Gunilla Mollbom: How a Swedish Language Teacher Built an Online Course School with Zenler

Kevin Arrow Author

Mar 30, 2026 |

See how Gunilla Mollbom used Zenler to replace an unstable WordPress setup and build a stable Swedish language school with 1,500 quizzes and growing.

Gunilla Mollbom has been a teacher since 1997. For most of that time, she taught Swedish to immigrants in Sweden — people who had come to the country for work or who had fled their home countries and needed language support to build a new life. It was meaningful, personal work, done in person, in a classroom.

Then the pandemic arrived and changed everything.

What followed was a journey from classroom teaching to YouTube, from YouTube to WordPress, from WordPress to a system that kept breaking down, and eventually to Zenler — where Gunilla has now been running her online Swedish language school for two years, with 1,500 quizzes inside her course and a plan to scale through a network of instructors.

Her story is quiet, determined, and genuinely inspiring.

A Career Built in the Classroom

Gunilla has always been a teacher. It is not a second career or a pivot — it is what she has done her entire working life. She taught Swedish for immigrants through the SFI programme in Sweden, working with students who were learning the language from scratch in order to work, communicate, and build their lives in a new country.

That work gave her deep expertise in language teaching, lesson planning, and understanding how people learn. It also gave her something else: a clear sense of what good teaching looks like, and a commitment to delivering it regardless of the format.

"The thing I love the most about teaching is meeting the students, but also planning lessons that will really teach them what they need to learn."

How the Pandemic Moved Her Online

In 2020, Gunilla's students could no longer come to school. So she did what many teachers did: she adapted. She made videos of her lessons and PowerPoint presentations, uploaded them to YouTube, and sent the links to her students so they could keep learning.

What she did not expect was what happened next.

The YouTube videos became popular. People started watching beyond her immediate students. The channel began generating income. And someone suggested she should turn what she was doing into a proper digital course.

That suggestion changed the direction of her career.

She started with WordPress and a plugin called Sensei. It had the quiz features she needed and felt like the right fit. But the combination of WordPress and the plugin proved unstable. When things went wrong, each side blamed the other — and the web developer she brought in to fix problems could not resolve the conflict either.

"The plugin said it was WordPress' fault, and WordPress said it was the plugin's fault. I had to book a web developer each month, and it cost me a fortune — like £300 a month."

That was not sustainable. She needed something complete, stable, and supported by a single team.

Finding Her Way Back to Zenler

Gunilla had actually come across Zenler before she chose WordPress. She had seen it, considered it, but gone with WordPress because of the Sensei quiz plugin. After a year of instability and mounting costs, she went back and looked at Zenler again.

This time, something caught her attention — the feedback section inside the platform. She could see that users were able to request features and that Zenler actually responded to those requests.

She asked for fill-in-the-blank quiz functionality. She got it.

"I got fill-in-the-blanks, and I was so happy about that, because that changes a lot for the students — not only to have alternatives in the answers, but to also write down what you know."

That moment of being heard — of asking for something and having it built — was a turning point. She committed to Zenler, skipped the free trial, and came straight in on the paid plan.

Two years later, she has never looked back.

What She Built First

Gunilla's first build in Zenler was exactly what she needed most: lessons and quizzes. She migrated her course content over, rebuilt the structure inside Zenler, and started delivering.

Her students noticed very little difference in the transition. They had to learn a new system, but adapted quickly. Many of her students are teachers themselves, which meant they were comfortable navigating new technology.

The course she has built is substantial. It contains around 1,500 quizzes. Each module covers a different topic — housing, for example — with vocabulary lessons followed by exercises that test and reinforce what students have learned.

Assignments are also central to her teaching. Students write texts about their own lives and experiences using the vocabulary from each module. Gunilla reviews these, leaves written comments, or records a short video to walk through corrections in context. Whether she provides feedback depends on what the student has paid for — self-study students work independently, while those on higher tiers receive graded, corrected assignments.

"I look at the assignments, and then I write some comments, or make a video to correct the text."

She also runs live sessions through Zenler — both one-to-one lessons and group sessions she calls a language café, where students can practise speaking Swedish together.

Stability After the Chaos

One of the most striking things about Gunilla's Zenler experience is what she describes as calm.

Her previous platform broke down twice. Each time, the disruption affected not just her but every student trying to access their lessons. The experience of not knowing whether the system would be working when she woke up in the morning was genuinely stressful.

"I had to tell myself, nobody's dead, nobody's dead."

Zenler has removed that anxiety entirely.

"It feels much calmer than my last platform. Now I don't have to worry about things."

The support team has been a significant part of that. Gunilla prefers written communication over video tutorials — partly because English is not her first language and faster speech can be harder to follow, and partly because she finds reading more efficient when she already has some context. Being able to email the support team at any hour and receive a clear, helpful response has made a real difference.

"It's so easy to email whenever — during the night, during the morning — whenever you have the question, you email, and then you get the answer. It's really, really the best."

