Tietojenkäsittelytieteen laitos

In autumn 2010 a Finnish course was organized in Kumpula for the staff of the Computer Science Department. After one year, we are interested in how the attendees feel about the course and if there is a demand for organizing such a course again.

Here are the comments from some of last years attendees:

"Overall I found the Finnish course very useful. Unfortunately I am spending just one year here in Finland, so I did not have a lot of time to study and practice what I learnt :)

I am pretty sure that if I had to go downtown Helsinki for following a course I would have not followed the lessons so happily.

The first lessons were pretty hard since the teacher spoke just in Finnish but I can see the rationale of this choice. Anyway the teacher was great.

Personally, I think that the notions about grammar, for example the ones about the verbs, deserve a specific "slot" during the lesson.

I preferred the book suggested in the second course, the one with the blue cover. I am sorry but I do not remember the title."

– Cristina, Post doc

"I like the teaching style of our teacher who is patient and considerate."

– Anonymous

"The course was very useful to me. It helped me to better understand Finnish in day-to-day life. The course being hosted at Kumpula was very convenient for me to attend.

Our teacher, Outi Rummukainen, is a very dedicated teacher. I found her teaching style, mixing lectures and exercises (both written and dialogue type), is a very good approach in teaching Finnish to us.

Regarding the book, Suomen mestari 1 by Sonja Gehring and Sanni Heinzmann is a good book for a beginner as it is a conversation style book. I wouldn´t have bought the book, fortunately I got the book from the library. I would rather buy Olli Nuutinen´s book Suomea suomeksi 1 as it is simple and rich in its contents."

-- Laila, Post Doc

We further asked the international staff of the department if they are interested in participating in a Finnish course at the campus and at which level(s). The answers of the about 20 respondents are summarized in the figure below.

According to the figure, the demand for the beginners level is the highest, closely followed by the medium level. This can be explained by the fact, that there are a couple of new international staff members as well as that those who took the last years course seem to be interested in a continuation course. There is less demand for the higher level courses.

And how about you, would you like to attend a Finnish course in Kumpula and at which level? What is your preferred way of studying Finnish?