birds in Helsinki like the view from the head of statues

Uspenski cathedral in Helsinki

Helsinki cathedral, also known as St Nicholas' church

railway station - great shinny clock, extra for the dark hours! =)

language eduaction situation and language teaching in Finland

In basic education students must study their mother tongue and at least two foreign languages, one of them being the second national language (swedish or finnish). In addition, it is possible to study languages as optional and elective subjects. The first compulsory language , which can be the second national language, swedish or finnish, english, french, german or russian, must be started at the lower stage (grades 1 to 6). The other cumpolsory language starts at the upper stage. Whatever the starting grade, the students have to receive instructions to at least the nationally decided minimum.

For pupils whose mother tongue is not finnish or swedish, learning their own language is voluntary. However, they should also learn either finnish or swedish as a second language. In comprehensive school all the other subjects are thought in finnish or swedish, which is a reason why pupils should achieve basic skills also in the language of their comprehensive school. The great majority of pupils in Finland learn finnish as their mother tongue.

Mother tongue and literature subject belong to the basic subjects of comprehensive schools in Finland. The purpose and main aim is to teach pupils those significant skills that are fundamental for all learning in school, namely literacy skills, including the technical skills for reading and writing. Mother tongue and literature subject has more lessons than any other individual subject in comprehensive school and additionally it is the only cumpolsory subject in the national matriculation examination test at the end of upper secondary school.

Pupil’s main taks is to get interested in language, literature and interaction. It should be an object as well as a tool for learing. Pupils learn to get involved in culture and participates in and influences society by becoming active and learn about the ethnical responsibility. The subject is based on three main fields – linguistic field and their study of literature, communication studies and in addition the studies of floklore, theatre, drama and media. By means of this subject is to support the development of the pupil’s identity, their self-esteem and their artistic imagination. For example they should be confidence to communicate and express themselves orally and in writing. The core contents of mother tongue and literature are comprised in five dimensions: interaction skills, text comprehension, preparing compositions and spoken presentations, information management skills, and realtionship with language, literature and other culture.

Pupils should develope different skills during this subject, which reachs from understanding, analysing and critiacly read different kinds of texts to have a basic knowledge oft he history, structure and variations of the finnish language, and of the language situation both in and outside Finland.

general information about language situation in Finland

Finnish and swedish are the two national languages of Finland. 90% of Finlands population has finnish as their mother tongue, which is spoken in all parts of Finland and 5.4% swedish, which is mostly spoken on the western and southern coasts. According to the National Constitution both languages have the same right to receive public service and to be educated in their mother tongue. There are two swedish-language universities in Finland and six universities where both finnish and swedish are used as a language of instruction and examination.

Furthermore Sami languages, which are spoken from the indigenous people (about 0.03% of the population) living in the northernmost parts of Finland, are hold a special status ensured by law. They have the right to maintain and develop their own language and culture. The Sami language may be a language of instruction in basic, general upper secondary and vocational education. It can be taught as the mother tongue and as a foreign language. In the four municipalities of the Sami domicile area, Sami-speaking pupils must be provided with basic education primarily in the sami language, if their parents so wish.

Within the framework of basic education system, romany and finnish sign language are also two  other mother tongue that have a similar position in the National Curriculum. Romany can be taught as the mother tongue or as an elective subject in basic education. The actually use of this language in their everyday lives is somewhat difficult to estimate.

This means that the first part of the subject called mother tongue and literature may actually mean a choice of different mother tongues: Finnish, Swedish, Saami, Romany or Finnish sign language.

Beside the five languages, which have a special legal positin, there are about 80 other languages in Finland that have more than 100 native speakers. Russian (around 54000 speakers), Estonian (around 28000 speakers), Somali (around 13000 speakers) and Arabic (around 10000) are the biggest language groups beside the national languages in Finland.

european map showing origin of common words

quite interesting if you like to know some more stuff about languages. Check it out...

European maps showing origins of common words

week off...

We didn't write in a long time, but we were busy doing other stuff...

