A teaching experience of a different kind

My name is Katrin Hunger. I am a teacher trainee from Germany. In the future, I am going to teach first to fourth grade pupils mainly in the subjects German, Math, Science and English.

I spent nine months in the beautiful Finland. At the beginning of the year 2022, I arrived as an Erasmus student studying at Tampere University. During the semester I was helping out in German courses as an assistant. In summer, I was working with bilingual children (Finnish/German) as well as children who learnt German as a foreign language in a kindergarten.

All experiences already gave me an outstanding insight into how children and adults learn German as a foreign language. However, the highlight of my experience in Finland was definitely the internship at Tampereen yliopiston normaalikoulu during August and September.

Everything started with a presentation about the Finnish school system by Petra Linderoos who used to be a lecturer at the university in Jyväskylä. In the end, Kirsi Aaltonen-Kiianmies (language teacher at Norssi in Tampere) was giving a brief overview over language learning at schools in Tampere. That was the moment whenIfirstthoughtaboutaninternshipataFinnishalakoulu. Thanks to the close connections between university and school, I got in contact with Kirsi in person.

I visited the school a couple of times in spring observing her German classes at that time. The first contact with the pupils was memorable. Some pupils were

open-minded to interact with me and showed me their projects, whereas some pupils were rather shy and a little bit intimidated by me as a native speaker. I thought to myself, if I can gain the pupils´ trust and willingness, I could actually teach them the German language and culture not just once but over a longer period of time.

It was a big step for me in the first place to even consider an internship at a Finnish school as I have only studied the language for a few months. Second of all, I had heard a couple of things about the Finnish school system, but I did not know about the way how things were handled at school in particular. I was used to German pupils and colleagues, only.

Luckily, I have met the right person in Kirsi. With her positive attitude, open-mindedness and curiosity she was and still is the best mentor a student can ask for. Kirsi made it possible for me to experience teaching in a unique way. This internship turned out to be the best time in my life so far.

First, I chaperoned Kirsi´s language classes. After a week I took over her first and fourth grade groups and observed higher grades once in a while. I planned a project with grade 4 in which we read a German book “Pandas große Reise” by Ulf Stark and Sophie Holmqvist. During the reading process I included many different activities to work with the story and make language learning more fun.

Just to give a couple examples: we sang together, drew pictures, did crafts, played language games and played with puppets. At the end, everyone was working on their individual projects either alone or with a group of pupils presenting the storyline in a creative way or writing/drawing a continuation of the book.

For my first graders I have chosen a cultural aspect as an ice-breaker of the new school year. I presented the Schultüte to them which is something shaped as a cylinder and made out of cardboard or paper. Parents, grandparents and friends fill them up with candy, useful things for school and toys. School starts for every German pupil with a Schultüte as a sweet welcome into a pupil´s life. I know about the special effect of children learning about their peers abroad. It is a connection no-one else can understand.

Thus,IshowedrealpicturesofmyownSchulanfang(first day of school) and we created our own Schultüte. In the end, every pupil received their very own school starter which turned out to be a wonderful first experience with the German culture. Along the way, we studied a couple of useful words connected to the school topic.

Every week we learnt something new whet-

her it was the numbers, colours, German songs and dances etc. However, one thing always stayed the same. The lesson started with the ABC song sang in both languages German and Finnish.

One aspect, I thought was very important when teaching especially foreign pupils the German language, was the fact that we can learn from one-another. I teach them about grammar and vocabulary and they show me bites of the Finnish language. Indeed, some pupils started to compare both languages and found out about similarities and differences in howtheyfunction.

Itgavethemaboostintheirlanguageconfidence.Itwas more fun to switch roles for a second and teach me as their teacher a Finnish word. I felt the difference in the learning atmosphere and tension between me and the pupils in- and outside of class as they started to trust

me. On this point, I cannot forget to share a little bit about my teaching style. While I was speaking completely in German during the entire lesson, Kirsi translated first (almost) everything in Finnish, later on she translated just here and there when rules for games, important information about cultural aspects or grammatical particularities needed to be understood in detail.

