Truths, Lies and Freedom

In International Studies, we started our lesson with a game. I got the idea from the UK TV Show "Would I Lie to You?" It's all about contestants trying to guess whether others are telling truths or lies. One contestant will read out a statement and the opposing team must question them about it. This of course gave way to many funny moments with our class (one student had to lie about how they would NEVER go to sleep before midnight, for example).

These games are always a good way to get the class talking and bonding. It did, however, also encourage the students to think about the terms "truths" and "lies". We noted that in our society, we are relatively free to pursue truths and to question what is happening around us.

Continuing with our North Korea topic, we realised that this is not the case there. In order for the students to learn more about the country in terms of its relation to human rights, I set up a fact-finding treasure hunt. I hid twelve facts about North Korea around lukio, Merenojan and even by the library. The students had to follow the trail of clues to collect all of the facts. With the class split into two teams, things certainly got competitive. Here we have one team hiding from the other...

Once all of the students had returned, I asked them to read through these facts carefully. They then had to sort them into categories in terms of whether they related to: the government, the media, world relations, and/or crime and punishment.  This was when the real thoughtfulness began. As we explored these issues more deeply, watching a YouTube video of North Koreans who had experienced the regime, the students began to realise just how many human rights are being broken across the world right now.

One student said, "We've been talking about these issues but can we DO something?"

This was such an important moment and I'm so pleased that the students are asking what it is they can do to help with the plight of others. We will certainly be exploring this question further on in the course...

A Truly International Week

This week has proven to be another busy - but very exciting - one. After all, lukio has been hosting visitors from Sweden, Iceland and Latvia as part of the Nordplus Project that some of our wonderful students are involved in. This is an opportunity for the students to travel to these different countries, form new friendships, and complete a project independently.

On Monday, it was all about the group getting to know each other. Ice-breakers (games) were of course the answer! After learning each other's names, the students were split into groups and tasked to create marshmallow and spaghetti towers...

They also played some Spoon Assassin. The aim of this game is simple: chase your competitors and tap them with your spoon in order to "assassinate" them and take their spoon. The winner is the person who finishes with all of the spoons. Rules like "you're immune from being "assassinated" for 5 seconds if you take off your shoe and wave it in the air" make the game all the more ridiculous!

Afterwards they attempted to make a container that would keep an egg safe from breaking if we dropped it from a high place. Three out four of the groups managed to keep their eggs safe which is a massive success if you ask me!

After all of these crazy challenges, on Monday evening, our Finnish students and Nordplus visitors provided and tasted popular food from each country. There were some seriously delicious offerings...

Aside from this incredible week of project work, the International Studies lessons have continued as usual. On Wednesday, we carried on with our topic of "Freedom". For starters, the class was split into four groups and given the task of role-playing: a democracy, a communist state, a dictatorship and a monarchy in order to grow more familiar with these key terms and systems. For example, the "communist" group was tasked with announcing to the class that all must hand in their pencil cases in order for the equal distribution of standard pens for everyone.

The activity was an interesting one, making these terms more memorable. Nonetheless, the tone of our lesson changed as we explored the sometimes harsh realities of this world, paying attention to the situation in North Korea. One student summarised their feelings with honesty: "These things can be overwhelming if you think about them and so sometimes it is easier not to think about them."  However, we all realised the importance of awareness and the platform that our class gives for this.

Certainly, these past few days in particular have provided the students the chance to be open to and discover more about the world around them and that is simply invaluable.

Who Are You?

This week has been absolutely packed to say the least.

For starters, the IS2 class got to send off their DNA samples to be tested. Big stuff! Through doing this, we're hoping to break stereotypes and discover what it really means to be "Finnish". It's not everyday that you get to address the question of who you are. To be continued...

Elsewhere, in Wednesday's IS1 class we began another topic. This is one concerns "freedom". To begin with we examined human rights. In groups, the class decided which five human rights (from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights) they would establish on a new planet - because you never know when you might find yourself in charge of a civilisation far, far away of course. After also role-playing a court case concerning freedom of speech, they categorised certain situations (such as "killing is wrong") in terms of whether they should apply all the of the time, most of the time, some of the time, or never. This garnered some seriously interesting conversation.

Beyond this, Merenjoan koulu experienced its own tea party on Friday. We had roughly 100 brownies on offer as well as some jam cake (these naturally disappeared within about five minutes). The students also tried their hand at some croquet and bowling with some very impressive results.

The only not-so-great part of the past couple of weeks was that I experienced my first slip on Finnish ice. If I'm honest though, I was sadder about dropping my sandwich than landing on my back. So, I guess, here's to a week of not slipping (hopefully)...

Here's to the New Year!

Hello, 2017! Following two taxi rides, three buses, three trains and one (delayed) flight, I’m now in Kalajoki...

The journey home for Christmas was pretty adventurous too. I took the train to Helsinki where I spent the night, marvelling at all of the beautiful Christmas lights and decorations. My travel companion, Ahren, decided that we should also be vikings for the night in a nearby restaurant because who wouldn’t want to wear such glorious helmets while eating dinner...

This was the calm before the storm. After a 5am start on the Thursday, our flight was delayed by almost two hours due to fog around Gatwick Airport (typical British weather). This meant that I missed my train from London to Leicester and so I ended up waiting in England’s capital for a few hours in order to catch a bus home.

