The Culture of the land of the Finns

    Finland is an independent country near Norway, Sweden and Denmark, which is usually called Scandinavia. They actually celebrate their own Independence Day on December 6. Their

independence was achieved way back in 1917. They celebrate it mostly to remember those who fell in wars to protect their current

freedom. So I imagine they celebrate the day they became an independent nation a lot like we celebrate Veterans Day here in

America.

Finnish Schools compared to Schools in America

.

… but Americans students do!

Finnish students don't have to worry about:• being tardy• homework or• standardized tests

Other Perks Finnish kids have in school:• They get a 15-minute recess every hour • attend school fewer days than kids in most developed nations • Mine craft is a mandatory Learning experience in the classroom•Instead of being taught a bunch of separate subjects like Geography, Science, Language Arts, etc, they combine the concepts of these subjects in their lessons into a unit study or whatever they are researching.

Finnish is their 1st language & Swedish is their 2nd language. The kids might also choose to learn either Russian, German, or English.

The amazing thing about what seems like "relaxed" school rules in Finland is that these kids consistently out perform other countries in education; even America.

Can you imagine having…..

as a required subject in school?

From what you’ve heard so far, use your critical thinking skills to answer this question:Why do you think that Finnish schools are performing so much better than other nations?

http://www.dogonews.com/2015/3/29/finland-schools-to-test-teaching-by-topics-instead-of-individual-subjects

Most families in Finland either own a sauna for their family bathing, or visit a public sauna for the added benefit of one. A sauna is a hot steam bath where people can just lounge on the indoor benches of the sauna house, and enjoy leisurely conversation. There is a fire pit on rocks that they will keep throwing water on so the steam will rise up to them.

One of the greatest benefits of a sauna is how it removes all the poison that can build up in the body, since it causes people to sweat it out of their system.

    Taking a bath in the sauna is one of their favorite pastimes. They even have international sauna championships to see who

can last the longest in the hottest temperatures. A favorite winter sport is Nordic skiing and downhill racing on skis.

.       If a Finn was allowed only one word to describe their people, it would be a word from their own Finnish language:

Sisu It means

courage strength

determination

So some Finns will add some humor to this description and demonstrate their SISU by coming out of hot sauna and jumping into an ice cold lake in the middle of winter. Then they’ll beat themselves on the chest and yell out SISU.

   The Finnish word for their country is Suomi. It means marshland. Since they have less usable farmland than some countries, and are

surrounded with 60,000 lakes, this is why a word meaning marshland was chosen to describe Finland.

   The Finns favorite kind of food is fish, reindeer meat, and sour rye

bread in the form or thick round loaves, or in a big yummy crisp cracker you can break apart and spread butter on it or any other

topping you want. As a little girl, I used to love eating this as a snack while I watched the Lone Ranger and the original Superman on tv.

 

Review What does the Finnish word SISU mean?

The way the Finns celebrate their Independence Day holiday is similar to how we celebrate Veterans Day. Who do you think they honor the

most on their Independence Day? Why is the sauna such a healthy way to take a bath and one of the

Finns favorite past times?

Now I am going to demonstrate more of the Finnish language to you, by pretending I am a mother playing with her young child. See if you can guess what sort of literature I am reciting when you see how I use my voice for rhythm and rhyme as I bounce the child on my lap. Later, I will recite the words in English so you can see if you guessed correctly.