hi

[Mimzy Lu]

Hi,

[betelgeuse]

I'm nearing the end of my 2nd year in Finland and I am having a rough and tough time in dealing with the onset language. Particularly when it comes down to dealing with my child's home room teacher. I've been battling for a year now trying to ask the teacher and rehtori alike to communicate with me the basics of class work and such on Wilma. Unfortunately they both refuse to support the idea stating that Finnish is the official working language.

They are within their rights. You can't expect them to communicate in a language they are not comfortable with. What if they made a mistake in a foreign language and you held them responsible for it?

Now my husband is a Finn and he lives abroad, the teacher has asked him to translate all letters and such for me since she is not coherent in her speech and writing of English.
I have tolerated this for far too long and am finding it really frustrating at all levels being unable to comprehend and follow up with my child's school work and social issues.
So I am here pleading does anyone have the same issue and how are you dealing with it? Please any tips and advice.

Why do you expect that the Finnish society should provide you everything in English? If you want the school to function in English, then you need to have your kid in an English speaking school (but I don't know if this would be in the best interest of the kid). Both sides (school and you) have a point here but I do have to side with the school. Ideally they could accommodate you but it's not possible to require it from the teacher.

[Rosamunda]

I understand your frustration and would even go as far as saying that Wilma seems to have been constructed to barricade the school and prohibit parent/teacher communication rather than facilitate it! But I have to agree with betelgeuse too, you have no constitutional right to been informed of anything in English.

At the same time there must be other practical solutions. Does your child have a "best friend" who could help out, or are you friendly with any other parents? Is there a parents' association at the school where you could voice your concerns and find a "parent buddy" who could help you out? One of my sons was in a class where we set up a parents' google group and we communicated with each other about all kinds of things. Does your child have English lessons? There must be an English teacher at the school. Maybe he/she would be willing to act as an interface between the school and you (& in return you could offer to go in and help out in the English lessons once in a while)?

I'm just trying to think outside the box. If there were any serious issues at school, I think they would notify you. Also, even if your husband is abroad, I see no reason why they can't communicate with him through Wilma or email. But you also need to understand that in Finland generally, parents have an arm's-length approach to their children's education and it is quite unusual for parents to get heavily involved with their children's school life.

[Mimzy Lu]

hi

[Rosamunda]

If you are planning on moving out of Finland anyway then I would seriously consider putting them into an English speaking school. In fact it would make sense to do that, no?

[Flossy1978]

I was very involved with my son's education. I wasn't a pushy parent, but I was asked to school meetings. The teacher would ring me up all the time. And the parents were asked to be involved in stuff. This was a normal Finnish school. They also always talked English to me, without an issue.

I believe all Government stuff is suppose to be in people's native tongue??? If one requests it to be.

If it's paperwork you need help with, can you scan the documents to your husband? He could summarise them for you.

I'm sorry your time in Finland isn't going well.

[betelgeuse]

I believe all Government stuff is suppose to be in people's native tongue??? If one requests it to be.

http://www.finlex.fi/fi/laki/ajantasa/2 ... 0423#L2P10

No, only in Finnish and Swedish (for the purpose of this post let's forget minority languages like Samish). Often when the government provides services in English, it's to be helpful to people, not because it's required of them.

betlegeuse you're clearly offended and taking things out of context.

I am not as easily offended as you think.

I am merely stating, that as a foreigner, who doesnt speak Finnish would like to keep up with my child's work and i am not expecting a change in the system to English so hold your horses tight. You clearly don't understand the situation or else you would have taken an understanding to the situation.

I interpreted your choice of words in the original post to indicate otherwise. Since you have cleared it up, we are in agreement from the point of view of the school then.

[Rip]

I believe all Government stuff is suppose to be in people's native tongue??? If one requests it to be.

I doubt a Navajo speaker would ever make that mistake. Probably not even a Frenchman (in this country). Somehow native English speakers often fail to understand the legal position of their language isn't fundamentally any different.

[Mimzy Lu]

hi

[betelgeuse]

Thank you all for your supporting emails. I fail to see the point of allowing expats into Finnish schools if schools take on non-cooperative positions.

Here's a couple snippets from the Finnish constitution about education and language:

https://www.finlex.fi/fi/laki/kaannokse ... 990731.pdf

"Section 16 - Educational rights
Everyone has the right to basic education free of charge. Provisions on the duty to receive education are laid down by an Act."

Your child has a constitutional right to be educated in Finnish or Swedish. You can choose to arrange it otherwise but by default the education is handled by the local schools. This makes sense from the perspective of the society since full integration is impossible without the language.

"The right of everyone to use his or her own language, either Finnish or Swedish, before courts of law and other authorities, and to receive official documents in that language, shall be guaranteed by an Act."

Here we can see how the constitution has an expectation of either Finnish or Swedish (later on there's info on minorities).

So you tell me this, how do i follow up with my child's work and help my child overcome her weakness in subjects if i'm not allowed because the "FINNS refuse to cooperate" i think its sad and im sorry to hear how some are so narrow minded.

Skip since I have little to add that wouldn't have already been said.

Try to live abroad and experience all the wonderful multi-cultural differences and then come speak about how we ought to raise our children. I think you will find what we believe and how we raise our children is good too.

Finland has a very short history of global migration to the country (and I am not sure how much the society in general would want it). Foreigners only started to become more common in the 90s:

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File: ... omessa.png

But when it comes to comments in this forum, you probably haven't realized that the majority of people commenting on this forum are not Finnish. People without an international connection have few reasons to join this forum.

[Mimzy Lu]

hi

[Mimzy Lu]

hi

[Mimzy Lu]

ihi

[rinso]

i don't need to delve into my life and tell you why im here! trust me its not by choice. i don't think you have the right to dictate how we should go about living our lives.

you guys have nothing else to do but battle. it's all bull...im signing off from here

You asked advice on how to fight the system.
Well, the overwhelming answer is; you don't.
That is very solid advice and you should take it.
But you not only want to fight the system but also the people who gave you good advice.
Not a smart move since it will work counter productive.

[tuttu]

mimzy lu, if this is how you communicate with those teachers, i'm not surprised it doesn't work out.

btw, i have a feeling you're dis-satisfied in a far more general way and would probably like to talk about that, but since you want to keep your privacy...