Kotisuomessa.fi / HomeinFinland.fi

2017

Lecturers

Business & Communication
Engineering
Medicine & Nursing
Tourism

Autonomous learning
Classroom Context

Finnish

Finnish

A2
B1

Guiding resources (online course/book)

Vocabulary
Grammar
Pragmatics

Listening
Speaking
Writing
Reading

Kotisuomessa.fi is an online learning site designed for adult learners of Finnish as second language. The site offers five modules of different levels, from basic language and communication skills in everyday situations to professional language skills in different areas and professions such as logistics, engineering, healthcare, tourism, marketing and sales. One of the modules contains also material on Swedish language spoken in Finland. The material provides good basic information on Finnish society and everyday life as well as specific knowledge on different professions. It dedicates quite a lot of space to skills needed in Finnish work culture. Every module contains exercises of its own. One of the modules is dedicated to the preparation for the intermediate level test of National certificate of language proficiency (YKI). The website is usable also as guest, registration is free.

This resource was used as part of a Finnish language practice lesson intended for students who had already studied Finnish for one year (level A1 fully reached), therefore at the beginning of the second year of Finnish. The main objective of the lesson was to review, consolidate and expand the lexicon relating to the family, learned in the previous year (basic level course). To meet this objective, among the various modules we chose to focus on the one entitled "Arkielämä", which also contains a section dedicated to the family theme. The initial overview is excellent, which allows students (as well as the teacher) to have a clear picture of what it will be possible to learn in a specific section. Led by the teacher, the students carried out the various proposed activities, in the order presented by the resource, and their reaction was more than positive; for example, they found the possibility of having immediate feedback motivating thanks to the presence of tools (visualization of the score obtained) that allow them to evaluate their progress. In learning the vocabulary, the combination of various types of activities (listening, reading and even writing, which helps to memorize new terminology) and therefore the variety of methods, which also exploit visuality, proved to be particularly effective. Overall, the proposed activities have activated the curiosity of the students, who have shown themselves to be very active and have asked numerous extra questions, which have become a stimulating prerequisite for cultural insights, including collateral (such as parties). At least for the first approach, a guided use is recommended since the organization of the material in numerous sub-pages makes the use of the resource not immediate and extends the time of use of the same.

The teacher can use the material in lesson planning in classroom and specially for groups of learners at different starting points. It is possible to choose only one module. The teacher can start from the initial overview and then proceed to study one of the modules, for example " Suomen poliittinen järjestelmä”, The political organization of Finland, and the related exercises.