Teachers Without Borders started teaching Finnish
The Teachers without Borders (TwB) network provides support for global citizenship education in Finland, as well as opportunities to use and develop teachers’ competencies by working in developing countries and fragile contexts, supporting the capacity of local teachers and the development of the education sector. In 2016, the network also started language education for refugees and asylum seekers.
The main objectives were growing the network membership and building up the quality of the volunteer work as an organisation in recruiting, training and sending volunteers abroad. TwB network sent 24 long-term and 21 short-term volunteer teachers abroad. Out of the 24 long-term volunteers, 20 supported FCA education projects in Eritrea, Haiti, Cambodia, Liberia, Myanmar, Nepal and Sierra Leone, Greece and Uganda. 4 volunteers were sent to other Finnish NGO projects. Out of 21 short-term volunteers, 4 supported FCA in Cambodia and 17 participated in the World Teacher project in Kenya, organised with the Dutch partner NGO Edukans.
In cooperation with parishes, libraries and different educational institutions, the network organised trainings on the Toisto ‘repetition’ study method. The method was designed at the Faculty of Educational Sciences of the University of Helsinki in 2015. It is designed for learners in vulnerable situations, and to support volunteer language guides who teach Finnish to asylum seekers and refugees. 460 new Language Guides in 12 cities were trained in the project.
TwB’s language guide project Suomen kieli sanoo tervetuloa ́Finnish Language Says Welcome ́ received funding for two years from the Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund of the EU which allowed TwB to recruit a language guide project coordinator. In addition to training and coordinating volunteer language teaching work in reception centres, the project develops new language teaching materials, supports the mental condition of language groups and strengthens the motivation of language learners.