My name is Mari Kotonen and I work as a Finnish teacher at the University of Helsinki for the autumn semester 2024 and as a private teacher in my own business Kielitunturi. I have been teaching Finnish for adults from beginners to advanced level since 2017. I have specialized on online teaching.
I graduated from the University of Helsinki in 2020 and I finished a special training called ”Learning and studying in digital environments” (Finnish: DigiErko) for teachers at the University of Turku in 2023.
I have studied several languages (English, Swedish, German, Russian, Japanese, Spanish…) on courses and on my own and I know how much time and energy it takes. Therefore I think studying has to be interesting and fun to maintain your motivation. To improve your everyday Finnish skills, Finnish spoken language is always part of my classes. When planning the classes I will use the student’s daily surroundings which will give the student chances to use Finnish every day. Studying only from the book will not improve a versatile language proficiency, but knowing grammar helps learning and especially writing.
Education
- DigiErko, University of Turku 2022–2023
- MA Finnish language (minors Finnish litterature and pedagogical studies for teacher qualification), University of Helsinki 2014–2020
- Cook (vocational qualification), Lapin ammattiopisto 2006–2009