Nonetheless, it was all worth it in the end as I got to catch up with family and friends. We enjoyed a traditional Christmas dinner, some crackers, and lots of Finnish chocolate that I’d brought back with me. I even got my siblings to try Salmiakki which they liked! I was in utter disbelief...how could this be?!

(These are Christmas crackers, a British tradition. Two people pull on either end of the cracker and whoever wins the largest part gets a paper crown, a small toy and a very bad joke!)

Soon, it was time to return to Kalajoki and thus began the long journey back to Finland. After three days of travelling from one place to another, it’s safe to say that I’ll be happy not to see any form of public transportation for quite some time.

Today marks the first day back at school this year and our International Studies started off with a bang. Monday’s class explored the school and town in order to realise the extent to which Kalajoki is a multicultural place. They also created a display on three multicultural cities: London, New York, and Sydney...

What a fun start to the year!

I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday

...is the name of one of the most famous Christmas songs in England. It’s also a song that has been dancing around my head all the week! This is, after all, our final full week before the holidays and so I’ve been doing my best to help spread festive cheer.

Let’s start with International Studies. While Monday’s class planned their multicultural city videos, Wednesday’s class filmed them. Afterwards, it only seemed right that we should play some traditional English Christmas games while munching on some candy and sipping some (delicious) Yorkshire Tea.

What were these Christmas games, you ask? We got stuck into some good old Charades first of all. This is a game where one person must give their teammates clues so that they can guess the names of films, books, songs, and TV shows. NO TALKING ALLOWED!

Next up was Articulate, a game where one player must select a random word and describe it in order for the rest of their team to guess the correct word.

These games were not limited to International Studies, however. The students in Merenojan have also experienced some English Christmas goodness this week. I must say – they were much better at playing Articulate than I am.

“This guy was in Baywatch and for some reason has a show here...” was probably my favourite clue and led us all to ponder: why does David Hasselhoff have his own TV show in Finland?!

The Merenojan students also learned about pantomimes (silly theatre shows) and did some acting of their own using verbs and adverbs. There were some Oscar-worthy performances as students pretended to eat nervously, play ice hockey angrily, and swim happily. This was swiftly followed by some Christmas dinner bingo and, let me tell you, the competition was fierce!

One of my classes today was slightly bemused by the English song “Merry Christmas Everyone” by Shakin’ Stevens. In return, they showed me “Sika”. I was truly lost for words but at least now I know the Finnish translation for “pig”.

Oh and how could I almost forget? Last weekend I finally managed to visit Tampere. There was a wonderful atmosphere throughout the city and I especially loved the Christmas market! All in all, this week has definitely got me excited for the season to be jolly, fa la la la la la la la la. 

Newspaper Clothes

Tuesday marked Finland’s 99^th Independence Day. It was a cold one too (-20c to be precise). As a result, it felt pretty good to watch the big president’s event bundled in thick blankets with a hot chocolate to hand. On a deeper note, getting to know Finland’s history has been a real privilege and it was truly special to get a taste of the celebrations.

Yesterday saw the students return to school, however, and everything was back to normal (if you can call making clothes out of newspaper normal). That’s right – as part of our discussion on multiculturalism and how we define culture, I asked the International Studies students to make one of three traditional pieces of clothing. They could choose from: a kilt, a sari, or a kimono. The rules were simple. They had to try to make this clothing using only newspaper, sellotape and scissors. There were some wonderful creations...

We noted that culture can be judged through such things as clothes and it was soon time to move on to the main task! The students’ second challenge is to make tourism videos based one of three multicultural cities: Sao Paulo, Toronto, and Singapore. They will have to convince the judge(s) to visit their city while providing information to show just how multicultural it is and what it has to offer. After completing their research yesterday, the students are ready to film their videos at the start of next lesson and I'm sure excited to see how they all turn out!

Let's Party!!!

This week, we’re all about the celebrations.

The IS1 classes finished off their presentations on Christmas, Diwali and the Chinese New Year before sharing them. What can I say? I was blown away.

In Monday’s class we had one student dressed as a Christmas tree, Jesus’ birthday cake and the most impressive of Chinese Dragons...

In Wednesday’s class we had an entire classroom transformed into the Diwali “festival of lights” (beautiful candles and all). Wednesday’s class even cooked and baked some delicious treats in honour of their chosen celebrations. (As you can see, these treats were enjoyed a lot!)

Not only did the students get to be creative and independent, they also learned and presented a great deal about their subject areas. Just wait until you see what we have in store for next week though...

Elsewhere, in the local elementary school we’ve spent the past few weeks making British school menus, role playing getting the wrong order in a restaurant (oh no!), and performing questionnaires on the students’ favourite hobbies. Next week, we’ll be buying and selling in our own shops which should be verrrry interesting J

In the kindergarten, things are feeling very Christmas-y. We even played “pin the hat, scarf and nose on the Rudolph" with some hilarious results. It's been the perfect time to learn the English words for winter clothing with all of the gorgeous snow that currently surrounds us and blankets the streets. 

In fact, the weather was perfect for last Friday's Christmas light switch-on in the evening. There were fireworks, carols, and crackling fires. 

Of course, Finland’s Independence Day celebrations are just around the corner too. This will be my first experience of the Independence Day so I'm pretty darn excited! 

P.S. HAPPY 1st DECEMBER!!!