Kristin Riiser Dankel

Engaged global citizen

Kristin is a trained teacher of Norwegian as a second language, environmental geographer and oral storyteller. She has also been active in organizations such as Changemaker and was one of the founders of ICY – the youth movement of the Norwegian YWCA-YWCA Global.
– I spent most of my time studying trying to save the world.

She herself did not attend a folk high school, but rather the United World College in Italy – a boarding school with the goal of building peace and understanding.
– I left home to go to a school that brought together young people from all over the world, and experienced how magical it can be to live together.

She also has a past as a solidarity year-old in the YWCA-YFUM, which she believes gives her an understanding of what it is like to be a folk high school student.

– It was also about the joy of learning – not to pass an exam, but because it was exciting in itself. You could immerse yourself and follow your curiosity to understand more of the world.

Language nerd

Kristin has lived on three continents, speaks several languages ​​and describes herself as a language nerd.
– It was perhaps the multilingualism that first made me interested in the subject – plus I love teaching.

As a teacher, she is concerned with how language opens doors – both to learning, to community, and to being taken seriously in a new society.
– You can also often be perceived as only being as intelligent as your language level. That's not true, but language is a key to getting by in society.

She always finds it exciting when a new group of students enters the classroom.
– My education has given me knowledge about how different languages ​​are structured, so when a student comes to Rønningen, I already know a little about how the mother tongue works and how we can best approach Norwegian.

An international folk high school
The international students come with very different expectations of what awaits them at the folk high school. For some, it is an unfamiliar type of school, while others have relatives who have attended there before.
– It's very different from what most people are used to. It's an extreme version of Nordic pedagogy, where it's not just about subjects, but about the whole person.

Some people set ambitious goals of passing the Norwegian Language Test at B2 level during the year. Kristin does not hide the fact that it is demanding.
– Usually people say that those who can do it in two years are super smart. But that said, I have students who do it almost every year.

Often these are students with a good ear for languages, experience in other languages ​​or a prior foundation in Norwegian.
– But regardless of background, it is always those who work hard, both in class and outside, who succeed. They throw themselves into it and start speaking Norwegian with the little they know from day one.

International community

She experiences that a unique community is growing in the class, where everyone shares the experience of being new in Norway and seeing both Norwegian society and themselves from the outside.
– And it's nice to have someone to laugh with when you're starting to get tired of wholemeal bread three times a day.

Many of the students are used to belonging to the majority in their home country. For Kristin, it is valuable that they get to experience what it is like to be a minority.
– Several people say that they have previously been irritated by having to adapt to people who did not understand the language or the codes at home. When they have experienced it themselves, they have realized that they were not always good members of the majority. Afterwards, they meet others with more understanding.

Kristin says that what drives her most is creating encounters across cultures.

– We become better people by getting to know people who are different from ourselves. In a time of more polarization and higher walls, such encounters provide a closeness to both the world and the people around us.