Ingunn Elvekrok – Building Fluency in the Classroom and Beyond

Head of the Department of Marketing at the School of  Communication, Leadership and Marketing at Kristiania University in Oslo, Ingunn Elvekrok spent a week with us refining her English. Although highly proficient, she stressed the importance of conversing with native speakers when building fluency. She spoke to me about her course experience here at Atlantic, highlighting that the learning continued beyond the classroom in the Galway community.

During what she described as an exceptionally busy week of classroom tuition and night-time socialising, she savoured every opportunity to speak English, follow fast and complex conversations, and discover the finest features of the English language.

Like so many of our Erasmus+ course participants, Ingunn came here on the recommendation of a colleague. Introducing herself, she said:

I am a Professor of Organization, Leadership and Innovation at the Kristiania University of Applied Sciences. I am also Head of Department of Marketing. We have an increasing number of people coming in, speaking more English than Norwegian, from PhD students right through to employees. That’s why I wanted to improve my oral English. My written English as well, but mostly my oral English and the ease of talking.

In her career, Ingunn increasingly works in English and may be required to lecture in English more frequently:

I might be lecturing in English, but that’s not my preferred thing. But I have done that before. For now, it’s mostly because I want to have better discussions with colleagues. And also because I am, of course, a researcher too, so I write papers in English and present them at conferences, et cetera. It’s good for me.

I’ve learned a lot of new words, which is good in both oral language, but also in written, maybe even more useful in writing because when you talk, people tend to be nice to you and thelp you a little bit, but when you write, you have to be precise. So I think that’s been really good for my English writing too.

Intensive General English at Atlantic – A Culturally Diverse Classroom

Had the course dates suited her Ingunn would have opted for the Academic Writing & Presentation Skills Course. Still, she much appreciated the mix of participants she encountered in her Intensive General English class and the interactive afternoon workshops.

I participate in the C1 group, and they are good. Everybody is quite good at English, so we can have really good conversations. I have participated in the workshops, which is also really good.

Stressing that much of the learning and fluency work takes place beyond the classroom, Ingunn said:

What I also find really good about this language course is that we get to know the other people in the group. I’ve actually been out every week or every night, which is not normal for me at home. That is also a part of the learning. On Monday, we had this city walk which was really nice. You get to know each other a little bit more. Then on Tuesday, we had a pub evening.

I went to the museum with one of the other participants yesterday, which was really nice. Actually, there were four of us going to the museum. Tonight, we’re going to a reading in a bookshop, which is super-interesting I think. Then, there is also the storytelling event advertised on the noticeboard.

Elaborating the description of intensive language practice during a busy week, she added:

I’m only here for one week. For me, it has been packed with learning in different ways. It’s been really great. Really happy I came. It’s more than fulfilled my expectations, I must say.

When asked about the highlights of the week, Ingunn said:

I think the best thing is the variety of teaching methods. You have this layout, a possibility to network with other people. That’s a really nice thing because that’s important when you’re studying another language.

What has been challenging? I don’t think anything has been really challenging. No. Of course, some parts of cleft sentences, et cetera. If you’re going to the language, that’s something that is challenging, but that’s different for every person.

Confident that the course will make English communication at Kristiania University easier for her, Ingunn added:

I wish that that could have stayed for a longer time. Most of my fellow students here, they are staying for at least two weeks. I can understand that that is really more than double because you have the weekend in between. When you come on the first day, you don’t know yourself. I came on Sunday, and Sunday wasn’t that fun because then you have to navigate by yourself and try to find your way.

It’s always takes time to settle into a course. I think if I had stayed for two weeks, I would have gotten more than double.

Ingunn is staying in touch with her classmates via the WhatsApp group they created.