News | 10 June 2025
IES schools triumph in national language finals
The results are in – and what a performance! Five of our schools reached the national finals of the International Language Competition (ILC), and we are proud to announce that two of them took first place – in English and Swedish.
The winning team from IES Lund: Ella de la Pinsonnais and Clara Torstensson Segerbäck.
IES Sundsvall claimed victory in English, while IES Lund took first place in Swedish, showing just how strong our bilingual education truly is. These outstanding achievements demonstrate that it is not only possible to master both languages in our schools, our students are thriving in both.
The winning team at IES Lund – Ella de la Pinsonnais and Clara Torstensson Segerbäck – competed against teams from five other schools and won with 21 out of 25 points. They answered questions about literature, vocabulary, grammar and idiomatic expressions.
"It was fun to participate in the competition, and we are happy that we won," said Clara Torstensson Segerbäck, year eight.
Ella de la Pinsonnais, year nine, added: "By the time of our competition, most German and English teams had left, resulting in a nice calm atmosphere. This made it easy to focus on the competition. Beforehand, I’d read a bit about classical Swedish authors and their books”.
Felicia Lundberg has been teaching Ella de la Pinsonnais in year nine, and this is her first teaching job after graduating from the University of Lund last spring.
“It has truly been a pleasure to teach Ella and her classmates this year. What an incredible group of students! It has been so fun to get to know them and see them develop during the school year. We prepared a bit before the competition, but I don't feel I can take any credit for Ella's remarkable performance. To have just taken part in the competition in my first year as a teacher is incredible, but to win is extraordinary – what a year!” said Felicia Lundberg.
The students said they have read a lot of books over the years, which has had an impact on their vocabulary. IES Lund also works a lot with the history of literature throughout the years seven to nine.
“We start with Ancient Greece in year seven and finish with Modernist literature in year nine, so the students receive quite a lot of knowledge about famous books and authors,” says Johanna Stenberg, who is head of department for Swedish years 7–9 and Clara Torstensson Segerbäck's teacher.
IES Lund made it to the finals with three separate teams – a record for the school. Four other IES schools also secured places in the national showdown: IES Sundsvall (two teams, one of which won in the English category), IES Karlstad (two teams), IES Linköping and IES Nacka. Just reaching the finals is a major accomplishment, and we are incredibly proud of the dedication and hard work shown by all of the students and teachers involved.
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🏆 IES placements below. A complete list of results can be found here.
English
1st: IES Sundsvall
3rd: IES Nacka
4th: IES Linköping, IES Lund
Swedish
1st: IES Lund
3rd: IES Karlstad
French
2nd: IES Karlstad
4th: IES Sundsvall
German
3rd: IES Lund
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The International Language Competition (ILC) is a global language and culture contest for primary and upper secondary schools, aiming to enhance students' knowledge of modern foreign languages. The ILC is the biggest language competition in Sweden, and students compete in the categories of English, French, German, Spanish and Swedish.