Episode 94
In this episode language teacher Sanni Törmänen speaks with regular host Matt Bowen about the best ways to master the Finnish language.
As a native Finn, Sanni is fluent in Finnish and has spent time in different parts of the world either teaching Finnish to people in those countries and learning the local languages such as German and English. These experiences overseas, especially at Indiana University, have helped her enormously tailor what she teaches to foreigners in Finland.
In recent years Sanni took part in the Fullbright Language Programme whilst in the US, working as a teaching assistant for 20 hours each week as well as other activities. However due to the Covid-19 outbreak she had to return to Finland in 2020 but completed her programme online. This online activity introduced Sanni to e-learning and the potential for her to teach people directly became obvious.
Although her time at Indiana University gave Sanni classroom experience, when it comes to Finland she has never taught in a classroom or university in person. The discipline and expectations of students learning a foreign language at Indiana University in America was very different from her experiences and expectations of learning foreign languages as a student in Finland.
Sanni’s academic journey began by studying political science in 2013 but she quickly realised that it wasn’t her cup of tea, and after reading a newspaper article about being able to help foreigners in Finland she decided that was something she wanted to do. Her business journey as an entrepreneur began in 2020 when a friend asked her if she would tutor a 13 year old student. Word of mouth soon spread and she began getting more requests until in 2021 Sanni decided to ‘make it a thing’ setting up sananpuru.com
If you thought that mastering Finland was just about moving to Finland and making friends then you need to listen to our back catalogue to get all the advice that you’ll need. If you thought that teaching was just about telling people what they should know, then you need to listen to Sanni, her approach is not just about teaching, but about philosophy, constructivism, humanism and most of all about the learner.
There are state funded language learning programmes in Finland and one of the comments that many learners make about these courses are that they have a one size fits all approach. The classroom and group learning environments are not suited to everyone. Sanni’s approach is based around each learner, where their skills, knowledge and experience levels are already at and how they can be improved.
According to Sanni, the Finnish language is not super difficult, it’s just quite different. It’s more like a mathematical language, logical and consistent and the best way to learn to practice, for the learner to immerse themselves in the practice of listening to, reading, writing and speaking the language at every opportunity. Matt the host compares this with playing the guitar, a skill he has knowledge and experience of, where at first learning to play a specific tune like ‘jingle bells’ is great but the confidence to play your tune comes through practice, making mistakes and both playing and hearing what sounds right.
Both Matt and Sanni agree that the best tips for people Mastering Finland and the Finnish language is to be consistent and don’t give up. Sanni’s most rewarding part of her work is seeing and hearing students coming back to tell her about their experiences of practising Finnish in real life situations and seeing them improve their confidence.
If you’ve got a story to tell about how you’ve been Mastering Finland in your own way, do get in touch, we’d love to hear from you and if you want to learn more about Sanni’s courses follow her on Instagram @sanni_sananpuru