Won the Bronze Sponge: «Teaching makes me feel useful»
Bachelor students praise the NHH professor’s ability to make statistics understandable. «Teaching makes me feel useful,» says Berentsen.
Beate Sandvei receives the The Bronze Sponge award
Bachelor students praise the NHH lecturer for making language learning motivating and academically strong. `Recognition from the students means a great deal,´ says Sandvei.
Associate Professor Beate Sandvei at the Department of Professional and Intercultural Communication was visibly moved when she received the Bronze Sponge, the bachelor students’ long-standing teaching award.
The award was presented during NHH’s 17 May breakfast, to warm applause from students and staff in the Aula.
engaged, skilled and inclusive
`I am so happy and grateful. This recognition from the students means a great deal. For me, teaching is an incredibly important part of the job,´ says Sandvei.
The bachelor students describe her as an engaged, skilled and inclusive teacher who makes learning safe, motivating and academically strong.
“She has a particular ability to explain difficult linguistic topics in a simple and understandable way, and shows great understanding of what it is actually like to learn a new language,” the students wrote in their citation.
a prestigious award
The Bronze Sponge is an award Sandvei has seen other lecturers receive in the past.
`Every time I have seen someone receive this recognition, I have thought: how impressive! The Bronze Sponge is a prestigious award.´
The day after the ceremony, she was still moved by the experience.
`There were many students in the Aula, and former students also came over to congratulate me. I received so many congratulations. I am incredibly happy,´ says Beate Sandvei.
`Now, let me explain!´
Sandvei teaches Spanish, a subject with long traditions at NHH. In fact, NHH was the first university or university college in Norway to offer teaching in Spanish. All elective language courses are tailored to the needs of an economist.
For Sandvei, language teaching is about subject knowledge, confidence and mastery.
The Bronze Sponge Award
The Bronze Sponge was first presented in 1972 to recognize lecturers who, in the students' eyes, have made an extraordinary contribution to teaching at the bachelor level. The winners of the bachelor students' teaching award are are based on nominations submitted by NHH students.
`I know that many students are afraid to take language courses because they feel they were not good enough at school. That is why I have spent many years understanding what Norwegian students find difficult,´ she says.
She lights up when she talks about the questions that come up in the classroom.
`When students ask: ‘Why do you use the subjunctive there?’ or ‘Why do you use that verb tense? I think: now, let me explain! Then I really get going. I simply love it.´
Seeing the students
In their citation, the students highlight that Sandvei sees them, creates a safe learning environment and makes sure everyone keeps up. They describe a teacher who is patient, structured and good at adapting her teaching to different levels in the classroom.
They also point out that she takes students’ input seriously.
“She therefore contributes not only to good teaching, but also to a learning environment where students’ voices are heard,” the students wrote.
Sandvei says that dialogue with the students is one of the things that gives her the most energy.
`I thrive when there is dialogue in class, when I get questions, and when I sense that the students are becoming interested in the language. It is simply an extremely important part of my job.´
From the first class to the oral exam
She believes the language courses at NHH give students important skills they can take with them into working life.
`We give students the opportunity to learn languages through teaching that is tailored to what an economist needs in working life,´ she says.
One of the best parts is seeing how much the students develop in a short period of time.
`It is so satisfying to see them from when they start in the first semester, to when they sit their oral exam in the second semester and can speak Spanish fluently, up to date on Latin America and politics. Then I think: yes! Now you are ready to use this.´
