Study Guide

Objectives (course unit)

The course provides the basics of the Finnish language (estimated level A2.1) building up the knowledge and use of Finnish language in simple everyday situations.

After completing the course, the students will be able to:
• pronounce Finnish quite well
• understand phrases and the highest frequency vocabulary related to areas of most immediate personal relevance (e.g. very basic personal and family information, shopping, local area)
• catch the main point in short, clear, simple messages and announcements
• read very short, simple texts
• find specific, predictable information in simple everyday material such as
advertisements, prospectuses, menus and timetables and understand short simple
personal letters
• participate in a conversation asking and responding to questions about topics studied in
the course
• use their Finnish out of a classroom
• use a series of phrases and sentences to describe in simple terms their family and other
people, living conditions, educational background and their present or most recent job
• write short, simple texts related to everyday topics.

Content (course unit)

• study book Suomen mestari 1, chapters 5 - 7 and 9, moreover free time, health, past
tenses, passive voice

o structural exercises
o pronunciation exercises
o vocabulary exercises
o conversational and drama exercises
o listening comprehension exercises
o reading comprehension exercises
o written exercises.

Assessment criteria, satisfactory (1-2) (course unit)

Students have been able to complete all the assignments acceptably and attended contact lessons at least 80 %. They can tell about few of the achieved course contents, but their expression stays limited: both spoken and written language is partly hard to understand. It is difficult for them to take part to a simple discussion. Also their incomplete pronunciation may cause difficulties to understand their speech.

Assessment criteria, good (3-4) (course unit)

Students have been able to complete all the assignments acceptably and attended contact lessons at least 80 %. Students have an active attitude towards studying Finnish language showing that by completing course tasks according to the schedule. They are able to cope in everyday conversations related to topics studied in the course. Students can write short texts about their home, travelling or work. They can pronounce Finnish clearly enough. Students are able to use typical grammatic structures e.g. local cases and past tenses in simple sentences.

Assessment criteria, excellent (5) (course unit)

Students have been able to complete all the assignments acceptably and attended contact lessons at least 80 %. Students have a positive and active attitude towards learning language. They can pronounce Finnish distinctively. They manage quite well in everyday conversations related to topics studied in the course. They can write simple texts quite correctly and recombine words and phrases into new sentences so that used typical grammatic structures are almost correct. They understand the importance of good Finnish language skills to get a job in Finland.

Location and time

From 17.1. On Monday mornings and on Thursday afternoons. Always check the times in your calendar.

Exam schedules

14.4 and 21.4.

Assessment methods and criteria

Continuous assessment based on classwork, active participation (to pass the course the minimum attendance 80 % is required) and accepted exercises. In the end of course test in four part: speaking, listen understanding, writing and text understanding.

Assessment scale

0-5

Teaching methods

Different online methods: contact teaching, study conversation, cooperative learning, oral and written exercises and games.

Learning materials

Suomen mestari 1 (the newest Edition)

Content scheduling

In the beginning a bit of revision of earlier learnt. Mainly following the order of the textbook Suomen mestari 1 from the chapter 4.

International connections

The whole group is international!

Further information

Level A1 - A2.

Assessment criteria - fail (0) (Not in use, Look at the Assessment criteria above)

A student has great difficulties to understand and produce the simplest basic phrases and expressions. Pronunciation causes misunderstanding. She/he has not attended regularly contact lessons having more than 20 % absences and she/he has not managed to complete all assignments.

Assessment criteria - satisfactory (1-2) (Not in use, Look at the Assessment criteria above)

Students have been able to complete all the assignments acceptably. They can tell something about achieved course contents, but their expression stays limited and/or insufficient and includes a lot of structural mistakes. Both spoken and written language is partly hard to understand. It is difficult for them to take part to a simple discussion. Also their incomplete pronunciation may cause difficulties to understand their speech.

Assessment criteria - good (3-4) (Not in use, Look at the Assessment criteria above)

Students have an active attitude towards studying Finnish language showing that by completing course tasks according to the schedule. They can cope in most achieved oral course exercises quite well. Students are able to write short texts about their environment and matters considering their becoming profession. Their pronunciation is quite good.

Assessment criteria - excellent (5) (Not in use, Look at the Assessment criteria above)

Students have a positive and active attitude towards learning language. They can pronounce Finnish distinctively and are able to use suitable and varied expressions in achieved course exercises using grammar mostly correct way. Students can participate in a conversation asking and responding to questions about topics studied in the course. They can write simple descriptions or summaries and recombine words and phrases into new sentences.