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23 Mar 2010, Posted by Tang Ye in Education, Guests from China, 0 Comments

March 9th 2010


Today we visited Meilahti Primary and Secondary School.  It is the only elementary school in Helsinki that offers courses in Chinese.  The teacher told me students are put in different classes based on an entrance exam, which I thought was smart.  I was also amazed to see that the school offers sewing class, cooking class and all kinds of real-life based classes.

Bilingual instruction in Finnish and Chinese started at Meilahti primary school in the autumn of 2008.  The bilingual Finnish-Chinese instruction will follow the Finnish comprehensive school curriculum.  The objective is functional bilingualism which is supported by providing teaching of both the Finnish language and Mandarin Chinese.  Various subjects will also be taught in both Finnish (by Finnish teachers) and in Chinese (by Chinese teachers).

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About the writer

Tang Ye Parent Tang Ye
Tang Ye is the Investment Director of Global Institute for Innovation Management. Se enjoys traveling and is interested in culture and art of different countries and cities. She hopes to experience the Finnish lifestyle and is interested in the finnish education system.

Host

Pia Näsman-Hao Teacher and co-ordinator of Finnish-Chinese bilingual program, Meilahti Primary and Secondary School Pia Näsman-Hao
Pia Näsman-Hao works at the moment in Meilahti Primary and Secondary school as a teacher and co-ordinator of bilingual Finnish-Chinese Program that started in the autumn of 2008. Pia is really enthusiastic about developing this program that provides teaching of both the Finnish language and Mandarin Chinese. Various subjects are also taught in both Finnish (by Finnish teachers) and in Chinese (by Chinese teachers). Pia is a primary school teacher and she has studied Chinese in both Helsinki University and Beijing University. Now in Meilahti she is teaching Chinese as a foreign language for Finnish children and science and history in Finnish for Chinese speaking children.