The school should speak all the languages whose speakers can be found under the school roof. In practice, speaking one’s mother tongue is not always easy for children and young people – it can even be considered provocative.
Finnish is spoken at school.
Such a prompt may be given in the school hallway by a student talking to Russian or Arabic friends. Experts say the school should speak the languages that students speak at home.
She works as a special language and cultural teacher and cultural interpreter in the early childhood education of the city of Hamina Nadezda Kärmeniemi emphasizes the importance of people being able to speak their mother tongue.
In February, Kärmeniemi was awarded the Honor of Everyday Life honorary mention for supporting multilingual children and families. He has enough work to do, as there are many multilingual families in the Hamina area.
– Unfortunately, there are such phenomena in our society that speaking one’s mother tongue is not always allowed. When a child goes to school, the multilingual jacket may be left at home, and only Finnish is spoken at school, and the home language does not belong there.
“We probably want us to learn Finnish”
Students of Kotka Lyceum speak Russian as their mother tongue Maria Yakovleva and Yulia Souvijenko tell how the school has been told to speak Finnish. The first year students in this high school will understand well.
– Usually they say so, because they want us to learn Finnish, they say.
Yakovleva came to Finland at the age of 5, and Souvijenko was born in Finland. Both speak Finnish well and have largely avoided awkward language situations.
The situation is not so easy for everyone. Russian mother living in Hamina Natalia Baklanova says her teenage son will be bullied if the boy speaks Russian with his friend at school. Some of the school staff have responded to this by commenting that the boy should not provoke others by talking about Russia.
Baklanova has contributed to encouraging her son, who was born in Finland Nikolas Podolyania to use their mother tongue.
– I think we have the right to speak our own language, and this should be better addressed! The school has said that you are not allowed to speak Russian, but yes you should speak your own language to learn, Podolyan says.
Podolyan would like to teach Russian in his mother tongue, but from a qualified teacher. Until now, he has had the impression that Russia is often taught by a Finnish person.
More mother tongue teaching is needed
Cultural interpreter Nadezda Kärmeniemi emphasizes that multilingualism is wealth.
– Multilingual children are proficient in perceiving linguistic phenomena and analyzing languages. They learn foreign languages faster than monolingual children, and a multilingual child has a diverse identity and the ability to see things from a different perspective as well.
According to Kärmeniemi, a prerequisite for linguistic development must be a language-friendly attitude and offer children the opportunity to learn their own mother tongue in very different situations.
– The identity of bilingualism also includes being able to work in a multilingual situation, so those skills need to be practiced in everyday life: at school, at home and on the street.
Kärmeniemi has been involved in developing the teaching of its own mother tongue in Hamina, so that in January the city began organizing Russian mother tongue lessons for 1st-9th graders once a week, for example. Kärmeniemi is also demanding similar mother tongue teaching for several language groups through the ongoing municipal initiative in Kotka.
You should even speak your own mother tongue during class
An adviser to the Board of Education working on these issues of multilingualism Katri Kuukka says that it is possible to organize the teaching of one ‘s mother tongue in the municipalities if there are four pupils in the school who speak the same language.
According to the month, not all municipalities provide this, although the state covers most of the costs – as education is not compulsory.
When Kuukka asks if Finnish-speaking schools are meant to speak only Finnish, he answers “no”.
According to the curriculum, schooling can include multilingual teaching situations in which teachers and students use all the languages they know.
– Cultural diversity and language awareness is one of the guiding principles for the development of the school’s operating culture. Multilingualism is also defined in such a way that the parallel use of different languages in everyday school life is seen as natural.
According to Kuukka, one’s own mother tongue can be used to support learning in class. Of course, you can’t talk to a friend and disturb others in the back desk, but it can be easier to study the twists and turns of history and math equations when translating vocabulary and concepts from Finnish into your mother tongue.
During breaks, you are allowed to speak your own language, even if the teachers and schoolmates do not understand the speech. However, it has been felt in the ears of Kuukanki that the murmur of several languages is not necessarily appreciated in all schools.
– Situations in which teachers have denied speaking their own mother tongue may be associated with omission, uncertainty and problems with authority. These situations should always be discussed.
According to Katri Kuukka, Adviser of Education, multilingualism and the natural parallel use of different languages belong to today’s school environment and its operating culture.
You can discuss the topic until 11 pm on February 17, 2022.