Study Guide

Objectives (course unit)

After completing the course, the students will be able to:
- pronounce Finnish quite well
- be more confident in using Finnish in their daily encounters out of a classroom
- understand phrases and typical vocabulary related to areas of personal relevance (e.g. basic personal and family information, shopping, local environment and services)
- catch the main point in short, clear, simple messages, announcements and conversations.
- use a wider variety of everyday vocabulary and phrases more spontaneously and confidently
- read and understand short everyday text types
- find specific, predictable information in simple everyday material such as advertisements, prospectuses, menus and timetables and understand short simple personal messages and emails
- communicate in simple and routine tasks requiring a simple and direct exchange of information on familiar and routine matters
- describe aspects of their background, immediate environment and matters in areas of immediate need.
- 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

Prerequisites (course unit)

Finnish as a Foreign Language 1 (5 cr) and 2 (5cr) or equivalent knowledge.

Further information (course unit)

Methods and grounds for evaluation:
Participation in the course meetings.
Review of the course assignments.
Review of the exams.

Teaching methods:
Classroom meetings.
Course assignments.
Exams (a midterm exam and a final exam).

We practise speaking, listening comprehension, writing, and reading. We will focus on active language use and comprehension.

Teaching material:
Teacher´s materials, course book Suomen mestari 2, chapters 1-4.

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

We have a classroom meeting once a week (on Thursday 2.15-3.45 PM).
In addition to that, you will have an online class, video lesson, or other type of assignment once a week.
If you can not attend an online class, you can watch a recording of the lesson later on.

Exam schedules

The final exam will be in the latter part of the second period. We will discuss this in the beginning of the course.

Assessment methods and criteria

Student needs to complete the required assignments and attend the classroom meetings regularly. In addition to this, the student needs to pass the final exam.

Assessment scale

0-5

Teaching methods

On the course, you will have
- classroom and online meetings
- course assignments
- a final exam

We practise speaking, listening comprehension, writing, and reading. We will focus on active language use and comprehension.

Learning materials

We will use a lot of teacher's material and online material.
In addition to this, Suomen mestari 2 will support your self-studying and, in particular, your grammar studies.
If you will not get Suomen mestari 2, you need to find ways to replace the book exercises.

Student workload

You should prepare for the following schedule:
- A classroom meeting once a week.
- An online class, study video, or other type of assignment once a week.
- Other independent studies (e.g., home work).

The amount of independent work varies each week.

Content scheduling

We will discuss this in the beginning of the course.

Completion alternatives

Not available.

Practical training and working life cooperation

Not available.

International connections

The course is aimed for international students.

Further information

Guidelines for using AI in this implementation
If a student uses AI tools in an allowed manner to assist with their learning tasks, they must cite the AI tools used and provide the prompts they used alongside their task responses. If a student presents AI-generated results as their own without citations, sources, and/or prompts, the teacher may reject the work or require it to be redone. The teacher has the right to ask the student if they have used AI in their learning task.

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

Students have been able to complete all the assignments acceptably and attended contact lessons regularly. 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) (Not in use, Look at the Assessment criteria above)

Students have been able to complete all the assignments acceptably and attended contact lessons regularly. 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) (Not in use, Look at the Assessment criteria above)

Students have been able to complete all the assignments acceptably and attended contact lessons regularly. 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.