First teaching experience in North East-Finland

Taivalkoski rapids on the way to Taivalkosken kirkonkylän peruskoulu

During my studies in linguistics the need to do more practical things encouraged me to apply for the Comenius exchange programme. In the winter 2005 I spent 132 rewarding days assisting and visiting English and French classes in Taivalkoski and getting to know people in the village through various exciting activities.

Taivalkosken Kirkonkylän Peruskoulu

Taivalkosken kirkonkylän peruskoulu hosted me as a Comenius assistant. Janne Kinnunen, headmaster of the comprehensive school at that time, and Pauliina Kareen, an English teacher and my supervisor, requested a Comenius assistant.

Before coming to Finland, I was in contact with Pauliina Kareen, who informed me that I would be helping pupils with their English. It sounded like good practice for me, and I accepted the project eagerly.

Pekka Turpeinen, the new headmaster of the comprehensive school proved himself to be very concerned with my work even if he was busy otherwise. The same is true for the teachers, and others with whom I had less sustained contact.

This supportive atmosphere influenced my work positively. It also transformed my critical ability to look at my own work, and learn from my mistakes.

Working as an assistant

I have noticed that spending a lot of time preparing an activity will not necessarily guarantee success. Success depends more on the ability of the educator to plan his or her activity in a way that makes sense in practice, a successful activity requires a coherent combination of content and practical work.

From the careful consideration the teachers from Taivalkoski gave my case, I was able to revise and better plan my work. Of course, the pupils’ reactions towards class were also an ongoing source of immediate and spontaneous feedback that I was particularly sensitive to.

In my opinion, success in class requires the ability to listen to children’s needs. Subsequently, as an educator, one should know how to adapt the material planned for a lesson. This is very challenging, and remains so even with a lot of experience. Flexibility in class paves the way to enjoyable learning for the great majority of pupils, as well as for educators.

Preparing courses in English on French topics was challenging and rewarding. I made progress in my oral communication skills, which certainly aided the assistantship as a consequence. My ‘linguistic insecurity’ gave me an empathetic relation with the pupils, based on our visible reciprocity in the process of learning.

The induction meeting for assistants staying in Finland also brought an injection of new blood into my work. I started to exchange emails with the other assistants in Finland. I put some of their ideas into practice and it worked well.

Getting to know other schools

I had an opportunity to visit students ranging from second grade pupils to those in matriculation and vocational schools, although, my work targeted the comprehensive school. Each school I visited widely opened its door to me!

I assisted, for example, Marjo Kaare with her French lessons in Lukio. This was especially important, since there are so few students in that subject in Taivalkoski that if nothing is done soon, it is doomed to failure.

Visiting the Vocational school was also part of my activities during a month of my training period. These visits expanded my ideas about the diversity that lies behind the concept of teaching. You cannot teach the same content to vocational students, as you can to others, as they have different needs related to their field. When it comes to having a conversation with a foreigner on a general level, however, the needs are similar for everybody. I kept that idea in mind when going to class.

Taivalkoksi municipality includes five comprehensive schools. I have been mainly in the one located in the centre, but I also went to Metsäkylän koulu, which has about 60 pupils. I had the occasion to teach there on my own a few times. The situation was excellent since we couldn’t understand each other without using English. This is precisely why I was in Taivalkoski as an assistant: to make the pupils practice their oral skills in English. In that way it was very successful.

I was amazed that as a teacher or a member of the staff, it is not uncommon to be driven by your head master to school! I think that sharing moments not necessary related directly to the work at school can have a positive effect on your traineeship.

The author of this text is at the moment a trainee at CIMO. Her job is related to providing useful information to the present linguistic assistants in Finland.