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Who Are
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Welcome!
This is a teacher’s guide to Pernilla Stalfelt’s book Who Are You? A Book about
Tolerance. Our hope is that it will be an inspiration for those of you who wish
to work with your pupils in increasing their understanding and deepening their
thoughts concerning tolerance. This work can be extended over a longer period
of time and used in a number of subjects as Swedish, English, art, theatre and music.
Who Are You? A Book about Tolerance is a book for children in Swedish primary
schools, and pupils should be encouraged to take the book home and read it with
their parents. The idea behind the book comes from Teskedsorden (The Order of
The Teaspoon) which, along with Rabén & Sjögren publishing company, has
commissioned Pernilla Stalfelt to write and illustrate
a book on the theme of tolerance.
Tolerance = the ability to respect
and accept the way we and things
are, things I can’t change and
things that don’t hurt me.
The Order of the Teaspoon – Teskedsorden
Teskedsorden was founded by the We Magazine (Tidningen Vi) in 2006, inspired by Amos
Oz’s insightful book ”How to Cure a Fanatic”. The foundation seeks to promote increased
tolerance and respect between people. Its motto is: For tolerance Against fanaticism.
The teaspoon is a symbol of action. Amos Oz’s point is that a person who wants to put out a
fire fetches a bucket of water and pours it on the fire. If she doesn’t have a bucket, she takes
a glass and if she doesn’t have a glass she takes a teaspoon. If everybody helps, even just
contributes a tiny bit, we can actually put out the dangerous fire of fanaticism in the world.
All projects that Teskedsorden sponsors are directly aimed at children and young
people. Intolerance and fanaticism represent a growing threat in today’s society and
the goal of Teskedsorden is to get children and young people to reflect over these
concepts in every day life.
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The purpose of this Teacher´s Guide
At the beginning of the school year 2012/2013, Teskedsorden commissioned
Pernilla Stalfelt, one of Sweden’s foremost authors of children’s books, to write a
book and the result is Who Are You? A Book about Tolerance. The object of the
book is to initiate discussion concerning the concept of tolerance among 9–10
year–olds in school and at home. The primary goal is to make a difference, in the
long run, in children’s attitudes toward each other and to create a more humane
and tolerant society.
In the curriculum for the Swedish compulsory school, one of the primary
goals is that every pupil “respects the intrinsic value of other people; rejects the
subjection of people to oppression and degrading treatment, and also assists in
helping other people; can empathise with and understand the situation other
people are in and also develop the will to act with their best interests at heart ...”
(LGR 2011)
With a starting point in this curriculum, Teskedsorden intends to help children
gain a greater understanding for what tolerance is, how it works and what can be
done to increase tolerance in their everyday life and in the society as a whole. A
teenager who, in his or her early years at school, has met and worked through the
essence of concepts such as human dignity and empathy probably won’t find it
as easy to condemn others as someone of the same age who has never met these
issues in earlier years.
This book is addressed to all pupils in the third form. At this age, children are
open to new impressions and impulses. Therefore, starting a discussion about
tolerance and respect with children of this age is very meaningful. The content of
the book has a definite effect on children but can even lead to disarming laughter
and new ways of thinking.
For the teacher, this book can be seen as a support in working against
discrimination and other degrading treatment of pupils.
Text in italics at the beginning of each section are quotations from LGR 2011
which may be of help in understanding which goal you are working with.
PLAN
Education should impart and establish respect for human rights and
the fundamental democratic values on which Swedish society is based.
Each and everyone working in the school should also encourage respect
for the intrinsic value of each person and the environment we all share.
(LGR 2011, The Education Act 2010:800)
When you work with the Teacher’s Guide, it is important that you as a
pedagogue and teacher respect and listen to all pupils that have something to
say, no matter what it is they wish to express. All aspects, thoughts and opinions
are important and worth reflecting over and looking at more closely. Even
repetition of things that already have been said is important. Open up and let it
all come out, but remember to emphasize the importance of the guideline that
no one shall deliberately offend or insult anyone else.
Every child in the class must feel that he or she is respected and taken seriously.
Make an inventory to find out how the children think and what they think
about. This is the most important foundation for the work you can do in order to
develop tolerance in the classroom. This will help create an intimate and secure
climate for discussion in which everyone feels that they are seen and respected.
Group work is a preferable form since the pupils learn to listen and co–operate
at the same time.
Work in a concrete manner, write down what pupils say on large pages, hang
them up so that everyone can see and read them, as well as reflect over the
content. Return to these pages some days later and see if there are any new
thoughts and reflections in the classroom about what they wrote earlier.
