So I love this school so far.
The kids are awesome, and it’s cool to hear where they come from and their stories. The area I’m in has a high immigrant population – and when they say “immigrant” in Sweden, they mean low-income, refugees, or “arab” (and if you were wondering “arab” is a broad term in Sweden that does not always mean “arab”).
We were talking about what the difference is between refugees and immigrants, and some kids said that they were refugees, I have students who have fled civil wars and stuff, and they represent a much higher population than they have at the previous 2 schools I was at. It’s interesting.
The school, for a lot of them, is their only safe place, as their living conditions are not ideal, and students from our school are bullied and targeted by others in the community. We now have to have escorts to and from the bus station, and teachers stationed along the way to the school. I believe we’re trying to get the police and security for the subway and the mall the students pass by involved as well. But I’m not quite sure how everything will turn out since this seems to be a fairly recent problem.
However, the school itself is amazing. The students seem to be very happy that they are there, and the focus is on rewarding the positive, which works amazingly well with the student population that we have. They’re not used to hearing good things about themselves, so a lot of them are super needy for praise.
But the best part is the food =P We have amazing breakfast and lunch at the school, and afterschool snacks as well, if we’re around for them.
But! I am looking forward to the week off in a bit. I have a lot of filing and stuff I need to get done, and it will be nice to have the time to do so. And it will be nice to not have to wake up at 4:30 to catch the train in.