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Happening ... in the Local Church
From Finland to Fishers
Teacher exchange 'a great opportunity'
 Finnish
teacher Tiina Gran visits with kindergarteners at St. Louis de Montfort
School in Fishers on March 11. (Photos by Caroline B. Mooney) |
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 Several
St. Louis de Montfort students take a break at recess on “Finnish Day”
to take a photo with their visitors and Principal Annette Jones. |
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| Tiina Gran, left, and Paivi Joutsen visited St. Louis de Montfort School in Fishers from March 5-12. | Kindergarten teacher Heather Buhl, left, talks with Tiina Gran and Paivi Joutsen in her classroom. | |
By Caroline B. Mooney
The
Catholic Moment
FISHERS — Twenty-six hours and three flights brought two elementary school teachers from Finland to Indiana for a visit at St. Louis de Montfort School March 5-12.
Tiina Gran and Paivi Joutsen teach at Central School of Viiala in Akaa, Finland, a school with about 400 students in kindergarten through grade six.
Gran teaches first grade, with 20 students in her class.
“I teach all subjects, except music and physical education,” she said. “Our principal asked about one year ago if I wanted to travel to the United States to see St. Louis de Montfort School, and, of course, I volunteered. It is always nice to travel and to see how people teach in other countries. This is also a great opportunity to learn about American culture, people and their way of living. It has been a marvelous experience.”
Joutsen has taught English for 24 years.
“I teach English to students in third through sixth grade,” she said. “I volunteered to come to get to know your school system and to see your wonderful country. I had met Annette Jones (principal of St. Louis de Montfort) when she came to our school in Finland.”
The exchange between schools started in 2007, when Jones was principal at Immaculate Heart of Mary School in Indianapolis. She spent time in the Finnish school as part of the Fulbright Teacher Exchange Program, and in March 2008, Finnish principal Kaija-Leena Salovaara, of Central School of Viiala, visited Immaculate Heart of Mary School.
A grant helped pay expenses when two teachers from Finland visited St. Louis de Montfort in February 2009.
The Fulbright Teacher Exchange Program was established by an act of Congress in 1946. It provides opportunities for administrators, teachers and other faculty to participate in a direct exchange of positions with colleagues from other countries.
Finland is a Nordic country bordered by Sweden on the west, Norway on the north and Russia on the east. With a population around 5.4 million, Finland is the eighth largest country in Europe in terms of area and the most sparsely populated country in the European Union.
While in Indiana, the teachers stayed with host families from St. Louis de Montfort, and were given tours of the area.
“We have seen many different places,” Gran said. “Chicago was so big and a long drive from Indianapolis. In our capital, Helsinki, there are just 500,000 people, so everything here seems big and crowded.
“We went to Navy Pier and I saw and rode a Ferris wheel for the first time,” she said. “We went to the John Hancock Center and walked out on the glass ledge. It was a great view — I got plenty of pictures. We don’t have that kind of experience in Finland because we don’t have any skyscrapers.”
In Indianapolis, they visited the Eiteljorg Museum, toured the Statehouse, saw the war memorial, the Indianapolis 500 track, “and we went shopping,” Joutsen said. “There are different kinds of stores here. We really liked a store for educators. I tried to find things there to take back to my classroom.”
The women tried American food, including hamburgers and pizza.
“It was very good, but you have so much food on the plate,” Gran said. “Everything here is bigger — the food, the houses, cars and furniture.”
“When we go home, I can say that all Americans are very friendly, hospitable and helpful,” Joutsen said. “The biggest difference I see in our schools is that the students here are very polite and are always concentrating. We have well-behaved students, but some are totally different.”
“All our classes are smaller,” Gran said, “because that’s all that will fit in a room. The classrooms here are so big, but our rooms in Finland are big compared to those in Italy, Portugal and Greece. It’s always in what you compare it to.”
Students in Finland start kindergarten at age 6.
“We have shorter days with different grade levels on different schedules,” Joutsen said. Younger students start the day later than older ones. First-graders attend school for 21 hours each week, and hours are added in the higher grades.
“Students begin learning English in third grade,” she said. “In Finland, younger people speak English well, but older people don’t speak it at all. My mother doesn’t speak English — when she was in school, she was taught German. I think we began teaching English in the schools in the 1970s.”
She said that Finnish classes have lessons for 45 minutes with a 15-minute break. The schools offer free hot lunches for all students.
“We are very proud of the warm meal,” Joutsen said, “especially now because there is a lot of unemployment at the moment in Finland.”
Both teachers found American and Finnish cultures to be very similar.
“In general, Americans are more outgoing while people in Finland are shyer, and students are quieter,” she said.
Gran was enjoying the weather in Indiana after leaving snow behind in Finland.
“We are so lucky to have spring here now,” she said. “When we go home, we will get to have spring there, too.”
Growing global awareness
Both teachers kept journals during their trip. Upon returning home, they planned to give an all-school presentation about their experiences.
“When we get back, I think we may encourage the students more,” Joutsen said.
“Positive thinking is used more here in all classrooms,” Gran said. “There are positive thoughts posted in all rooms, and teachers talk about it a lot. That’s a nice idea.”
In Finland, bulletin boards are used to display student work, but they are unadorned. The teachers both admired the decorations and borders on displays throughout St. Louis de Montfort’s halls.
“In Finland, all schools are about the same,” Gran said. “There are not many private schools. It would be interesting to see if your public schools are as nice as St. Louis de Montfort.”
Principal Jones said March 11 was declared Finnish Day at St. Louis de Montfort, and students were encouraged to wear the country’s colors of blue and white.
“The kids loved Finnish Day,” she said. “Our school is gaining international awareness, with an emphasis on respect and tolerance for others. Our students have really enjoyed and embraced the teachers — their visit is far-reaching. Students really have global awareness. Their world will be so different, with employment competition for jobs.”
“We got to wear slippers because students do that in their schools in Finland,” said kindergartner Renee Ives. Her family hosted the teachers during their visit.
“I liked having them at my house,” Renee said. “We took them to the Children’s Museum and they ate dinner with us. They brought us books for gifts and I brought one into my class to read.”
Katie Popovich, also in kindergarten, said she liked the Finnish teachers.
“They came into our classroom to visit and were nice,” she said. “Our teacher told us about them, and my mom talked about them, too. She said that the snow is almost taller than me in Finland and they still don’t cancel school there.”
Kindergarten teacher Heather Buhl taught her class about Finland before the teachers came.
“We looked at Finland on a map, and talked about the schools and students there,” she said. “My students mostly asked about Finnish children. They wanted to know if they look and act like Americans, and I said they are very much like we are — they also like to play.”
The Finnish teachers left Indiana on March 13. They were going to visit New York City and Washington, D.C., before going home.
St. Louis de Montfort also will host a visiting teacher from Germany in April. Jones will visit Beijing, China, from April 12-25 to learn about Chinese education and visit a Chinese school.