Winter holyday in Norway

In the period 23. - 27. March our participants and teachers had their Winter holyday. Many of them could enjoy a week in the beautiful Norwegian mountains covered with white snow, and they were blessed with sunny days and even 5 days of market including a fun fair in the town of Kongsberg.

For some of our participants, this week was filled with work! 12 men and women were introduced to different areas of work where they had to learn a profession together with other Norwegians.Some were very nervous, others had done this before, and were looking forward to 5 days out in the field.

Regina worked as a nurse assistant at one of the homes for elderly people in Kongsberg. She loves this work, and has many years of practice from her country of origin; Liberia. In Norway she has to learn a lot of new words related to the work, but she is very eager to do so, and is a quick learner. While working, she picks up new words every day, and she also get much help from her collegues and the elderly people living in the center.

Two young men from Burma found their way to ASVO, a center with a large variety of activities. One of them, Zaw Zaw Tun, had been here before, and he appreciated the contact he got amongst the others working here. He and Siang Hmung soon picked up both words and activities in the workshop of carpenting. Hammer and saw were used, and after the week they could still count 10 fingers each!

Oddvar Lindbo (to the right) is perhaps one of our town's nicest man. He always welcomes every immigrant to our small town, and twice a week he even takes one lucky participant with him to work. Since Oddvar is a man who likes to talk about many different subjects, he gives our participant a great way of learning many things about the Norwegian society. Together he and Ko Ko Ni (to the left in the picture) from Burma made a strong team working toghether with practical things, and as you can see, they had a nice time together.

Xiringul from Uguristan has found work in one of the grocery stores. She does a great job, and is a fast learner. In the shop she almost knows every name of the groceries now, and she hopes she can get a permanent job here in the future.

All our participants normally spend from 4-6 hours a day learning Norwegian in a class-room. This holiday gave them 5 days out working with Norwegian colleagues, and all found it very interesting. As their teacher I had great pleasure checking out how it went, and what I saw was happy participants who were very greatful for having the opportunity to practice language in a practical setting. Some of them will continue to work 2 times a week until June, others will have to attend some more hours sitting at the benches at school.