Even first-graders study Russian in Eastern Finland
The children greet one another with "dobre utro"
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By Minna Pölkki in Joensuu
"I’ve learned a lot of letters and some words too. They sound pretty funny", says Nasti Mantsinen, who is in the first grade of elementary school.
Despite being in only the first grade, Joensuu native Mantsinen has studied her first foreign language for around three months. That language is Russian.
"Dobre utro", teacher Kaija Perho wishes a good morning to her class in the university teacher training school in Joensuu.
"Dobre utro", the children answer.
Once a week, for one hour at a time, the class is acquainted with the language of seven S-sounds.
One does not need to walk the streets of Joensuu or any other town near the Eastern border for long before hearing Russian. More and more speakers of Russian are needed in the trade and cultural sectors. The Russian influence in Eastern Finland is increasing – and that can be heard and seen in schools as well.
Students in Finnish schools can begin to study their first foreign language already in the first grade, although the most common year is still the third. In the teacher training school in Joensuu, the first foreign language kicks off during the spring semester of the first grade.
English is the most popular language. However, the school has invested in Russian studies, and managed to form a Russian group with 15 students in January.
"The aims and content of the curriculum stay the same, but the children are given more time to learn. The sensitive phases of childhood in learning foreign languages are taken advantage of", explains school principal Heikki Happonen.
Kaija Perho investigated in her Master’s thesis how small children are taught the noun genders, past tenses, vocabulary, and pronunciation of foreign languages.
"We work with the language. We have songs and games. We have learned the zebra-S and the shark-S with the help of the animal world. Learning from books does not start until the third grade", Perho says.
"We also started to learn how to write, but that does not work quite yet as the students are just learning how to write Finnish in cursive. Russian script is old-fashioned and complicated."
At the Joensuu teacher training school, learning Russian also means getting familiarised with the culture, and at the same time, having a positive impact on attitudes.
The school has active contacts with Russia: the children and adults make trips, both from Finland to Russia and vice versa.
Another school operates in the same building. The school has some Russian-speaking students, and a part of the lessons are taught in Russian.
"Adults get excited about Russian when they notice they need it at work. They place their children in the Russian class once they realise how tough it is to learn Russian when you are older", Perho explains.
Mantsinen and her friends Mei Kimanen, Hannette Tyynelä, and Aino Saarelainen agree. The quartet, which is playing a memory card game consisting of words and letters, knows why they are studying Russian.
"It is easy when you learn when you are little", Mantsinen observes.
"Our parents think so too. We have Russian company over sometimes too", Mei Kimanen reports.
"So do we. This is a lot of fun", Mantsinen assures us, and lifts a card with one of the seven S-sounds.
Helsingin Sanomat / First published in print 30.3.2005
MINNA PÖLKKI / Helsingin Sanomat
minna.polkki@hs.fi