The week 43 we were off from school, one week holiday. Carmen went back home to Switzerland and enjoyed some sun, the mountains and her people.
I went to Sweden for a week. It was an interesting week, I was at the camping side that a swiss couple is running. They emigrate to Sweden with their dogs (malamut and greenlander dogs).
I had a small little cottage for myself and enjoyed it with reading, taking walks and help them a little with the restaurant. It was interesting getting to know them and their life and their way from Switzerland to Sweden.
Here you can read and watch if you're interested:
http://www.srf.ch/sendungen/auf-und-davon/schweden
Their homepage: http://www.sandsjogarden.se/en/index.htm

Lovely place to be...

wait but why: Why generation Y Yuppies are unhappy

the positive way for depressing atum days...=)

I just read an article about "Who can make you happy, apart from yourself?! - the positive way"

Ten tips for a positive perspective from Dale Carneige (more about Dale Carneige)

1. "When a fate hands you a lemon, make lemonade." - For example if you find out that your big love is together with someone else is that the lemon. An information that you don't like or never wanted to hear. But it's a fact. What you do about it is on you. You can through the lemon to his face but you can also make a delicious lemonade out of it!!!
2. "Don't forget, luck doesn't depend on who you are or what you have; it depends on what you think." - Almost a buddhistical wisdom from Carnegie. Beside laughing this is maybe the most simple medicine on earth. Life is short, so instead of being annoyed at something try to take it with humor - laugh about it! What happen is not the reason why you're getting angry, you get angry about things you associate. - So laugh about it!
3. "Don't waste time with thoughts about people, who you don't like." - How much time did you already spend with rage about someone or something? How much time do you spend talking about other people you don't like how they're acting in life? - Let it be! Don't let people who annoy you take your energy.
4. We should not (be allowed to) expect gratefulness, instead it should be a pleasure to give and take (give-and-take basis) - One of the biggest problem for human is the unfulfilled expectations - our relationships, our current account balance, our body and our fellow men. Detach yourself from that when you give time, words or material things away. Give without any expectations makes you happy!
5. Nobody ever died of to less sleeping. The worries about to less sleep are demaging not the insomnia itself. - Couldn't you sleep at night because you had to much stress at work? Are you suffering to fall asleep because you always think of him/her? Did you feel bad because you ate to much in front of the tv or you didn't do thinks you wanted to do during the day? The sleeplessness makes you aware what makes you angry. Hang a slip of paper next to the mirror and note as from now what caused you trouble yesterday. I'll wager that you'll worry less today?! By reason that it already looted your sleep yesterday. GOOD NIGHT! =)
6. How important is the think you worry about really? - Homework: Write down the top 10 biggest problems you have. What do you notice? Problems that can easily be solved?!
7. Let the past be the past. - Don't brood over something that didn't work - relationship, job, friendship or whatever. That things have an ending belongs to life, otherwise we wouldn't have capacity for new things. So let things go and live at the moment and not in the past!
8. Learn to relax at home - Not just thinking of going home and be at home, watching tv or call a friend and talk about something that bothered you today. No...find something that you can do that don't causes you anger - for example pet your dog or play with him, take pictures or just listen to classical music! Whatever, do it!
9. Let's forget about our own bad luck by making our fellow men happy. - You would like to change a lot in life - your job, better salary, more adventures and so on...than you think other people also manage this! So you always feel in a competition! Stop that....Stop focusing on your sorrows and start helping other people. 
10. Your life takes place today - the only life which is certain. - Don't butcher it with worries, fears, problems or unhappiness. Well, not everything is good. If somebody asks you:"Is everything good?", then just answer with a smile: "No, not everything, but the most...". Start talking about the nice, easy and joyful things in life. You have a good life for being happy, haven't you? Nobody has no worries, but everybody has also more than a life. So live...

cosy café in Helsinki - café Regatta

It is such a cosy tiny café next to the sea. It's a great place to enjoy the last sunshine of the day and

relax. It is famous for its finnish delicacy - korvapuusti (similiar to the "Zimtschnecke")

some fun...

nightlife - what's up?!?!

Going out is for everybody - young and old. However the minimum age is mostly around 20 years old, often it's also 24 years old. People who are younger than 18 years old have no chance to get in! The sale of alcoholic drinks is not allowed to people under 18 years old, even in restaurants you have to show your ID and also at supermarkets! For example if my friend buys a 10pack beer I also have to show them my ID and everybody else who is with "my friend" there although neither I or they are buying it. - Finland has strict rules for the sale of alcoholic drinks.

