Weeks 27-29
Det är dags att fira! It’s the time to celebrate as I finally managed to get a full-time teacher salary by teaching online through my own business! Whoop whoop! Also, I would like to announce that in addition to Finnish classes, I’m now providing Swedish lessons for beginners. Check out my website for more information about the learning itineraries!
The original goal for Teacher Roosa was to create a business that would support me financially just enough so that I could stay in Australia for my first working holiday year, keep myself active in the world of education, and develop my teaching skills. I’m delighted to see that it has become more than that. My work has started to pay back the six months of travelling I did before settling down in Melbourne. Furthermore, I managed to create a reliable service that motivates and inspires people to learn. What more can you wish for as a teacher?
Inspired by a request I received from a customer about a month ago, I started teaching a basic Swedish course to two Finnish youths whose family is planning to move back to Finland. The timing could not have been better. Coincidentally, I had been chatting with my Swedish-speaking friends and listening to Swedish music, thinking about refreshing my Swedish skills after focusing so much on English.
But why did the Finnish-speaking students want to learn Swedish before moving back to Finland?
Through the reformation of the Finnish education system in the 1970s, the Swedish language was implemented as a compulsory part of the Finnish national curricula together with the mandatory Finnish course for Swedish-speaking Finns. In its current form, students start learning the second domestic language (Swedish or Finnish depending on their native language) in year 6 and continue until higher education. Therefore, when moving back to Finland and continuing their education in the Finnish school system, students have to attend the compulsory second domestic language course.
I thought that this preparatory course would be a good way for Finns abroad to catch-up with their peers and learn the basics, instead of jumping straight into the intermediate level when returning to Finland. Thanks to Otava’s great service, I managed to get a Swedish digital text and exercise book called Megafon 1 as a private education provider. This way we can study the same things online as the students’ Finnish classmates-to-be are learning in Finland. Utmärkt!
EduExploring 