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John Verkland

John Verkland

@verkland.bsky.social

5.8K followers 3K following 530 posts

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John Verkland @verkland.bsky.social · Dec 30

Hi, I’m John, a language teacher from Norway 🇳🇴

I’m all about:
🗣️ Helping others (and myself) master life
🚴 Staying active, healthy, and thriving
🧑🏼‍💻 Exploring tech, coding, and science
💬 Meeting people and sparking conversations

Let’s connect, share ideas, and inspire one another!

John Verkland @verkland.bsky.social · May 25

Next up: pairing Unified Remote with Chromecast. Gonna cast my laptop screen to the TV and control everything from the phone while pedaling on the indoor bike. Perfect setup for long, slow rides + light coding or writing sessions. Productivity meets cardio. Let’s go!

John Verkland @verkland.bsky.social · May 25

Just downloaded Unified Remote and I’m blown away. Laptop’s propped up on the treadmill. Phone in hand. I use touch on phone to control the mouse and type with the keyboard, or even use voice. A game changer for treadmill coding.

John Verkland @verkland.bsky.social · Apr 21

The Signal group chat with your wife and brother was supposed to be for memes and ‘on my way’ texts, not military ops, Pete.

www.nytimes.com/2025/04/20/u...

Hegseth Said to Have Shared Attack Details in Second Signal Chat

The defense secretary sent sensitive information about strikes in Yemen to an encrypted group chat that included his wife and brother, people familiar with the matter said.

www.nytimes.com

John Verkland @verkland.bsky.social · Apr 14

Games have rules. Stories have structure. Even chores get better when I turn them into a challenge.

The constraint is the playground.

John Verkland @verkland.bsky.social · Apr 14

Was he by chance from Bergen?

John Verkland @verkland.bsky.social · Apr 14

Yes, the pronunciation also varies by regional dialects 😁

John Verkland @verkland.bsky.social · Apr 14

Yes!

John Verkland @verkland.bsky.social · Apr 14

Haha, Norwegian definitely has that advantage, lots of English-similar words! And don’t worry too much about Bokmål vs. spoken; once you’re here, you’ll pick up the spoken forms quickly. Good luck, and keep it up!

John Verkland @verkland.bsky.social · Apr 14

Oh yes, the vowels can definitely be tricky! And don’t even get me started on “k”—it can sound totally different depending on context (“kjole” vs “katt”). Keeps things interesting, at least! But English pronunciation is actually much, much harder!

John Verkland @verkland.bsky.social · Apr 14

It’s practically linguistic gymnastics!

John Verkland @verkland.bsky.social · Apr 13

Totally agree, Barry! Appelsinpause is something I have started taking every evening, actually 😂

John Verkland @verkland.bsky.social · Apr 11

Last day of school before Easter break, and it turned into a feast! The students brought amazing dishes from their home countries, and we all ate way too much. Such a warm, joyful end to the week. Grateful for these moments. God påske, alle sammen!

John Verkland @verkland.bsky.social · Apr 8

No worries! I love helping new students! But why two months?

John Verkland @verkland.bsky.social · Apr 8

If you have any questions, shoot them my way!

John Verkland @verkland.bsky.social · Apr 8

Kult! I made a big list of free resources—that I use every day with my students at school—available for subscribers of my substack. It’s all free 🤗 johnverkland.substack.com

The Norwegian Dispatch | John Verkland | Substack

Master Norwegian with engaging lessons on grammar, vocabulary, and culture—beyond what Duolingo teaches! 🎁 Only for subscribers: Get my Free Norwegian Learning Toolkit to boost your skills! Click to ...

johnverkland.substack.com

Reposted by John Verkland

dave @gloomfather.bsky.social · Apr 7

Boycotting the grocery store until they start buying an equivalent volume of groceries from me

John Verkland @verkland.bsky.social · Apr 7

Nice! I’m actually working on a cheat sheet specifically for noun genders. I’ll make sure to share it once it’s ready. Should be perfect for clearing up that Duo-induced uncertainty!

John Verkland @verkland.bsky.social · Apr 7

Love waking up to thick fog. It sets the perfect atmosphere, like the world’s still loading. Ideal conditions for the main character to begin his morning quest.

John Verkland @verkland.bsky.social · Apr 7

The first few seasons do look pretty old now, but then it suddenly looks a lot more modern. I guess it reflects how the 80’s and early 90’s in general looked quite different to the millennium, while anything after is pretty similar to today.

Reposted by John Verkland

James Taub @taubhistory.bsky.social · Apr 6

Learning French has really encouraged me to live in the moment because I currently cannot conjugate any other
verb tense.

John Verkland @verkland.bsky.social · Apr 7

Interesting combo! What made you choose these particular languages?

John Verkland @verkland.bsky.social · Apr 6

I totally get why you’re feeling this way. It’s really tough when things feel out of control.

John Verkland @verkland.bsky.social · Apr 6

That’s a great approach! Immersion really helps you internalize the language. Those extra minutes spent figuring out the context now will definitely pay off later. I think that kind of struggle can be really powerful. Keep up the good work!

John Verkland @verkland.bsky.social · Apr 6

That’s quite the linguistic superpower! Being able to effortlessly navigate between those languages must make traveling the Nordics a breeze.

John Verkland @verkland.bsky.social · Apr 6

Hope you make it happen. Life really is too short not to chase good things.