To cut a long sentence short, both groups first and fourth graders made huge progress in understanding German. Some of the pupils actually started talking after a couple of weeks. There were a couple of fourth graders who absolutely amazed me in their advancement by actually writing and performing their stories completely in German in order for me to understand without any translation. Another pupil (1st grade boy) almost moved me to tears by smiling at me and using the perfect German word Rucksack which has been learnt two weeks prior in a correct context outside of German class. I kept another occurrence in mind when an eight grader came to me during the break and started a small talk in German.

Before, it was usually just a simple Hallo! (engl. Hello!). Now there was the confidence to actually overcome the language barrier and speak. Those were just a couple of samples that seem to be so small but have a huge impact on my future teaching German as a foreign language.

During my time at Norssi, I got also the chance to observe grade 1 through 4 for an entire week each in all their subjects. I visited Lukio on two days as well. Doubtless, those eight weeks were the most amazing days I could ever have as a teacher trainee in an internship. I made similar surprising experiences with non-German speakers like I did with German learners.

Instead of German, we used English as mean to communicate. Pupils who felt more comfortable started speaking relatively good English with me right away and demonstrated other children how easy it can be and that making mistakes did not hinder the conversation dramatically. Then everyone started to join in according to their own level. At Lukio, I was able to encourage students to continue learning their foreign languages or even start a new one.

The interactions with the students showed me that I do not have to be a native speaker in order to teach Finnish students. On top of that, I also had a wonderful connection to the teachers that taught the specific classes I observed. I learnt about many different teaching styles, methods and speaking styles. I got an authentic inside into how to implement technical devices into teaching and learning.

I finally got a perfect example in how to use music in all kinds of subjects on a regular basis, I was always looking for. I opened my view on teaching in general and got more flexible with teaching myself. Teacher trainees and professors in Germany were really excited about hearing about my experiences at a Finnish school. Stories about my own teaching German as a foreign language are part of discussions on a regular basis.

Even though, I mainly wrote about things I have taken from the internship abroad or what it meant for pupils to interact with me as a native speaker from Germany, we should never forget that hosting a teacher trainee from abroad is an exchange experience for the entire school. To give you an example, teachers and staff started to ask me questions about the German school system, teaching styles and pupils. I felt a slight shift in people´s attitude towards a new culture as well.

Not only the German language but also the German culture grew in importance. Indeed, the Finnish school system is based on the former school system of east of Germany after the second World War. Nowadays, there are major changes in the German school system. Elementary school covers grade 1 through 4. Pupils are six years old when starting school. After fourth grade, children are separated into mainly two different schools according to their grades as well as future plans (studies or not).

School itself is free, however, parents need to pay for school lunch and materials like books, workbooks, pencils, paper etc. The curriculum is also very strict in Germany which puts a lot of pressure on pupils and teachers especially in secondary schools. Learning about a different school system may lead to more appreciation of their own school system.

For me as a future teacher, I can pick up specific things and might include them in my own teaching later on. However, I know that I cannot change the entire system, but I can make a change for myself and become a better (more understanding and tolerant) teacher for my pupils.

Summing up, the internship at Tampereen yli-

opiston normaalikoulu had a decisive impact on my future teaching. It changed me as a person towards a one with international competences. The time in Finland helped me to become more creative and flexible when looking at languages and other subjects. I do not want to miss teaching in a team with Kirsi who allowed me to grow as a language teacher and person.

I appreciated the time and opportunities to talk to other teachers from Finland, exchange experiences with other Finnish teacher trainees as well as get in contact with future German teachers. I hope that I was able to set an example of what two months can make with pupils, teachers and everyone else involved in an internship abroad like this one. I would like to assure Finnish teachers to open their classrooms for international students and learn from one-another.

At the same time, I wish that more teacher trainees find the encouragement to go abroad and experience teaching of a different kind. Thank you very much to everyone who was involved in my exchange and made this time so precious and valuable for me and your pupils!

Katrin Hunger