Carry to your wife to the Finnish-line!

[Danoz]

In one of my more unusual lesson requests from the school, I was asked to prepare a 50 minute 二年生 (7th grader) presentation on the Republic of Finland. The class ended up being a blast. Taught them about Pesäpallo, World Heritage sites, The Santa Claus village (they loved this), basic geography (thanks Google earth!), we all learned a few words in Finnish, looked at photos and videos of the lakes, winters, and the aurora borealis (northern lights)-- and finished most interestingly with video of the Finnish national "wife carrying" festival... which is exactly what it sounds like. My kids were laughing and cheering and awing, and left the room waving and screaming "Näkemiin!!!" So yes, with a few hours of research, PowerPoint-making, and lots of technology, I managed to get a classroom of Japanese 7th graders raving about the awesomeness of Finland. One girl shouted, "OH MY GOD I LOVE FINLAND." I'm good

Just a note: I knew very little about Finland before last night, lol.

 

[Ar-Pharazon]

Are you from Finland?

 

[Danoz]

Are you from Finland?

No. I knew very, very little about Finland before last night. lol

I'm an English teacher in Japan, and their textbook features a section where students are talking to other international students about a recent trip to Finland. They wanted me to do a presentation on the country.

 

[Tora Ziyal]

I remember you posting about another cool class you did a while back. You're a good teacher, Danoz!

 

[sojourner]

I spent 2 months in Turku, Finland about 10 years ago. All I remember is "Kiitos" for thank you and the drink that was popular at the time "lapin kulte". And no, I doubt those spellings are correct.

Great country though, very friendly people with a great work ethic and a greater party ethic.

 

[Danoz]

I spent 2 months in Turku, Finland about 10 years ago. All I remember is "Kiitos" for thank you and the drink that was popular at the time "lapin kulte". And no, I doubt those spellings are correct.

Great country though, very friendly people with a great work ethic and a greater party ethic.

Wow very cool! What were you doing over there?

It does seem like a great country. This short little "research project" really opened my eyes to the number of cultural gems they have, and the sheer beauty of the country.

 

[Deranged Nasat]

Sounds like quite a success. I'm glad this teaching role is going so well for you. A strange request for a lesson plan, but clearly you took it in stride.

 

[Aurian]

I am half finn, but have grown up in Sweden and I have been to Santa Claus many times
It really is a cool country if you give it a chance

 

[Eyes]

I have never been to Finland, but I really want to go sometime; it's one of my favourite countries from what I know of it. Beautiful language (extremely easy on the ear, even if I know very little), very nice people from what I've heard and a beautiful landscape.

And a lovely culture, I didn't know all of those little things you mentioned in the first post but it's great your class seemed to enjoy them. *goes and researches a little more Finnish culture to get up to speed*

I've developed a reputation on another forum for being a bit of a 'Finnphile', (as in, showing love towards Finland wherever mentioned ), and so this topic did not disappoint!

 

[sojourner]

Wow very cool! What were you doing over there?

I helped with the install of all of the computer systems on this:

 

[Ashu]

Not going to lie, I am super jealous of this class. I don't think I was ever this excited after a class when I was in grade 7 =/

 

[Retu]

I spent 2 months in Turku, Finland about 10 years ago. All I remember is "Kiitos" for thank you and the drink that was popular at the time "lapin kulte". And no, I doubt those spellings are correct.

Great country though, very friendly people with a great work ethic and a greater party ethic.

Correct spelling is "lapin kulta". Translated as Lapland's Gold. It's also called as "poron kusi", reindeer's piss, by those who hate it.

 

[sojourner]

Correct spelling is "lapin kulta". Translated as Lapland's Gold. It's also called as "poron kusi", reindeer's piss, by those who hate it.

LOL, well I was close.

 

[JayOwl]

I have an online friend who's Finnish. I'd love to go to Finland too, but if I ever went it would have to be in the summer, not winter. -30 celcius? No thanks. I HATE the cold.

I also really like two bands from Finland so another +1 there.

 

[Roshi]

It really is a cool country if you give it a chance

lol!

 

[Naira]

Nice! I like hearing about teachers that make their classes interesting!

 

[SmoothieX]

I'd love a Scandinavian vacation.

I went to Iceland last year, and the airline and travel agency I used have good deals to the 3 Scandinavian countries.

The food can't be any worse than Icelandic, but the exchange rate is nowhere near as good either.

 

[sojourner]

You have to like all kinds of fish. Including fish paste in what looks like toothpaste tubes and lots of different kinds of pickled fish.

 

[JRS]

Direct program from Finland now from here:

http://yle.fi/osallistu/juhannusjuna/

This is a special television event, celebrating Juhannus(Midsummer)
It is basically (mostly)live program of an train trip from Helsinki to Rovaniemi, with music, landscapes, interviews and all sorts of other program.
(The broadcast started at 18.00 CET..and will end around 7.00 CET on Saturday morning)
The program is also shown on TV in some EU countries.

Enjoy!