Olen Ilkka Vuolaslempi ja ammatiltani suomen kielen opettaja.
Minulla on oma yritys,
jonka
nimi on Kielinki.
Asun Turussa, mutta opetan verkossa (siis Internetissä).
Olen kotoisin
Pohjois-Suomesta,
mutta muutin Turkuun opiskelemaan
ja nykyään minun kotini on täällä.
Miten sinusta tuli suomen kielen opettaja?
Rakastan kieliä!
Peruskoulussa ja lukiossa opiskelin
englantia, ruotsia, saksaa, ranskaa ja
vähän venäjää
ja lukion jälkeen opiskelin lisäksi unkaria.
Opiskelin yliopistossa suomea ja
kirjallisuutta.
Kun aloin opiskella,
en tiennyt mitä haluan tehdä yliopiston jälkeen.
Kuulin
kaverilta,
että on sellainen ammatti kuin suomen kielen opettaja.
Tykkäsin opiskella kieliä
koulussa
ja minulla oli aina tosi hyviä opettaja
ja tiesin heti, että haluan olla samanlainen
kuin he!
Kun opiskelin yliopistossa,
tein kaksi opetusharjoittelua Münchenissä
Etelä-Saksassa
ja Greifswaldissa Pohjois-Saksassa.
Lisäksi opetin Fulbright-stipendillä
vuoden ajan suomea
amerikkalaisessa yliopistossa Madisonissa, Wisconsinissa.
Yliopisto-opintojen jälkeen olin neljä vuotta töissä
kotoutumiskouluttajana.
Pidin työstäni todella paljon
ja varmistuin siitä,
että suomen opettaminen on intohimoni.
Syksyllä 2020 perustin oman
yritykseni ja olen ollut yrittäjä siitä asti.
Mitä sinun kanssasi voi opiskella?
Olen yksityisopettaja,
eli minulta voi ostaa tunteja,
joilla on vain yksi opiskelija ja opettaja.
Minun kanssani voi opiskella omalla laitteella,
tietokoneella tai puhelimella ihan missä vain,
esimerkiksi kotona, kahvilassa tai työpaikalla.
Kanssani voi opiskella esimerkiksi suomen alkeita,
työelämän suomea, puhekieltä tai vaikka YKI-testiin.
Minulta voi ostaa myös kirjoitusharjoituksia,
joihin annan korjauksia ja kommentteja.
Ajattelen, että kielen oppiminen on opettajan ja opiskelijan yhteistyötä.
Opettajan kuuluu silloin luoda ympäristö,
jossa oppiminen on mahdollista ja mukavaa.
Minusta on aina hienoa nähdä, kun opiskelija oppii uutta!
Kiitos haastattelusta, Ilkka!
Sama englanniksi:
Who are you and where do you work?
My name is Ilkka Vuolaslempi and I am a Finnish teacher by profession. I'm an entrepreneur
and instructor in my own company called Kielinki. I live in Turku, Finland, and I work online
teaching Finnish to students living across the country. I’m originally from Northern Finland,
but came to Turku to study and have now made my home here.
How did you become a Finnish teacher?
I love languages! Besides my native Finnish, I learned English, Swedish, German, French
and a bit of Russian in school and some Hungarian at the university. During my studies I
majored in Finnish and had Literature as my minor. When I began my studies, I had no idea
what I wanted to do after graduation. A friend told me I could teach Finnish as a second or a
foreign language. Since I had really enjoyed learning languages in school and was lucky to
have inspiring teachers, I knew I wanted to become just like them!
During my studies I had two internships in Germany, one in Munich in Southern
Germany and the other in Greifswald in the north of the country. I also spent an academic
year teaching Finnish on a Fulbright scholarship at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in
the US. After my studies I worked as an instructor in an educational company offering
integration courses to foreigners residing in Finland. I enjoyed my work a lot and became
convinced that teaching Finnish is my passion. In September 2020 I set up my own
company, Kielinki, and have been an entrepreneur since.
