Friends of Luumu | Luumun ystävät
We believe that no one organization or business has the corner on preserving culture. It takes a village. Here are some of the people from our global village that are ensuring traditions carry on now and into the future! Feel free to contact them directly to learn more about them, what they do, and to set up a class!
Yhdessä eteenpäin! Framover sammen!
Finnish Language Instructors:
Lily Obeda
Private and group Finnish language instructor
Lily Obeda (she/her) is a born-and-bred Finnish American from MN, currently based in Minneapolis. Lily has been studying Finnish for over 14 years, and teaching for 11 years. She holds a BA in Scandinavian Studies and Speech-Language Hearing Sciences from the University of Minnesota and an MA in Applied Linguistics from the University of Jyväskylä. She is currently the Finnish Instructor at the University of Minnesota. Lily loves to use her knowledge of being a language student herself to create deep-rooted knowledge of Finnish language and culture. She specializes in working with adult beginners, but loves to work with students of all abilities and ages.
Joona Sundström
Private and group Finnish language instructor and translator
Joona Sundström (he/him) was born in Tampere, Finland, before moving to the US with his family as a child. Since then, he has been keeping fluent in Finnish thanks to his parents, and by teaching Finnish to people of all ages at a Finnish immersion camp. He hopes you’ll join him to learn and utilize this challenging but fun language!
Swedish Language Instructors:
Brian Kays
Private and group Swedish + Finnish-Swedish language instructor
Brian was a Scandinavian and Geography major and earned a Master of Urban & Regional Planning at the U of MN - Twin Cities. During undergrad, he received the Lilly Lorénzen Scholarship to support his studies in Umeå, Sweden. Brian has also done extensive volunteer work with Agassiz Swedish Heritage Society, worked for the Swedish Council of America, and served as teaching assistant for the Department of German, Scandinavian, and Dutch at the U of MN. He has worked as a Swedish language instructor for 15 years with all levels and ages of students.
bkays1381@gmail.com
Norwegian Language Instructors:
EliZabeth Curtiss
Private and group Norwegian language instructor
Elizabeth has been teaching Norwegian in the US and Norway since 2002. She’s worked with all ages and language abilities and specializes in customizing her courses to meet the needs and goals of her students. Bli med and start speaking norsk from day 1!
Know Another Dynamic Teacher of Nordic Languages and/or Traditions?
