Koto-Suomi / My Home in Finland

2019

Lecturers
Students

Journalism & multimedia
Law
Teacher Education
Tourism

Autonomous learning
Classroom Context

Finnish

Finnish

A2
B1

Guiding resources (online course/book)

Vocabulary
Grammar
Pragmatics

Listening
Speaking
Writing
Reading

Koto-Suomi is an online study material prepared for learners in A2 and B1 language levels. The material focuses on the contents of social studies and working life and guidance. The material is designed to promote the Finnish language learning in an integrated way in 10 chapters on different topics, online exercises and an additional teachers material. The material and online assignments allow students to strengthen their language skills integrated to IT competences, data retrieval and study strategies. The study material and teachers material, including answers to some of the exercises such as crossword puzzles and dictations are available in pdf format.

This resource was used in a Finnish language class of students moving from basic to an intermediate language skills of the degree program in Foreign languages and literatures. The resource was used as supplementary material within a specific didactic unit, dedicated to education and work with the aim of expanding the vocabulary and of applying the acquired knowledge. The proposed activity focused on the theme of practical training at work ("Työharjoittelu"). The material is up-to-date and did arise keen interest in the students as it provided them with concrete tools to be applied outside the academic context and offered them a concrete connection with real work life, not only in linguistic but also in conceptual and practical terms (students must actually do a practical training at work during their degree program). The acquisition of new words was successful in an optimal way because it was conveyed by an "active" understanding of the texts: in other words, the excellent setting of the text comprehension exercises induced the students to reflect firsthand on the themes proposed also beyond the data provided by the texts themselves and immediately apply the new lexicon in practice. Proceeding by semantic groups proved to be very effective. At the same time, the materials proposed were useful for reviewing grammatical notions already acquired, thanks to their concrete application. It was also very stimulating for the students to be able to deal with new texts and contexts (on known topics) compared to those present in the usual reference manual for the course. Finally, the idea of the "työharjoittelupäiväkirja", that is a diary that records the progress made during the internship, was particularly appreciated.

The material offers a wide range of topics that may easily be used during the lessons or as an integrative material for autonomous study. For the autonomous study it is recommended to work through the chapters in the given order as the level of difficulty increases by each chapter. For blended and classroom use the material can also be used only partially.