Mr or Ms President?

The new year of the Kalajoki Upper Secondary High school International studies course has begun and with it new students with the desire and ability to learn about the world outside of Finland and its importance. The students have come to the class fully prepared, ready and willing to provide their opinions, use their minds and discuss about international issues using English as the primary method of communication.

This year we have a new addition to the course, well 6 of them to start with...this year the students in the course will be able to use the Samsung Galaxy tab as part of their learning process with the power and knowledge of the internet at their fingertips, well except for wikipedia, but that's another story!

The classes have settled down and Darwin would be proud as now the 3 new 1st year classes have really started to get used to the unusual, shall we say "Irish Style" of the course!

Just recently the students researched the good and bad points about Messrs Romney and Obama and the impact of the American election on the world and what these men bring to the international environment in which we all live.

Then the students had the chance to try to be president of a country for a while and outline their own wishes for the prefect place to live. Freedom of Speech, Equal rights for all, high and low tax rates, nuclear power or not the students worked together to provide some thought provoking topics all the time using the tablet computer as their books of knowledge with English as their only means of communicating.

International Studies, say what?!

So, International Studies is not just another course at school. It's a course that is, and this is hardly a stretch, essential for young minds everywhere. It opens up avenues for exploration, to subsequently lead toward new possibilities, and this is what this year's Project Week at the Kalajoen Lukio helped to do.

This April, the Lukio held a course about, "Canada: What You Need to Know". Being a Canadian, it was no easy task to talk about everything about my entire country in just a week, but the students helped with the inspiration. They were young, eager minds, challenging me to teach them more about a country that is often overshadowed in the media by its neighbour to the South.

And yes, tell-tale signs of being a Canadian are that a lot of us say "Eh" after pretty much every sentence, but there's more to our Great White North than just hockey and snow, and the Maple Leaf and Maple Syrup. There's Multiculturalism and a variety of landscapes and experiences all in one country! A young country spanning 9.9 million square kilometres (yup, we have kilometres, not miles) with a population of 35 million, we stand tall and proud and can hold our own.

Here's a poem by a Canadian that pretty much embodies what our country is about:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pq_xddkO064

Also, to satisfy your curiosity, below are a few pictures from a very successful project week!

- Bianca =)
Proudly Canadian

The goodness of strangers! =)

Check out this link to see how a Canadian student was reunited with his wallet when he returned to Canada, after losing it in Europe.
http://ca.news.yahoo.com/blogs/dailybrew/canadian-student-reunited-wallet-lost-while-travelling-overseas-182426656.html

Exercise your cooking skills!

 How to make Tomato and Pork Fried Rice, Chinese style! =)

 

Hi from Bianca! =)

Hello, dear students of Kalajoen lukio!

I'm Bianca, and I'm from a town called Markham (just north of Toronto), in Ontario, Canada. I have been in Kalajoki for almost a week now and have enjoyed the wonderful company of your lovely people! I am excited to begin my adventures at your lukio and look forward to bringing a little bit of my lovely country to your wonderful town. =)