I asked one finnish person what happened than with the youth that is between 16 and 18 years old. They have no chance to get into bar and have a drink. - She told me that mostly at this age you have "home parties".
There are a lot of people, I would say around the age of 28 years old, that are going out. Once we even saw a grandfather aged around 70 years old who was taking a walk though the queue. He was amused by the young people and talk a quick look into the nightclub. Quite funny.
There are some funny moments sometimes on the streets. For example this one:

"...come on lets clean the streets at 3 in the morning and don't forget, it's really warm outside so you can wear shorts!" - funny things happen...

GERM vs. the finnish way

Pasi showed as an individual idea/ natural thought of him and a colleague, which they called a GERM - global education reform movement.

First of all do you know what a germ is? - It is like a virus, which make you sick. 

So the main symptoms for the GERM:

1. competition: A lot of people think that competition makes the learning effect better. A lot of people think it's possible to run education like buisness. 
2. standardisation: There should be everywhere prescription. It's easier for students/teacher to get high quality. Somebody from "outside" is making the prescriptions - staying outside is the reality
3. test-based accountability: It happens all over the world - schools get rewards when they bring good results. Good results for the publicity means more money!
4. fast-track teacher preparation: For example in USA: the schools take students from other faculties and train them for 6 weeks, then they can teach. Mostly the schools expect high quality, but the opposite happens.
5. choice: there is going to be competition if there are too many choices and prejudice of schools.

What does GERM look like? What do you think of that?

So what is the finnish way? How does Finland work this out?

1. collaboration
2. personalisation
3. trust-based responsibility
4. professionalism
5. equity

What is the main message of "The Finland Phenomenon"?

We were requested to watch the movie "The Finland Phenomenon" by Bob Compton which gave us an impression and understanding of the way people think about the finnish school system and how it works. If you're interesting watch it! While you're watching it keep the following question at the back of your mind; What is the main message of the movie?

Here are the links (there are four parts on youtube)

The Finland Phenomenon Part 1
The Finland Phenomenon Part 2
The Finland Phenomenon Part 3
The Finland Phenomenon Part 4


For those who are to lazy to watch the movie...
During our lesson there were the following points which were the main message for us:

• less is more - sometimes we try to get to an aim with doing too much, sometimes it would just be the solution to do less and be more successful with that!
• spending less money for education
• less homework (max. 30 minutes a day)
• pupils are learning about 60% on their own (let the children work and explore)
• trust in the system

some more about finnish education...

Our lessons about the education system in Finnland are mostly based on the question "Why is the finnish education system so successful in the PISA study? or "Why do the kids achieve the best results in these tests?"

(PISA is an international study. It aims to evaluate educations system worldwide every three years by students aged 15 years old. Here you can read more about the PISA study: http://www.oecd.org/pisa/)

Pasi tries to show us how the finnish education system works, because it's not possible to give us a concrete answer for the question that a lot of people worldwide try to get as well. There are so many factors that matters for having a good school system.

Here some discussed points during the lessons:

There is a law that says every 45 minutes there is a break for everybody and children can do whatever they want for 15 minutes. There are a lot of children outside, also during winter.
Beside that every school is open to the public. Every citizen has the right to visit any school during every lesson at any time.
I like the conception of that. Sometimes I have the feeling that in Switzerland lessons are quite different when parents, relatives or school inspectors are visiting compared to lessons that are hold when there are no visitors. Mostly teachers in Switzerland try to do some interesting and active lessons during the visitor hours which I totally understand. I have some reminder of my childhood that I was often thinking that the teacher tried to do everything perfect and to be well received. I always thought that this is really strange. Why do we have to change and try to be more "perfect" than what we usually are?! Aren't we already good? Why do we have to fool the visitors?


"The most important kind of freedom is to be what you really are. You trade in your reality for a role. You trade in your sense of act. You give up your ability to feel, and in exchange, put on a mask. There can't be any large-scale revolution until there's a personal revolution, on an individual level. It's got to happen inside first." - Jim Morrison


And back to the school system....
The finnish education system is similar to the swiss system. At the age of 7 years they start with their basic school (primary school 6 years, middle school 3 years), so they are finished at the age of 16 years.  Before that there is the preschool (kindergarden). With 16 years EVERYBODY has the change to decide what they want to do - either general upper secondary school, vocational school or maybe "10th school year".

