Young entrepreneurs

If you are interested in business and employing yourself, you can also attend an entrepreneurial course at our school.  Part of the lessons are in English so that the students can learn the basic terms of business communicaton in that language.  Part of the lessons consist of visiting some major companies in this region.

On 26th April the students and the teachers visited Ikaalinen Spa, where marketing director Harri Laine gave us a lively and thorough lecture on marketing and developing new business ideas, especially dealing with tourism.

  

Team spirit of the French group

During the following weeks, we are going to visit some courses and tell you what they are doing. 

One special thing in our school is the possibility to study very many languages.  Even though the number of students who want to study an extra language might be small, they still have the opportunity to learn the language they like.

Maiju visited the French class of the first year students  (at the moment the only students studying French in our school) :

The number of the French students is quite small (3) but despite the small size of the group,  the lessons are held as usual.   Annamari, Kalle and Juuso told me what their French lessons are like.

First we talked about the pros and cons of the small size of the group.  The students found much more pros. In a small group they find it easier to ask for help if they have problems with their studies. They can progress at their own speed and nobody will be overshadowed by the others. They don’t feel any pressure in the group because they have known each other since primary school – everybody feels comfortable and the team spirit is great. It is also really flexible to study in a small group.

Then I asked what kinds of methods they use in the lessons. The teacher, Jaakko Laaksonen, told me that they do a lot of listening exercises and practices with computers – the students use them in almost every lesson.  All of the material is also in a digital form and the students don’t use much paper or notebooks. That sounds great!

Annamari and Juuso are also studying Russian in addition to French - and all of them are of course studying English and Swedish.

I asked them a few more questions:

Do you think you will need French in the future? Maybe in the working life?

-          I might be interested in some kind of international work, so it would be useful to  
       speak French in the future , says Annamari.

To whom would you recommend French studies?

       -          Anybody can study French – all of us have started from the zero, says Juuso.

-          It requires  nerves to study French, it is not the easiest language to learn, Kalle says.

-          French is worth trying and it’s possible to cope with. Don’t be scared of it!,   Annamari exhorts.

After the “interview” Annamari, Kalle and Juuso begin to focus their attention on the vocabulary test which Jaakko is going to have for them. “Good luck!” I say and leave the French students studying.

Maiju Aalto 2A

Gaudeamus Hodie

Gaudeamus Hodie

Let’s be glad today!

Our school is full of sunny, glad and happy people. On Wednesday the 18^th of April some of them shared their happiness and joy to older people by singing. The students of one of the extra music courses went to the local old people's home to spend their lesson there. Their energetic teacher Johanna had planned the program, which included one hour singing to and with the old people. She had also made booklets of the notes, so everyone could sing along. 

They started their show with a song in Latin! It told us what the show was all about: Let’s be glad today!  An hour included a lot. Many well-known, evergreen songs, singing together, tears, laugh and of course, happiness. We made even the sun come out! Some of the old ones were deeply touched, but still they sang with us. The songs were traditional Finnish songs, so all of the audience knew them. The songs may also have reminded them of something from their past.

It was very nice to see how much light and joy we can bring to this world just by singing. The old people were very happy to see us there and wanted to talk with us. It shows how we should not forget anyone, not even those who may forget us in five minutes. This visit gave at least me happiness for the rest of the day and made me open my eyes for the power of music. 

Written by Eeva Linnainmaa, 1B