English Lesson in Finland

In this post we are going to comment and relate an experience of a member in the group with the theory given during the subject till now.

Our classmate Carolina is studying now in Finland in Erasmus Program and there, she has practices in a school. She has told us that she assist only to English lessons so we think it is a good experience to comment and share with you.

First of all, mention an essential feature of the Finnish education. The education and all of related to it, is free: school, meals in it, books, material, transport… They haven´t private school, they don´t know what it is. It is just a data to reflect about it.

Also, we have to take into account that children start the school, so, writing and reading with 7 years old, in the 1^st grade.

After we talk with our partner and we share experiences, we would like to comment how Finnish Education treats these two skills: listening and speaking. For us, these two skills are very important in class, and they should be the first ones when you are learning a foreign language. The Finnish’s teacher said to Carolina that first, children have to learn listening and speaking, and then they start to reading and finally writing. It´s reflect the importance of these two skills and also, we can conclude that is a good method because as Carolina has said to us, Finnish students with 11-12 years old speak English very well according to their correspondent level.

So, now, we explain in general the implementation of these skills in class. 

According to the listening, it is one of the most practiced skills in class. Maybe in one lesson around fifty percent is listening. Our partner said us that the teacher is used to use TPR in class as a common strategy. For example, when the teacher gives order to the students.

Another interesting situation to comment that our partner has told us is when the teacher is going to explain an activity. She always explains the activity in English, with a basic language, visual support and using vocabulary known for students, it is “Classroom Language”. The importance she gives to Classroom Language is very high. It is good, because children are in contact every time with English and they are used to listening those words and expressions.

One thing that Carolina has told us, it is when the activity is very difficult or the teacher sees they aren´t understanding it, she explains it in Finnish, but just after explaining it in English.

Regarding what kind of activities they do, the most commons are: “listen and repeat”, they spend much time repeating aloud, vocabulary, expressions and dialogues; “listen and discriminate”, for example, in almost each lesson they sing a song; and “listen and sequence”, for example they listen a sequence of acts and they have to put in order the pictures.

On the other hand, with the speaking skill, according to what Carolina has said to us, in Finnish lessons there are many opportunities to speak during the class. The teacher organizes between an average of 4 or 5 speaking exercises per each lesson, so it’s a lot compare with English lessons in our country. These activities are usually in pairs, because of this, all the students have the opportunity to speak in class. We think it is a good way to practice oral skills for young learners because they are practicing speaking but they don’t have to speak aloud with all the partners. So it is also a way to reduce the children anxiety when they speak in English.

Our partner has told us more things about the development of the speaking in a class. She says that in lower levels for example, 3^rd grade and children with 9 years old (in Spain also 3^rd course but children with 8 years old), and in 4^th grade (children with 10 years old), the teacher usually start with repeating and drills activities and then in higher levels, 5^th grade and 6^th grade she tends to use more role plays.

We can relate to these with the theoretical issues dealt with in class the last session. It is a good example of the natural way and logical sequence of teaching the speaking. First, she starts with “controlled speaking practices” in lower levels, with tasks like reading dialogue aloud, question/answer exercises or simply repeating words. When they have improved their level she continues with “semi-controlled speaking practices” like question/answer questions but with pictures; and finally she introduces “free speaking practices” in higher levels like 6^th grade, with role plays activities and conversations.

We think it  is a good opportunity to learn more about other countries, and specially from Nordic countries, where the foreign languages are so important.

Here some photos of the school: