International Festival

This spring one of my Sociology classes participated in the annual Millbrook International Festival. The festival is organized by a group of teachers and focuses on a different theme each year. Classes and clubs can sign up to participate by running booths. The festival ran during two periods on April 7th.

This year's theme was Sustainability. We could take that in many directions--economics, politics, environment, culture. The class settled on this focus question: "How will Sweden sustain its traditional culture in the face of globalization and immigration?"

We started our study of Sweden by watching a few videos about Swedish culture and reading a few chapters out of Michael Booth's The Almost Nearly Perfect People. The students split up the chapters and shared out what they learned. We were able to use these resources to build our understanding of the forces currently influencing Swedish culture. Students worked in groups to brainstorm ideas on how to represent traditional Sweden and how to address challenges. I worked with each group to develop a plan of action, and finally the students created their respective parts of the booth.

One of the 4 Squares created during our book study

What students shared out about the chapters they read

I was really impressed by the students' ideas and the products that they created. Here are the examples of culture that they used to represent the traditions of Sweden:

• Fika -- We learned that having coffee is a popular and easy social occasion in Sweden. So, we invited students to "fika" with us. The students brewed coffee, offered cinnamon bread (as a replacement for kanelbullar, or cinnamon buns), and created a menu of discussion topics.

• Pippi Langstrump (Longstocking) -- Students shared this popular Swedish children's character by displaying one of the chapter books, creating an absolutely amazing drawing of Pippi, and showing videos of the old television series.

• Swedish phrases -- One group selected a few Swedish words and asked students to match them to their English translations. They made bead bracelets with the Swedish words on then handed them out to visitors to our booth.

• Swedish meatballs -- Another group really wanted to serve Swedish meatballs. While I admittedly hated the idea of what an undertaking this would be, the students were adamant. And to their credit, they figured out all the details. All it took from me was a trip to BJ's for frozen meatballs and an order from Amazon to get the sauce and some lingonberry jam.

• Hela Havet Stormar -- To provide something more active, students also put together a game of musical chairs (or "the whole sea is storming" in Swedish). And, of course, the music was entirely ABBA songs.

To address the issue of cultural sustainability, we looked at the ways that the culture of Sweden is facing challenges. The students relied heavily on the lessons learned from Michael Booth's book for this part. With the increasing immigration and resulting multiculturalism, what it means to be Swedish is changing. Plus, global products and mass media are increasing international influence in the small Nordic nation.

Chart of immigration growth since 1950

Students selected quotes from Booth's book to represent reactions to immigration

Visitors to the booth were quizzed on who they think is Swedish. The catch? They're all Swedish. Another representation of Sweden's changing population.

My students enjoyed studying Sweden as a case study of culture, and I was appreciative of their enthusiasm and hard work. With hundreds of students interacting with our booth, I was really happy with the opportunity to represent culture and global issues to the Millbrook community.

Ten Weeks and Counting

The countdown has begun. In less than ten weeks, I'll be in Stockholm. And to channel my interior Chandler Bing, could I BE any more excited? I'm hoping to start up regular posts now and increase their frequency as the trip approaches. Tune in for much more from me. Yeah, I'm probably going to drown you in everything Sweden by the end of this summer, so get ready.

My main goal in today's post is just to outline a little bit about why I'm going to Sweden. When I applied for this project about a year and a half ago, the trip was originally designed for Helsinki, Finland. At the end of last summer, the organizers switched it to Stockholm. While I was a little disappointed in the change--and my need to purchase a second Lonely Planet travel guide--I have come to realize that Sweden offers a much greater depth of study for me. And that's the main goal of this experience: to broaden and deepen global understanding for both myself and my students. According to our program's web page, I'll be involved in an immersion experience "framed with technology projects that encourage connections with Swedish educators, collections of Swedish cultural artifacts, and reflections on Swedish culture." So, what does that really mean? You'll have to tune in to my blog to see it in action.

Stockholm Underground

If you know me, you know that I love all things cultural. I can even trace back and find those critical moments in my life that set me on this path. When I read Madeleine L'Engle's The Arm of the Starfish as a child, the setting of that story overwhelmed me, and I knew one day I would travel those same locales in Portugal. I'm still waiting on that day, by the way. Just after high school, when I had the incredible opportunity to visit Great Britain and Mexico back-to-back, I finally realized the thrill of travel and exploring new places. Then when I took my first sociology class as a sophomore at UNC-Chapel Hill, I knew that I had found the subject I wanted to spend the rest of my life studying. Now, as I'm closing out my 14th year of teaching Sociology at Millbrook High School, I feel like there's a whole world of knowledge still out there for me to learn--and I want nothing more than to bring it back to my students. Through all my travels, readings, and professional development, this program to Sweden is the best opportunity for me dig deep into a cultural study.

I'm already well under way with my preparations. We have met on two Saturdays so far at NC State to train and prepare. One of my Sociology classes created an exhibit at Millbrook's International Festival last month focused on cultural sustainability and Sweden. I'm working with a secondary teacher in Sweden to connect our students and study the topics of world religions and Islamophobia together. I promise more details on these efforts in later posts. I'm reading multiple books, listening to Swedish music (lots of ABBA, a little Eagle Eye Cherry), and following along on Instagram (all the pictures I posted today are from @stockholm_insta). I want to squeeze the most out of this opportunity as possible. My ultimate hope is that all of my friends and family find themselves saying to someone, "Oh, you're going to Sweden? I know this guy that you've got to talk to..."

I appreciate all the encouragement and support that I have received from my family, friends, colleagues, students, and parents. I have been raising support to offset some of my travel costs, and I am very thankful for those who have contributed. If you're still interested, here is the link to my GoFundMe campaign.