Last year I studied Finnish in Finland for almost the whole year. I wanted to write about the options for studying Finnish when you already live in Finland. Here I wanted to talk more specifically about if you already speak some Finnish or are wanting to study full time and improve your Finnish as much as possible. Here I'll talk about options for studying Finnish including
- The Finnish Government's language course
- University survival Finnish courses
- Community College
- Online courses - University of Applied Sciences
- Adult High School
- Community programs
The Finnish Government's language course
A lot of people go to the Finnish government's language program (kotoutumiskoulutus = integration education). I never went to this, so I have no idea what it is like! From I've heard this program starts right from the beginning and assumes you can't say a word of Finnish, then you study for about 9-11 months and during this time also so some work placements at companies. That's basically all I tell you about it!
Why didn't I do the kotoutumiskoulutus if I live in Finland? Well, before I moved to Finland and has already tried to learn basics of Finnish myself, so a course starting from zero may not have been suitable fo me. However, the bigger reason was when I moved to Finland I arrived on a "working holiday" visa (type B non continuous resident permit) and I was not eligible to go to this course. When I got a type A (continuous resident permit) about 9 months later... my Finnish was definitely too good and I was told not to bother with the course.
So what other options are there to study Finnish in Finland?
University survival Finnish courses
You can do courses at university if you are studying something else. I know lots of people who have taken "survival Finnish" or the basics at university (when are mainly studying something else in English). This is a good option for students, because the course is tailored to them and works around their other classes - but not so good for people wanting to study full time.
Community College
You can go to community college (kansalaisopisto) and study 1 or 2 nights per week for a couple of hours. The courses at kansalaisopisto start right from basics and go up to a B1-B2 level (if you aren't at all familiar with these levels, just know that A1-2 is a beginner, B1-2 is intermediate, and C1-2 is a native or near native speaker). When I arrived in Finland (in June) everything was closed and by the time I went to kansalaisopisto I had studied at home by myself enough and I went directly into a B1 class. Kansalaisopisto is great because you meet lots of other non-Finns and get to practice speaking. It is however, not great it you wanting to study full time, because it is in the evenings and a max of twice per week.
Note: These courses generally use textbooks called Suomen Mestari. The Suomen Mestari series is quite good and has four books. If you want to cover A1-2 level by yourself, you can always buy Suomen Mestari 1-2 and do it by yourself at home. Although word of warning, the books are entirely in Finnish, so you may be better buying a textbook with English and Finnish if you are a total beginner.
University of Applied Sciences
Next option when studying in Finland is online courses. You can study as a student at a university of applied sciences (amattikorkeakoulu), and you don't need to worry about a complicated application process because they have a program called open university (avoin yliopisto) which allows you to enrol and do these online courses. Usually you pay (about 70 euros per course), but at the time of writing they are free due to the coronavirus. These courses go from A1 (beginner) to C1 (very advanced) and as they are online are usually to be done at your pace, with whatever feedback the teacher has time to give you. I'm not a huge fan of online courses, but I have done some of these courses and can confirm the material are useful (if you are self motivated enough to go through exercise online by yourself...).
Adult High School
Another interesting option for Finnish study is to try adult high school (aikuislukio). In theory you can study anything on offer at the high school (lukio) level, but I have only done courses in Finnish as a second language. These courses are quite advanced. The course guide said they are appropriate for someone who has been studying Finnish for at least a year, but the course itself is up to about B2 level, so harder than what is available for example at community college. The courses themselves can be a bit annoying for someone who just wants to learn Finnish because you'll end up doing a lot more than just focusing on Finnish (such as reading literature and trying to analyse for themes etc.), but having said that, it can be a good way to learn. In my view these Finnish as a second language (suomi toisena kielenä) courses can really be recommended if you've tried other B1 courses and found them easy.
Community programs
There are also community run programs within Finland, if you are lucky enough to live nearby to these. For example in Kuopio where I live there is a community centre offering Finnish lessons (A1 level) for free and various community run groups - where volunteers (Finns) help foreigners study Finnish. This community centre there was a program called Let's Read Together (Luetaan yhdessä) where volunteers read with foreigners every week, and I understand this program is running nationwide... however this program was only being run for women (at least in my area).
Finnish words in this post
kotoutumiskoulutus - integration education
kansalaisopisto - community college
amattikorkeakoulu - university of applied science / vocational university
avoin yliopisto - open university
aikuislukio - adult high school
lukio - high school
suomi toisena kielenä - Finnish as a second language
Luetaan yhdessä - Let's read together
Links
1. The Finnish Government's language course
https://www.te-palvelut.fi/te/fi/tyonhakijalle/ammatinvalinta_koulutus/kotoutumiskoulutus/index.html
2. University survival Finnish courses (just an example for University of Helsinki)
3. Community College (find the one in your area)
4. Online courses - University of applied sciences (just an example for Savonia in Eastern Finland)
5. Community programs
No comments:
Post a Comment