What's going on in Uusikaupunki

24 Torstaina 22. marraskuuta 2018 Multicultural studying Granger Simmons In honor of International children’s day, which is cele- brated in Finland onNovem- ber 20th, I wanted to find a story that could highlight the recent influx of multicul- tural children into the city of Uusikaupunki and surround- ing areas. There have been some amazing efforts by the cities and school districts all over Finland and there has been a focus and determi- nation to help multicultural students integrate and find their place here in Finland. Last week I had the privi- lege to spend a day with a co- lorful group of international students between the ages of 7 and 13 at the Hakametsä school in a governmen- tally funded program called Valmo, also known as or S2 (Suomi toisena kielenä, Finn- ish as a second language). This program is built to support the integration and language development of young people who come from foreign countries. The teacher at Hakametsä school is Sari Sahlgren , a former school principal who left the education system a few years back in order to focus on business development and entrepreneurship. AFTERAN interesting phone call and request for help, Sa- ri’s love for challenges and adventure was stirred yet again. Mrs. Sahlgren was challenged to teach vari- ous subjects in Finnish, to non-Finnish speaking chil- dren and lower level Finnish speaking children. –I was called in to thiswork and although it was very in- teresting, I had to make a decision whether or not to leave my full time business with my husband and take on this role. Years ago, I left my role as a Principal in Sas- tamala to become a full time business owner andnow I am back in school as a teacher, Sari recalls. Many would say that this task is not difficult, but in reality it is no helppo nak- ki (easy task). The children come fromvarious countries, cultures and ways of life. – It’s easy to be with chil- drenwho don’t speak so well because I have many friends who don’t speak Finnish. I have been some sort of mag- net for international peo- ple. Even from my youth, it seemed to happen that I at- tract a lot of international people. I have also had to learn to speak Polish in al- most the same way my stu- dents are learning Finnish. FOR SOME , Finnish is a se- cond language, for others, Finnish is one of many that they have learned and are learning. The children have moved from Moldova, Uru- guay, Thailand, Estonia and the Philippines and have had to jump right in and some- how catch up with the rest of the Finnish speaking chil- dren. – Without this class and without Sari, I would not know anything, replied young Valeria fromMoldova. She and her younger sister Juliana are able to share some of the heavy load of learning a completely new language. I watched as Valeria translated for her younger sister so that she could answer a question that was asked. Later on in the day, Valeria and I were practicing vocabulary and constructing sentences in English. I was very impressed with Valeria as well as 13 year old Jarmo. Jarmo is from Estonia and has a better grip on the Finn- ish language because he has been in Finland a bit longer than the others but these two impressive young peo- ple are both learning other languages while learning Finnish. Theother language courses are taught inFinnish aswell. I thought about howdifficult it has been for me to just learn Finnish, but to learn multi- ple languages in a language which you are not fluent in and do not fully understand is a big challenge, that these two brave teens have been conquering. IT HAS BEEN only 13 weeks since Sahlgren’s group gath- ered together for the first time. She recalls the difficul- ties and uncertainties in the beginning and compares it to howmuch the students have advanced in such a short time. – Last week was the first time that I was able to read a whole story to them, and I had to act it out at the same time. I had to use of all my gifts and talents in the begin- ning. I usedmusic, acting, art and other non-verbal expres- sions in order to make sure that communication took place and was effective and as understandable as can be. This is new, normally these students would be put into a classroom and then given extra work to catch up. Sahlgren believes that this method of linguistic integra- tion is better. The students can be in a more focused group where they can ask questions and talk a lot more than in the typical classroom setting. The first thing they learned was numbers. Once the basic numbers had been learned theywere given the challenge to count to ten very quick- ly...y, ka, ko, nel, vii, kuu, sei, kah, yh, ky. The children also have been given a chance to share their own language with each other. For example the kids recite the days of the week in Finnish and then in their own languages as well as singing songs in their own languages. Students gather around and hang on to their dear teacher Sari Sahlgren after a competition of who can count to ten in Finnish the fastest. GALLUP W H A T , S G O I N G O N I N U U S I K AU P U N K I ? I asked the kids a fewquestions and here are there answers. 1. Have you been able to commu- nicatewith the others in the school? 2. What do you do if you do not understand something? 3. What is your favorite class? 4. What is themost difficult class? 5. What would you do if this class did not exist? ■■ Juliana 1. It’s not easy 2. I ask my sister Valeria and she helps me. 4. Mathematics, handicrafts 5. I would sleep, be on my phone or watch tv. ■■ Carolina Astrid 1. No. 3. Fun activities 5. Draw, use the phone, use the computer or play Kimble. ■■ Jarmo 1. Yes. 2. I understand everything but I can’t speak so well. 3. Recess & Gym. 4. Swedish. 5. I would be in the normal sixth grade class ■■ Valeria 2. I go through all of the lan- guages that I know until the person that I am speaking to can figure out what i am saying. 3. Handicrafts (Arts and Crafts) and English. 4. I don’t like math. 5. I would be on vacation. ■■ Thiago 3. Math. 4. English 5. I wouldn’t come to this school. ■■ Natthida 5. Play a lot.