Life in Finland

The SeAMKPro projects are an initiative that offers students the chance to gain experience in real life situations and help with actual projects for the community. It is in this context that the project Life in Finland was put forward to answer to the requirement of material that would help with teaching Finnish language to foreigners. The main goal was to create videos that would help students gain knowledge and adapt to the Finnish culture in real situations.

This project was carried out in the late autumn by five students from different majors: Irina Cherbukova (Library and information services), Jaakko Seppä (Cultural promotion), Jaakko Viljanen (International Business), Mayowa Ogundipe (Food and Hospitality Management) and Lourdes Morales (Nursing). Out of these team, three students are of foreign origin. This project gave them a unique perspective and the possibility to use their own experiences as Finnish language learners to generate teaching materials that would be the most help possible to other language learners.

About her participation in the project, Lourdes commented that: “As one of the participants of the project being still a Finnish language learner myself, it was a very interesting challenge to use both regular and specific vocabulary from the nursing area, which is part of my current studies in SeAMK. The help and patience of our teammates were part of the key to the success of the project, as was our variety in cultures, languages and fields of expertise.”

‘’Being one of the participants of this project as well as a foreigner, I was able to use the little language skill I understand in the project. As a third-year student of Food and Hospitality Management in Seinäjoki University of Applied Science studying in Finnish is quite challenging and fun at a time. I was also privileged to work with some intelligent students as my teammates and the diversity of the group made the project a success’’, said Mayowa Ogundipe, also a member of the team.

Undertaking this project was a very interesting experience for all participants. The process was thorough; from writing the scripts to shooting the videos and finally seeing them properly edited. The whole team feels the results were satisfying. And, although mastering the Finnish language is no easy task, they are happy to think they are helping by providing tools for future students that take on the challenge of improving their language level to be able to communicate better.

Riitta Kiili
Senior Lecturer
SeAMK Health Care and Social Work

Marika Toivonen
Senior Lecturer
SeAMK Health Care and Social Work

Irina Cherbukova
Student, Library and information services
SeAMK School of Business and Culture

Jaakko Seppä
Student, Cultural promotion
SeAMK School of Business and Culture

Jaakko Viljanen
Student, International Business
SeAMK School of Business and Culture

Mayowa Ogundipe
Student, Food and Hospitality Management
SeAMK Food and Agriculture

Lourdes Morales
Student, Nursing
SeAMK Health Care and Social Work