19:
As March 16 turned into March 17 we connected with Richard McLaren and his students at Shirley Boys' High School in Christchurch in New Zealand.

Call #20:
Juneau and Alaskan resident Sam Jordan answered many questions about life in that part of the USA. We saw a snow-covered landscape behind him and learned that he moved to Alaska a few years back, from New England. This summer Sam and his family will tour Scandinavia and visit Sweden for a few days. Therefore, he asked what kind of food dish he should eat while here and the answer was a quick "meatballs!". What to avoid? Fermented herring.

Sam Jordan in Juneau, Alaska. Call #20.

Call #21:
Call #21 was another call that never really became a call. This time confusion about the time and other school activities hindered us from connecting. Melbourne, Australia would have been the destination but this time it was a no go. Unfortunately.

Some singing occurred when a call didn't go through:

Call #22: 
At 2 am we called up Daniel Parsons in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii for a tour of the battleship USS Missouri (aka Big Mo), involved in the attacks on Iwo Jima and Okinawa among other things. The virtual field trip was very professional and we could tell that they had lots of experience in conducting educational field trips.

Call #23:
My old-time friend Désirée Harton Gold agreed to help us out with a vacant slot in the middle of the night. It was 9 pm in St. Paul, Minnesota, where she lives, as we connected and got talking about her life as a pastor, American values and the political climate. We have been friends for about twenty years but it was fifteen years since I heard her voice and got to see her "live" again. So thankful for this opportunity Désirée!

Call #24: 
St. Mary's International School in Tokyo, Japan was next. But somehow there must have been confusion about the time because they thought we would call an hour earlier than what we had planned for. So, this time no Japanese connection but we hope for a rain check.

Call #25:
3 x Olympian aerial flyer Emily Cook called us up at 4 am and despite being utterly tired my students managed to ask her interesting questions about her life. Emily was in high spirits and we felt so lucky to be able to meet her like this. Emily told us about how to persevere and not give up even when the going gets tough as an athlete.

Call #26: 
Malaysia was our next Mystery Skype and we connected with Kidurong High School in Borneo, Malaysia. Maggie Muuk was in charge of the call. Unfortunately we experienced some technical difficulties and had to call back many many times after the connection broke down. Still, we felt lucky to have added Asia and Malaysia on our virtual world trip. Thank you!

Call #27: 
The Mitahato Education Development Fund was in charge of this call where we got to learn more about Kenyan Food Culture and recipes. Kiambu, Kenya was the place we connected with and they were two hours ahead of us. Corn flour is a staple in Kenya and we compared that to the wheat flour status here in Sweden.

Call #28:
New Delhi, India was the next place and this call became short and I have to say that we had some problems understanding each other and energy was really lacking at this point in time. Still, my students managed to pull through - great effort!

Call #29:
Early Friday morning we turned our attention towards our own country, Sweden. A Mystery Skype was on the agenda and it sure was fun to see how the Swedish students reacted when they found at that they were both in Sweden. Borlänge was the town, Hagagymnasiet the school and Annika Karlin the teacher in charge. Great fun!

Students at Hagagymnasiet in Borlänge, Sweden. Call #29.

Call #30: 
Our next call, scheduled at 9.30 am, was with the Swedish minister for Upper Secondary School and Adult Education and Training (such a short title!) Anna Ekström. Some students felt an added nervousness in talking to a member of the government but the questions they asked were well thought through and the minister gave them good and comprehensible answers. An added bonus was that the minister's political advisor was Marcus Strinäs, a former alumni of Bäckängsgymnasiet.

Call #31
Anders Jacobsson, writer of many very popular Swedish tween books connected with us at 10 am on Friday morning. The students in SA16M had been fortunate to get to read his new unpublished manuscript and this was an opportunity for them to connect and give him some feedback on that script before it gets published.

Anders Jacobsson talks to the students, call #31.

Call #32:
As some of my students are prospective writers and journalists I thought it would be a good idea for them to speak to a well-known journalist. As luck would have it, I was happy to get hold of Håkan Steen, free-lance journalist/music editor at Aftonbladet and at 10.30 am we reached him for a 20-minute interview. He was a wonderful interviewee as he explained his career path and music interest to the students. His favorite artist? David Bowie. Best concert? Probably Håkan Hellström.

Swedish music editor and journalist Håkan Steen.

Call #33:
Tobias Rosvall, digital manager at Bonnier Broadcasting, works with sports in Stockholm. He got the students to talk about what his job entitles and he Skyped with us from C more's tv-studio.

Call #34: 
The final call of the Skypeathon was to Brighton College in Brighton, UK. Richard Grice talked about his previous experience of working with nuclear weapons and how he changed his career into teaching physics. A great way to end our 24-hour Skypeathon.