Again the graphic of the finnish education system

cf: http://www.virtualcampuses.eu/index.php/Finland_from_Re.ViCa

As the most of us know, it's really hard to take the right decision and already know what your profession is going to be when you are a "teenie" (doesn't mean that it becomes easier when you are older, but lets focus...=))
Finland is supporting the kids as follows:
In middle school they have a subject once a week, where they talk about the future - all about jobs, schools, apprenticeship and so on.
Once they decided what way they take, there is always the chance to switch school if the children realized it wasn't the right decision. This is also possible in Switzerland, but there is a huge difference between Switzerland and Finland; The children in Finland don't have to start from the beginning with everything, "the credits" are credited. In Switzerland you always start from the beginning, there are some exemptions but mostly you don't get any credits that are charged to one's account. Awesome, don't you think? As a student you are thankful for this, don't you think?! And it makes so sense!

atum arrived...

This is just 10-15 minutes walk from our apartment. Beautiful isn't it?! 

Another day at Uni...

Our first course today was "Spanish for beginners". It was quite the same as the last times. The teacher is explaining almost all the grammar in finnish, so Nina and me understand eeeeverything. ;) After these "interesting" 1.5 hours we had our lunch break.

Then the day at university continued with "Finnish for exchange students". We spoke about ourselves in finnish, about where we come from, what language we speak,..., and about our hobbies and what we like. After almost everyone said something our teacher also told us what he likes...

Namely: Eurovision song contest. Finns would love the eurovision song contest even if the only won the contest once. 

He explained us what the secret is to win the eurovision song contest. It has to be in english, the text doesn't have to make sense but has to be about love and the song has to have 5 variations in the melody... And he found the perfect song: Watch it! =)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UyC_B4YxRUs

After we learned a lot about eurovision song contest our day continued with the course "Introduction to finnish education system". The issue from today was: equity and equality. So it got more serious than the rest of the day... After discussing this issue, we also saw a video, which you also should check out...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gAh9NRGNhUU

And here the finnish band who won the eurovision song contest... They sing about looove, the text doesn't make sense,  they have variation in their melody and finally it is in english... Have you noticed it!? ;)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D-eVF_G_p-Y

Always look on the bright side of life...

Mölkky - let's learn to play a finnish game!

Our tutors organized an event for the exchange students of behavioral science, which took place today at late afternoon.

Everything you need to play Mölkky!

«Mölkky is a very popular Finnish outdoor throwing game. This game of wooden skittles is similar to several other games of its kind played throughout Europe since the Middle Ages. Mölkky is suitable for the whole family and you can play it outside wherever you please. Tuoterengas owns the Mölkky -trademark.»

cf.: http://www.molkkyliitto.fi/en/ (17.09.2013, 22:57)

«The Mölkky-game is suitable for the whole family. Scoring of the game is recorded on the scorecard. The game is not suitable for children under three years old.
Skittles: numbered 1 - 12 

Throw skittle: MölkkyNumber of players: two and up
Throwing order: In the first game draw the order. In following ones, throw according to the previous game results form lowest to highest score.
Scorekeeper: Players take turns acting as scorekeepers. See also "ending the game".
Beginning the game: For a tight group af skittles (see the diagram) 10 - 13 feet from the throwing place. First player throws at the grouping.
Fallen skittle: A skittle is not considered fallen if it is leaning on another skittle or on the Mölkky throwing skittle. After a throw fallen skittles are uprighted at the place where the fell.
Scoring: If one skittle falls, the score = the number on the skittle. When more than one fall, the score = the number of fallen skittles.
Ending the game: If player misses (has no score) three times in a row, he/she is out of game and acts as the scorekeeper. The game ends when the first player reaches exactly 50 points. If one scores over 50, that player\'s score is lowered to 25.»

cf.: http://www.molkkyliitto.fi/en/Rules/ (17.09.2013, 29:09)

Pin layout

cf.: http://www.molkkyliitto.fi/en/Rules/ (17.09.2013, 29:09) 

Position of pins and mölkkaari at startup

cf.: http://www.molkkyliitto.fi/en/Rules/ (17.09.2013, 29:09) 

It can get really difficult!

If you also want to play Mölkky and you can't find the game in a shop, just do it yourself - out of wood like the original or you could do the cheaper and quicker version out of PET bottles filled with sand...

Try it and have fun...!