Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

Another year has passed.

In January and February we visited Finland Village to play in the snow and


to go skiing.


March brings spring light and occasinally the kids sit down and read in peace and quiet - honestly.


April is hanami season and the whole Tokyo blossoms in pink.


In May the school year is almost over.


Summer vacation starts in June and Linnamäki amusement park is a must!


In July we enjoyed sunny days in a rented apartment in Helsinki.


In August Samuli stays one or two weeks in Finland while working at the head office .


In September we are back in Tokyo - but Disneyland is not as much fun as Linnanmäki...


October ends with Halloween!


Eating outside is still possible in November.


December always goes by preparing for Christmas and New Year holidays.



Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all our friends!

Ahdas paikka - Low ceiling

Olen kyllä tottunut siihen, että kolautan pääni ovenkarmeihin tai metron kädensijoihin, mutta tämä vessa oli hieman ahdas...

I am used to hitting my head on doorframes or handrails in subways, but the ceiling on this toilet was really low...

Samuli

Highly recommended: "The power of Finnish education"

Riikka's book has been well received in Japan. Finnish Chamber of Commerce and Finnish Tourist Board both recommend it. (To my understanding with the same text, in English and in Japanese).

The secret of the book might be that it was written
- by a Japanese journalist
- from a Japanese point of you
- based on Riikka's "insider information" from the system

Now we also know a bit more about what is in the book, as we received the table of contents in English (see below).

ROSA


The Power of Finnish Education

Contents

Introduction 3

Ch. 1 PISA rated world No.1 in scholarship 15

Why world no.1 in scholarship? 16
Highly qualified teachers promote scholarship 19
The Finnish Education System 28


Ch. 2 The development of excellent teachers 31

Why I became a teacher 32
One-year experience before entering the Department of Education 37
Nurturing highly qualified teachers at the Department of Education 43
From group education to individualised education 49


Ch. 3 Teaching children in ways that they easily understand 53

My first time as home room teacher – of 33 students! 54
Smooth Start to get to know new students 59
Student grouping and flexible scheduling 63
Why mathematics is necessary 70
Pre-graders thoroughly study Finnish 74
Arts and crafts are very popular with children 79
How to teach history 81
Openness to parents is fundamental 82
Children deciding classroom rules 84
The difference between good teachers and not-so-good teachers 87


Ch. 4 Effective on-site support system 93

My image of an ideal teacher 94
School responsibility and parental responsibility 97
Parents’ day questionnaire 102
The support team strongly supports teachers and students 106
What is Special Education? 113
Standards of child evaluation 117
How to deal with children’s problems 120
Taking care of a slow learner 124
How to deal with children who don’t speak 127
A support team result 130


Ch. 5 Teachers must be multi-talented 133

Summer holiday without homework 134
Reusing textbooks 137
Homework is children’s work 139
How to deal with children’s questions 143
The shock of 9-11 148
What we teach in Religion classes 152
Are field trips a nightmare for teachers? 154
Dog owners are good at raising children 159
Children’s problems create monster parents 164
There is no school in the world that doesn’t have bullying 168
Girls bullying is difficult to deal with 172
Nurture pride to overcome bullying 176


Ch. 6 What I felt living in Japan 181

Visiting Japanese elementary school 182
Busy, but a little lonely, Tokyo life 184
Japan – observations of a mysterious country 188
A miracle that Japanese school bestowed on my son 191
I am my children’s Finnish teacher 195
The future of Finnish education 197
A socially supported education system 201

Endword 204