Puhekielen verkkokurssi / Spoken Finnish online course

2019

Lecturers
Students

Journalism & multimedia
Teacher Education

Autonomous learning
Classroom Context

Finnish

Finnish

A1
A2
B1

Guiding resources (online course/book)

Vocabulary
Grammar
Pragmatics
Prosody

Listening
Speaking
Writing
Reading

Puhutsasuomee is a complete online course on spoken language features. The material is developed not only for students who wish to improve their spoken language skills but also to offer knowledge on specific lexical and grammatical features of spoken Finnish for linguistics or translation students. The course contains 5 modules with video and audio contents on different levels (A1-B1), didactic videos on specific features, theoretical and practical exercises, evaluation materials, a grammar summary, a glossary and a bibliography of theoretical readings. Puhutsasuomee well adapts for classroom use, for distance learning and for autonomous learning. The module may be used also partially. Material is also easily usable for different learning methods as for example flipped classroom. Requires use of a smart device and internet connection, headphones and microphone. For the exercises different kinds of applications are suggested (Zoom, Padlet, Skype).

This resource was successfully used in the final part of a basic level Finnish language course, to ensure that students, after learning the basics of Finnish, could familiarize themselves with the colloquial dimension of the Finnish language. The resource was used as supplementary and complementary material to offline sources on the same theme. The main objectives of the final phase of the course were to introduce students to the main characteristics of the "standard" colloquial language, in a comparative-contrastive perspective with respect to standard Finnish (written and oral); the aim was therefore to familiarize students with the different registers of Finnish and to make them understand the difference between standard and colloquial Finnish, highlighting the importance of studying both varieties and focusing on their respective contexts of use. The resource was used following the guidelines, starting from the first module: the students, accompanied by the teacher, first watched the situational video and then the didactic video of the module in question, dedicating themselves later to carrying out the exercises (on lexical and grammatical aspects) proposed. The students adhered very well to the different activities proposed, thanks to the clarity and simplicity of the slides, the immediacy of the icons and the rapidity of the exercises, all quite fast to do, which favors concentration and avoids the risk of boredom. Some students found the tone used in the presentations a bit monotonous, but this was not an obstacle; in general, the students found this resource fun. The variety of types of exercises also favored the concentration of students, who particularly appreciated those in which the use of cards was present. Furthermore, the hints of Helsinki's slang and the examples actually dropped into the urban reality of the capital have created a concrete hook with the reality that attracted the students. It was also stimulating and motivating to be able to have immediate feedback, thanks to the possibility of verifying and viewing the solutions at the end of the exercises. The fact that the instructional videos are presented in both Finnish and English is great for beginners, while it may be 'boring' (experienced as a waste of time) for more advanced Finnish learners. Overall, the use of this resource encouraged students to start using colloquial Finnish alongside the standard variety, and this is undoubtedly an excellent result.

Autonomous learning/ Flipped classroom
Step 1
Watch the situational video of the chosen module.
Step 2
Watch the didactic video of the chosen module. Take notes on examples.
Step 3
Do the exercises on lexical and grammatical features of the chosen module.
Step 4
Self evaluation form: do you think you can recognize spoken language features if heard? Do you think you could use them?
Further step in case of flipped classroom:
Send the final exercise to your teacher. Set up a feedback moment.