Guiding Towards Fluent Finnish – Osus!

Osus! – an abbreviation of the project’s name in Finnish Ohjatusti sujuvaan suomeen, Guiding Towards Fluent Finnish – is the development project (2023—2025) for Finnish as a Foreign Language education at the Centre for Language and Communication Studies, CeLCS. The project is funded by the strategic funding from the Ministry of Education and Culture and involves Finnish as a Foreign Language teachers in CeLCS. The strategic funding and project work enable the development of Finnish as a Foreign Language education towards more diverse opportunities for learning Finnish.

The project name, Guiding Towards Fluent Finnish, reflects its main objectives: to streamline Finnish language studies and increase student guidance. New, independently completed online courses, will support the language learning of international talents and will be available in addition to in-person courses. Furthermore, the selection of Finnish as a Foreign Language courses in CeLCS will expand with optional courses.

The primary focus of Finnish as a Foreign Language education at CeLCS is teaching Finnish language basics up to level B1. The students include international exchange students, degree students, doctoral researchers, and staff members. As part of the project, Finnish language teaching aims to be tailored to the specific needs of each group. Dedicated study paths and courses have been created for doctoral researchers and staff members that better suit their needs. You can explore the Finnish language study and guidance offerings for different groups on the website Come Learn Finnish with Us.

So far, the Osus project has developed a completely new introductory course called Let's Start! Introduction to Finnish Studies, which can be completed by students even before starting Finnish language studies. The idea is that students can begin familiarizing themselves with the Finnish language and building language skills at an early stage, even from their home country.

In addition to the Let's Start! course, the project has created independent online courses for Finnish 1, Finnish 3, and Finnish 4, and the Finnish 2 online course is currently in development. The Finnish 1 and 2 courses are built entirely with own materials and include numerous instructional videos, various assignments on Moodle, as well as texts and vocabulary for each chapter. The courses are set in the context of the University of Turku, providing students with situations, vocabulary, and phrases that are close to everyday life. Plans include compiling the instructional videos onto a website to ensure that the created materials are as useful as possible for everyone.

As part of the project work, the Suomipassi mobile application has been renewed. Suomipassi offers Finnish language learners an effective and fun way to study Finnish phrases and words, making it easier to use them in everyday situations. The app contains over 350 phrases and words, recorded in spoken language to facilitate listening to and speaking Finnish.

Guidance for international talents is also being developed in various ways. Finnish language teachers now offer one-on-one guidance sessions for students and staff at University of Turku, during which students can plan their Finnish language study paths with the teacher. Additionally, Finnish language guidance is available weekly in Agora. See the detailed schedule on the Finnish as a Foreign Language at the Centre for Language and Communication Studies page. Anyone can come and ask questions related to the Finnish language. Through these and other upcoming methods, we hope that Finnish language instruction will become even more targeted and effective in the future.

Feel free to get in touch if you would like to learn more about the project!

Project coordinator Emilia Hongisto, emkorp@utu.fi

Director of CeLCS Michael Nelson, micnel@utu.fi