Reykjavík Grapevine - 06.12.2013, Qupperneq 55

The course that helped me
learn more than just Icelandic
Norbert Farkas is a 36 year old Hungarian who has lived in Iceland for 5 years. He finished
Icelandic Language and Society Course Landnemaskólinn at Mímir-símenntun in 2012.
Why did you decide to start studying at Landnemaskólinn? I wanted to improve my Ice-
landic, especially in writing and speaking the language. I also felt I needed to learn more
about Iceland in general.
What did you learn? Not only did I improve my Icelandic but I also learned a lot about
the Icelandic society, the culture, the institutions and social structure. The computer skills
class was very helpful and we learned how to make a CV, not to mention a so called com-
petence portofolio. In the competence portofolio I gather all the skills and knowledge I
have aquired through the years in education and work experience that I can use when
applying for work here in Iceland.
What did you enjoy the most? I really liked visiting the Icelandic parliament and the Reykja-
vík City Theater. Romeo and Juliet was really interesting to see in Icelandic.
What was your least favorite part? I enjoyed everything about this course, honestly, I had
the time of my life.
How was your group? I made many permanent friends in my group and got to meet people
from many countries like Catalonia, Bulgaria and Kosovo.
What were the teachers like? The were friendly and their Icelandic was easy to under-
stand since they have the training to speak in a clear and direct manner to people who are
still learning the language.
Icelandic Language and Society Course at Mímir-
símenntun
Has the course improved your life in Iceland? Yes, definitley and I encourage those
who want to improve their skills and options in this country to check out this course.
Icelandic Language and Society Course - Landnemaskólinn
The Icelandic Language and Society Course at Mímir-símenntun is an orientation
course for immigrants. The objectives of the course are to boost immigrants self-
confidence and knowledge of Icelandic. That will give them more options in the
labor market and help them to intergrate into Icelandic society. The course is for
people who have finished 180 class hours of Icelandic or have similar proficiency.
The class subjects are Icelandic language, society and history, confidence training
and computer skills.
Tourism Service Course
100 hour course – taught in English
For those who want to work in the tourism sector?
The course is based on the curriculum Færni í ferðaþjónustu of The Education and
Training Service Centre (www.frae.is). The Education and Training Fund subsidi-
zes the studies which can be evaluated according to the ECTS credit system. The
course is for people 20 years old and over, and have finished 180 class hours of
Icelandic, or have similar proficiency.
Part of the course fee is refundable by labor unions.
Mímir-símenntun Ofanleiti 2 103 Reykjavík Sími / Tel. 580 1800 www.mimir.is
Course objectives:
Preparation for jobs in the tourism sector
Customer service training
Local geographical, historical and cultural
knowledge
Information technology
Training in teamwork and independent work
Course subjects:
Customer service
Geographical, historical and
cultural orientation
Environmental awareness
Icelandic and English
First aid
This course covers various subjects that are useful and practical for those
who want a career in the food industry
The course subjects are:
Food handling practices
Creating procedural guidelines
Health hazard prevention, food safety standards,
and bacterias
Public health policy and workers responsibilities
Organizational skills and safety inspection protocols
Do you want to acquire or improve your food handling skills?
Food handling and preparation skills
Grunnmenntaskóli
Basic secondary school for people with
Icelandic as a second language
Do you want to improve your basic education?
Did you drop out of secondary school?
300 hour course – taught in Icelandic
Teaching methods and material are adjusted to diverse groups of students
with various levels of knowledge of Icelandic.
Course subjects:
Math
Icelandic
English
Information technology
Study-skills
The course is for people 20 years old and over and is based on the curriculum
Grunnmenntaskóli of The Education and Training Service Centre. The studies
can be evaluated to the ECTS credit system.
The course includes
on-the-job training
60 hour course
weekdays / mornings
and afternoons