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...