4 Myths 4 Truth Comenius project 2013-2015

Republic of Finland    

Finland is part of Northern Europe. The neighbouring countries are Sweden, Norway, Russia and Estonia. 5.4 million people live in Finland.  The area of Finland is 303 890,89 square kilometres. The capital of Finland is Helsinki. The official languages are Finnish and Swedish. The president of Finland is Sauli Niinistö. Finland became independent on 6^th December in 1917 and was no longer part of Russia.

There are thousands of lakes and islands in Finland. Finland´s national bird is The Whooper Swan and national animal is the brown bear. Typical Finnish scenery is a lake with birches in the summer or snowy woods in the winter. The most popular sport in Finland is ice hockey. Finland´s ice hockey team won two world championship titles in 1995 and in 2011.

“Towards the challenges of the future
alone and together, respecting others
and the environment.”

The emphasis of our education and teaching is that the students leaving this comprehensive school have

• A good self-esteem
• Good manners
• Thorough knowledge of a variety of subjects

are

• Social
• Honest
• Active
• Independent

and

• Consider ethical issues

Etelänummi

Etelänummi school has 10 floors, so pupils find it a bit high for a school buildning. There are a ping pong table and a café on the 6^th floor. We have 276 students and 38 teachers. We have 19 teachers from other schools, who also teach here. The schooldays usually start at half past eight am and end at 25 minutes past two pm. The lessons last 70 minutes. Most of the students come to school by bike, moped or bus.

Etelänummi school

Our school also offers immersion classes in Swedish for students who speak Finnish as their mother language. Every age group (7-9 grades) has their own immersion class. The immersion classes study more subjects in Swedish than in Finnish e.g. geography and health education.

Our pupils speak 13 different mother tongues, because we have immigrants from Africa and Europe. They have their own teachers and they study Finnish most of the time, but they also attend normal lessons.

We have 19 compulsory subjects (e.g. Finnish, Swedish, English, Mathematics, P.E., R.E./Ethics, Chemistry, Physics, Home economics, Music, History, Art) and 17 optional subjects ( e.g. Drama, Russian, Germany, French and Baking).

We have 3 periods in one school year, so we get 3 reports a year.  Our summer vacation is 2 and half months long.

We have a club which is called Schoolmate support activity club. It means that you can talk about your problems or worries (for example if you’re bullied) with the members of the club.

After Etelänummi  we can apply to upper secondary school or vocational collage.

We have free education here and the lunches are free too. ( Pupils 9^th form)

Pupils’ opinions

The best sides of Etelänummi  school are friendliness and accepting diversity.
(Girls, 9^th form)

Our School food is good.
(Girls, 8^th form)

The people are nice, especially girls.
( Boys, 8^th form)

We can play table tennis and pupils can work for the school kiosk. That’s good.
(Boys and girls, 8^th form)

I like the IT classroom.
(Girl, 8^th form)

We have a positive atmosphere and the food is really good.
(Boys and girls, 7^th form)

The teachers are kind and friendly here.
(Girls, 7^th form)