A global citizen’s journey as an educator, an entrepreneur, and a volunteer
By Karense Marie Fosilen
With more than 55000 followers on YouTube and even more followers on her Facebook group, she is well known among many immigrants in Norway. Norsklærer Karense has become a household name for many immigrant families. Karense is the founder and CEO of NoTe Norwegian Teaching AS.
This online language school she established in 2015, is one of the few that are approved by Kompetanse Norge and UDI. Students who take courses at this school get accredited hours in Norwegian and Social studies that they can use in their application for permanent residency in Norway. The school offers flexible, high-quality Norwegian courses at all levels.
From teaching to blogging
In 2017 Karense began to make YouTube videos about Norwegian language and grammar. Her goal was simple: provide everyone who is learning Norwegian a free and quality resource. She believes that this will help immigrants grow confidence in speaking and understanding Norwegians.
She has more than 600 videos in Norwegian and makes new videos each week. Ideas for the videos come from her followers who simply ask her to make videos about different topics. She has videos about grammar, pronunciation, Norskprøven, and Bergenstesten, Norwegian culture, Norwegian idioms and expressions, words and explanations as well as videos about other free resources for learning Norwegian.
A global citizen
Karense considers herself a global citizen. She has traveled to many places, from Sri-Lanka to Qatar, and has lived in both Canada and Zanzibar. According to Karense being an entrepreneur in Norway is both fun and hard work at the same time, but it is definitely worth it.
It gives her independence and freedom to live the way she wants. She believes that being an educator and an entrepreneur is a good combination because one gets a lot of knowledge about people.
As a multilingual entrepreneur, she highly appreciates the importance of providing the right information to people who are new in Norway and is something she is very engaged in. She knows what it is like to be a foreigner having lived in Zanzibar for a year where she learned to speak Swahili.
Karense tells her followers the secrets about Norwegian culture and life to make them understand the Norwegian and their own culture better. In her podcast, she talks about her personal life, as well as sharing what life in Norway was and is like. Topics in the podcasts include discussions about a career in Norway, family life, important news, her travels and about her life as an entrepreneur in Norway.
She doesn't use a script for her weekly podcast episodes; it is all freestyle! When she isn’t teaching or engaged online she volunteers at events like “Give a job” that promotes employment for immigrants.
Her journey with PWN Norway
Karense joined PWN Norway around 2012. She joined the network because she wanted to be part of an international community of women who supported each other and helped each other grow and learn.
As an “international Norwegian” it was difficult to find communities where she could expand her network and meet new people from different countries in Norway. She likes to interact with different people and PWN Norway was the perfect place to meet a lot of interesting and wonderful ladies who helped her grow and develop as a person and an entrepreneur.
She recommends becoming a member of PWN to international women as well as Norwegian women. Karense believes that membership in PWN Norway enriches your life and gives you many new and great connections.
Plans and endeavors
Karense has many future plans for her online school NoTe. From 2020 she will have 15 teachers working at her school. Karense will focus more on developing her concept and perhaps even do physical classes in the Oslo area as well!
She wants to start a free language café where people can come and learn Norwegian for free. She hopes PWN Norway will help her to make her journey as an entrepreneur smoother and she wants to give back as well...And she is not done traveling the globe yet.
Connect with Karense and follow her online:
YouTube channel Norsklærer Karense
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