Personal and Cultural Development
Ignore what I said last week; Turku is the place to be! As time goes on, I feel I’m discovering myself more and more, and to mark the half-way point in this journey of self-discovery, I decided a hair cut was in order! This seems a simple enough task, but Finland is an expensive place and, as funds were stretched in anticipation for the next student loan instalment, it was an ambitious aim. So, instead of paying for an extortionate haircut, I bought a pair of scissors and hoped for the best! Before this, I had cut my neighbour’s hair and dyed Alex’s hair, so once everybody saw the fringe I cut into my own I’ve become the amateur hairdresser on call to all ERASMUS students!
Once again, I enjoyed my cultural development through the help of the ESN and food. The ESN held a baking night this week, where we learned how to make some popular, traditionally Finnish food: Karelian pies (karjalanpiirakka) and pulla buns. The pies have a thin rye crust with rice filling and are eaten with a spread of hard-boiled egg and butter. Pulla buns can be cut in half and filled with cream and jam (yum!), or made into cinnamon swirls during the baking process. It was a lovely evening and I thoroughly enjoyed consuming the food when it was ready! I hope that now I will be able to make these on my own, so I can make them for my friends and family at home.
It was also a fantastic experience to celebrate Saint Patrick’s Day in another country. This is the first time I have had the opportunity to really enjoy the day, because it always falls at the same time as teaching practice back home. I went with a fun group of fellow ERASMUS students to the Irish bar in Turku, where we enjoyed some promotional gifts and snacks, as well as joyful band that played traditional Irish music. I represented the Irish on a day in Finland that I will never forget. :)
Professional Development
I began this week in Turku International School (TIS), observing a Grade 5 (equivalent to our P7) Ethics lesson on the meaning of life. This was fascinating to me, because I have never seen a lesson like this taught at home, in which the pupils are given complete freedom to discuss what God is, and if they think He is real or not. This area of education interests me the most since it is such a controversial topic, especially in NI. I have been appalled by the way in which it is approached at home, so it was very encouraging to see how it is done differently in Finland. The children were fully engaged and participated. They contributed comments such as:
‘I don’t think He exists ‘cause he doesn’t help people that really need it.’
- ‘Maybe there’s a reason for that.’
‘Where does He live?’
- ‘He lives in Heaven.’
- ‘Where is Heaven?’
- ‘In your mind.’
- ‘You count on your imagination.’
- ‘Just because you can’t see doesn’t mean you can’t believe.’
The class felt comfortable sharing their opinions, challenging each other and questioning ideas, and, to me, this is what such lessons should be about. In the same class, I unintentionally ended up assistant teaching with two of my peers doing the same course as me. It was the first I had experienced of collaborative teaching, and I feel I gained a lot from the lesson ideas my fellow students had come up with, and working as a team to teach.
Amongst others, I also observed a Grade 3 lesson in technical work. This took place in a technology classroom in Norssi, the secondary school situated right beside TIS. I couldn’t believe that children of nine years of age were handling tools such as hammers. I was petrified helping one pupil by holding the robot he was creating while he hammered in a nail! It was such an interesting lesson to observe; there was so much involved, and once the class have created their robots, they will carry out an investigation to find out which materials are conductors and which are insulators. I was astonished at the level of independence children are encouraged to have here. It’s a testament to the Finnish education system.
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