The Features That Matter Most

Quizzes are at the heart of Gunilla's course. With 1,500 of them, they are not an add-on — they are the core learning mechanism. She values the fill-in-the-blank functionality particularly, as it asks students to actively recall and produce language rather than simply recognising correct answers.

The Zenler app has also become an important part of how her students access their learning. Most of them use it on their phones, which makes lessons and quizzes available anywhere, without the need to log into a website every time.

One feature Gunilla would like to use but currently cannot is the community — specifically gamification with a leaderboard. She teaches employees of a large company as her main client, and strict GDPR requirements mean students cannot see each other's names. Until a solution exists that protects student privacy fully, community and gamification remain on hold.

What Is Next: Scaling Through Instructors

Gunilla's biggest plan for the next six to twelve months is expanding through a network of instructors — teachers who would use her course to teach their own students.

The challenge she is working through is how to manage that at scale without compromising the course quality or her GDPR obligations. Her course is never truly finished — she updates and improves it constantly, so simply copying it for each instructor does not work. She also needs instructors to see only their own students, not the full student database.

She is confident that Zenler can support this model, and Kevin confirmed during the interview that giving instructors access to the original course without copying it is achievable within the platform. Once she has that figured out, the growth potential is significant.

She has also identified an international opportunity. Swedish companies often operate customer service and phone support teams in countries like India and Thailand, employing people who serve Swedish customers but have never been to Sweden. Those workers need Swedish language training. Gunilla believes her course is exactly what they need — and she is exploring how to reach them.

"I think I could sell my course to other countries like that."

Her Advice for Anyone Starting Out

Gunilla Mollbom's advice for new online teachers is simple and comes from the heart.

"Think about what kind of service you want to give to people. In Swedish, we say what you're burning for. Because if you follow your dream, you will make it. You will learn lots of things, and you will succeed."

Do not start with the technology. Start with the passion. The rest follows.

What Business Owners Can Learn from Gunilla Mollbom

Gunilla's story is a reminder that success in online education does not require a complicated setup or a large team. What it requires is genuine expertise, a commitment to the student experience, and a platform stable enough to let you focus on teaching rather than tech.

A few things stand out from her journey.

Use the feedback channel. Gunilla asked for fill-in-the-blank quizzes and got them. Most platforms have a way to request features — using it is one of the most underrated things a creator can do.

Stability is not a luxury. The cost of an unstable platform is not just financial. It is the stress, the all-nighters, the disruption to students, and the constant background anxiety. Zenler removed all of that.

Start with what you know, then expand. Gunilla built lessons and quizzes first and has been adding features gradually as she needs them. That approach keeps things manageable and sustainable.

Think about scale from the beginning. The instructor model Gunilla is planning could multiply her reach significantly without multiplying her workload. Building with that in mind from the start saves time later.

Passion drives persistence. Gunilla has been teaching for almost thirty years. The move online was forced by circumstances, but her commitment to her students and her subject has carried her through every obstacle.

"If you follow your dream, you will make it."

Connect with Gunilla Mollbom

🌐 Website: https://www.sfigunilla.com

FAQ

Who is Gunilla Mollbom? Gunilla Mollbom is a Swedish language teacher with almost 30 years of experience. She teaches Swedish to immigrants and international learners through her online school, SFI Gunilla, using Zenler to deliver courses, quizzes, assignments, and live language sessions.

What does Gunilla teach? She teaches Swedish as a second language to immigrants living in Sweden, as well as international learners who need Swedish for work, including employees of companies providing Swedish-language customer support from abroad.

Who does Gunilla help? She helps immigrants learning Swedish to build their lives in Sweden, and international workers who need Swedish language skills for their jobs without having lived in Sweden.

Why is Gunilla's success story important? Her story shows how a classroom teacher with no technical background can build a serious, scalable online course business using the right platform — and how asking for the features you need can actually shape the tools you end up with.

Why did Gunilla choose Zenler? She had considered Zenler before choosing WordPress, and returned after a year of instability and mounting developer costs. The all-in-one setup, responsive support team, and willingness to implement feature requests convinced her to commit.

What Zenler features have made the biggest difference for Gunilla? Quizzes — especially fill-in-the-blank functionality — assignments with video feedback, live sessions, and the Zenler app have all been central to how she teaches and how her students learn.

How many quizzes does Gunilla have in her course? Around 1,500. Quizzes are the core learning mechanism in her course, used across every module to test and reinforce vocabulary and language skills.

What is Gunilla building next on Zenler? She is planning to expand through a network of instructors who would use her course to teach their own students, and is exploring how to reach international learners — particularly workers in countries like India and Thailand who need Swedish for their jobs.

What can other business owners learn from Gunilla's journey? Start with what you are passionate about, use the platform's feedback channel to request what you need, prioritise stability over complexity, and build with scale in mind from the beginning.

Categories: : Entrepeneur Success Stories