What learning services does Kielinki provide?
I am a private teacher, so I provide students with classes that are designed just for them with
their particular learning needs in mind. Students can attend classes using their own devices,
computers or smartphones, wherever they want, be it from home, a coffee shop or their
workplace. Kielinki offers classes for example in basic Finnish, more advanced Finnish
needed in work life, classes in spoken Finnish and training for the proficiency test required
for Finnish citizenship (YKI-testi). Students can also purchase writing exercises to which I
provide comments, corrections and tips on how to improve their Finnish writing skills.
I believe that learning a language is a co-operative process between a student and a
teacher. I, as a teacher, am to provide the setting and create an atmosphere that enables
and enhances the learning process. It always warms my heart to see that a student of mine
has learned something new and which they are then ready to apply in their everyday life.
That’s something I will work towards in every class with every student!
Kiitos haastattelusta, Ilkka! Thank you for the interview, Ilkka!
Watch series, movies, documentaries and talk shows in Finnish (with or without the subtitles). https://areena.yle.fi/tv is great if you live in Finland or have a VPN.
Find a band or a singer that you really like. Listen to your favourite songs when you sit on a bus, clean your apartment, fold your laundry etc. Study the lyrics and sing.
A grammar book (or a link to a good website) for checking up more advanced rules
Something else to read (a magazine, a comic book, an easy-to-read novel, a non-fiction book)
Different learning apps, movies, series and music
3. Plan your time and energy wisely and create daily habits.
What is your goal? How much is it realistic to study? How much time can you invest in your Finnish studies?
Do you feel that you learn and focus better in the morning or in the evening? Before or after eating? With or without background music? Alone or with a friend?
Try to study in different ways at different times of the day and take notes on what works for you.
Once you've found a perfect mix of study routines, stick to them.
No matter how little, do something every day.
Whatever you do, focus on what you are doing.
Don’t give up. If you fall off the wagon, get back on.
My name is Hanna Männikkölahti. I am a professional Finnish teacher who gives private online lessons and simplifies books into easy Finnish. Please read more in www.linktr.ee/hannamannikkolahti and follow this blog, if you want to be the first one to know when I post something new.
Finnish has eight vowels, butiit is definitely the most popular one when it comes to functioning as a marker, being used for making new words or joining Finnish endings to foreign names. Please leave a comment if I forgot something.
1. Making loan words
Loan words are often among the first words that students learn, because they are so easy to remember! Just ad an i at the end of the word in another language, and it might be a real word in Finnish. Sometimes we also change or double the consonant. (With verbs, the ending is -ata. I'll write about that later.)
posti - a post office, mail
kahvi - coffee
presidentti - a president
Loan words can also end with other vowels, but i is the most common one. You can read more in my post about the loan words.
2. A glue between a consonant and an ending when declinating names
If a name ends with a vowel, we just add the ending:
Hanna > Hannan kanssa - with Hanna
If a name ends with a consonant, we add an i and then the ending:
Max > Maxin kanssa - with Max
Charles > Charlesin kanssa - with Charles
Exception: Matias > Matiaksen kanssa - with Matias (also Topias, Markus and other names ending with as, us or os can behave like this.)
Notice that if a word ends with a consonant but is pronounced with a vowel, we add an apostrophe, heittomerkki, and then the ending:
Louis Theroux > Louis Theroux'n kanssa - With Louis Theroux
3. Past tense marker
We put an i or si between the verb stem and a personal ending to express that something happened in the past.
sanon > sanoin - I say > I said
pelaan > pelasin - I play > I played
Sometimes vowels disappear or change, but there's always an i in the positive past tense.
I know. The plural is quite tricky, so I should write more about it.
About the author of Random Finnish lesson:
My name is Hanna Männikkölahti. I am a professional Finnish teacher who gives private online lessons and simplifies books into easy Finnish. Please read more in www.linktr.ee/hannamannikkolahti and follow this blog, if you want to be the first one to know when I post something new.