This guide is divided into four sections:
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Curiosity – the concept of tolerance/intolerance
Thoughts
Communication
Prejudices – similarities/differences
How tolerant should you really be? Perhaps a good
way to tell is to see how it feels inside, in your heart?
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CURIOSITY - THE CONCEPT OF TOLERANCE/INTOLERANCE
Xenophobia and intolerance must be confronted with knowledge,
open discussion and active measures. (LGR 2011)
2.Images/discussion
1. Group work/discussion/written task
What does it mean to be tolerant? Listening? Accepting others’ differences?
Being fair? Discuss the concept of tolerance and try to find out what the pupils
think that it is. Let the children work in groups, discuss and report.
• C
ut pictures from newspapers of things you like and paste them up on the
collage. Paint a frame around the collage in red.
• Then make a collage with images of things you have problems with and
paint a black frame around them.
Let the groups discuss similarities and differences between the concepts of
tolerance, respect and acceptance. Have the children then write down a few
sentences about what these words signify for them.
Hang up all “like” collages together on one wall and all the “don’t like” images
on another wall. Look at the pictures together and discuss how differently people
can see everyday things. Let everyone in the class put a word in.
• In what context have you heard these words?
• What do they mean just for you?
• What are the opposites of these words and what do they stand for?
3. Group work/discussion/written task
Let each child make a collage or work in groups.
Divide the class into groups of two and let them sit together a short while.
Ask them to write down questions that they will later pose to their classmate.
• What are you curious to find out about your friend?
They may ask each other questions with possible responding questions from
their classmate. Bring the class back together and discuss curiosity.
• Is it OK to be curious?
• How can you ask questions in a way that makes your partner want to relate more?
• What are you curious about?
4. Group work/discussion
Discuss the Golden Rule: “Don’t do to others what you don’t want others to do to
you. Do to others as you want others to do to you.” Ask the children if they agree
with this. Why?/Why not?
• How do you want others in your class to treat you?
• What is valuable to you?
• How would you describe a super friend?
You wonder, feel puzzled and perhaps a bit curious.
You might even want to try to do the same thing.
Even if it seems a bit strange. Why not?
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THOUGHTS
The task of the school is to promote learning by stimulating the individual
to acquire and develop knowledge and values. (LGR 2011)
1. Group work/discussion
The object of this assignment is to help the pupils reflect over the concept
of thinking and the nature of thought. Discuss in the classroom: What is a
thought? Do we need thoughts? Why do we have them?
• Can your thoughts influence your feelings?
• Can your thoughts influence your actions?
2. Image/written task
Let the children draw a thought they often have. Ask them to write a few
words about how this thought comes to them.
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Did you get this thought from another person?
Did it come to you through something you heard?
Did it come to you through something you saw?
Did it come to you through something you felt?
Did it come to you from TV?
Did it come to you through your computer?
Did you think it up all by yourself?
3. Written task/images/music
Divide the class up so that the pupils sit in pairs. Let each one tell their classmate
about a thought they have had. The thoughts can deal with someone in their
family, with friends or a teacher.
• What kind of feeling do you get from your thought?
• Does it make you happy? Scared? Angry? Unhappy?
Then let the pupils write a short story, poem or a song about their classmate’s
thought. Or draw a picture. If they have written a song, let them sing and
play it, together if possible.
4. Group work/discussion/written task
Let pupils write down thoughts that feel wrong and thoughts that feel right.
Discuss these comments in the classroom as a whole. Are there right thoughts
and wrong thoughts? In that case, how do we know what is right and wrong?
Can something be right sometimes and wrong sometimes? How should we act if
we feel that someone has wrong thoughts? Should we do anything? If so, what?
Where do all our thoughts come from?
Do they come flying through the air?
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COMMUNICATION
Language, learning and the development of a personal identity are all
closely related. By providing a wealth of opportunities for discussion,
reading and writing, all pupils should be able to develop their ability to
communicate and thus gain confidence in their own language abilities.
(LGR 2011)
1. Theatre – speaking with your body
The object of this assignment is to help the pupils discover how it is not to be able
to use their spoken language. How can we communicate without words?
Play charades and practice using gesticulations. Write sentences and let some of
the children help. Make sure that it is a mixture of serious and silly, funny things.
If it is too easy – make it more difficult. If it is too difficult – make it easier. Let
everyone take part in the guessing.
4. Group work/discussion – the whisper game
Arrange the pupils together in a ring and choose one of them to whisper a
sentence to the classmate beside him/her. Then the other children should
whisper the sentence one at a time around the circle. The sentence should not be
repeated more than one time by each person and when it reaches the last pupil in
the ring, he or she will say the sentence out loud. Then, the one who started the
whisper game repeats the sentence he/she whispered in the beginning and then
you can compare the two. Most probably, the sentence has been changed quite a
bit by the time it has reached the last person in the ring.
Discuss how something you tell someone can, after a certain amount of time,
be changed into something worse or untrue. How can this be? How important
is it to try to be clear and concise when communicating?
2. Images and theatre – speaking with signs
Pose a question to the children, a question they shall answer with a picture. The
others in the class shall then guess what the picture is supposed to represent.
Examples:
• What are you afraid of?
• What seems strange to you?
• What makes you happy?
Let the children draw first and then gesticulate to the drawing if necessary.
Draw on the whiteboard or flipchart so that everyone can see and guess.
3. Evaluation of tasks 1 and 2
How did you feel not to be able to talk? Make an experiment in the classroom:
Let everybody be quiet one hour. No talking, just gesticulating and drawing on
pieces of paper. Even the teacher should be silent during this time. If you need to
communicate, write on pieces of paper.
Evaluate this situation for a little while – what was hard and what was easy?
How did gestures work as language instead of spoken words?
Maybe laughter is the same in all languages.
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PREJUDICES - SIMILARITIES/DIFFERENCES
It is important to have an international perspective, to be able to understand
one’s own reality in a global context and to create international solidarity, as
well as prepare for a society with close contacts across cultural and national
borders. Having an international perspective also involves developing an
understanding of cultural diversity within the country. (LGR 2011)
1. Group work/discussion/images
Bring the whole group together. Have the children reflect over the concept of
prejudice. What is a prejudice really? Where does it come from? Why do we
judge other persons in advance? Is it maybe because it’s convenient, since you
don’t have to make the effort to find out what the facts of the matter really are?
Or do you want to make everything seem more dramatic and tell a good story?
Can it be complicated to find out how things really are, since that can take time?
Let the children draw a cartoon that illustrates a prejudice.
• What is a prejudice?
• W hat prejudices do you have? Use any kind of speech balloon that may
be needed for shouting, whispering or thinking.
2. Images/ written task
Give your pupils the task of speaking with their parents or grandparents.
How many of them have their roots in other countries or other parts of
Sweden? Which countries or areas are represented in the class? It can be many
generations back and of many different origins: Walloon, Finnish, Sami,
French or Iranian. Let your pupils draw something that they feel represents
these areas or countries, for example a province animal used as an emblem, a
plant, a famous person or a flag. Then you can place all the drawings together
on the same wall. Do some research on the respective countries or areas and
if possible try to find out why the pupils’ relatives came to Sweden in the first
place. Or if they have moved from one part of Sweden to another, for example
from northern Sweden to Gothenburg. Write these tales down if it’s possible
to get hold of them.
3. Group work/discussion/written task
The object of this assignment is to help the pupils reflect over how things are in
different countries and different areas. Inquire among the children as to how
many have lived in other countries or in other places in Sweden, or who might
You’ve thought about it and made a judgement beforehand,
like a judge who has made up his or her mind.
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know someone who has moved abroad. Why did you or they move? Write down
and document everything the children say. How many countries/areas did you
get on your list and how many different reasons for moving?
Help the children reflect over and give suggestions for other reasons for moving
or leaving one’s home country. What might some causes be for moving from or
within Sweden?
Let your pupils then write and fantasize freely:
• I f you were going to move to a foreign country or another part of Sweden,
what country or area would you choose?
• What do you think it would be like to move there?
Let the children describe how it would feel to come to a new country or new area
and what they would do to feel at home there. Who or what would they want to
take along with them when they moved? What do they think would be exciting
in the new country or new area? What would be hard and what would be easy?
4. Group work/discussion/written task
Gather the whole group and discuss together:
• What would the world look like if everybody was exactly like you?
• If everyone looked something like you, had the same taste in clothes, liked the
same kind of food, had the same interests and laughed at the same things?
• W hat do you think would happen if we all were alike and liked the
same sort of things? Would it be possible, for example, for the world to
run out of ice–cream?
Let your pupils work in pairs and write down positive qualities that the other
classmate has. What is he/she good at? Exchange papers and compare – are you
good at different things?
Then let your pupils think of three persons they like a lot.
• In what ways are you alike?
• In what ways are you different?
• What is it that you especially like in these particular persons?
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Find more to read and
download at
teskedsorden.se
rabensjogren.se/tolerans