Impressions of Finland

My first impressions of Finland is it appears very organised and efficient. The airport seemed very relaxed and their was a sense of feeling safe it is a clean place which I immediately liked

Things which surprised me:

1. How quiet the streets are, not too many people or vehicles

2. How many forests there are between Helsinki and Kokkola. 

3. How changeable the weather can be

4. The people I've met so far appear more conservative than UK people but very friendly

5. Finally .... How beautiful it is travelling across the country in Autumn

Had a very warm welcome from Sanna

The one day challenge has been set...

Will the group complete the challenge to develop a 2020 resource case with lesson plans - find out tomorrow...

Class photo at the school...

A very inspirational visit to a high school in Kokkola today, thanks to Kati for setting this up we all really enjoyed the experience. Many European countries could learn a great deal from this educational system.

Global School

Brilliant day exploring Kokkola! Having the opportunity to see how life in Kiviniityn Koulu is structured was brilliant.
Teachers and students were very welcoming and it gave us the opportunity to think about what we can learn from them.

Particular favourite is the art work on the incredible resource suitcases that we learnt about today, have a feeling we will be working with these more! Exciting!

Ashling, UK

School visit and global school, kouluvierailu ja maailmankoulu

Today we have spent afternoon at visiting two different level of Finnish schools at Kokkola, primary school and secondary school. Also after school visits were done, we have spent few hours at center of Kokkola. We also had change to hear about Global school.

Tänään vietimme aamupäivän kouluvierailuiden merkeissä. Kävimme tutustumassa kahdessa eri Kokkolalaisessa koulussa, ala-asteella ja ylä-asteella. Kävimme myös Kokkolan keskustassa, jossa vietimme muutaman tunnin katsellen paikkoja. Tutustuimme myös Maailmankouluun.

-Kimmo Laine-

The 21st century human

Today's session was creating the 21st-century human being. The team had to discuss and decide on the qualities needed to be the ideal 21st century person. 

Hopefully this will be used later this week in the team challenge 

Greetings, ehtoota

After long day where we were learning things about 2020 project and after small walk to close by lighthouse, few brave participant went to sauna and to swim. While these brave participants were at sauna rest of the group light the campfire.

Pitkän päivän jälkeen jolloin opimme asioita 2020 projektista ja läheiselle majakalle tehdyn pienen kävelyretken jälkeen muutama rohkea osallistuja meni saunomaan ja uimaan. Sillä aikaan loppu ryhmästä sytytti tulen nuotioon.

-Kimmo Laine-

Finland trip

Buenas tardes a todos!!

Mi nombre es Alberto Baratas, un jóven español de 24 años que forma parte de las personas que han venido en representación de España. Mi experiencia con el mundo juvenil es amplia gracias a una empresa que fundé hace dos años llamada MIC Athletics. Sin embargo, he de decir que llevo menos de 48 horas en Finlandia dentro del programa Yputh in Action y todas mis valoraciones son positivas.

En primer lugar he de destacar la organización del evento, donde los responsables son conscientes de las actividades que tenemos que hacer en cada momento.

En segundo lugar es valorable la dedicación y entusiasmo que emplea cada uno de ellos para que nosotros nos sintamos como si estuviéramos en nuestra casa. Prueba de ello es que, tras 2 horas de una actividad de presentación y conocimiento de las personas, un miembro de la organización nos sorprendió cuando empezó uno por uno a llamar por su nombre a los más de 40 chicos que hemos venido al viaje.

Para continuar, me gustaría recalcar también el emplazamiento, Villa Elba, un sitio muy acogedor donde se puede disfrutar del bosque y del mar a tan sólo 2 minutos de distancia. Sin duda, poder disponer de un sitio así es un auténtico privilegio para todos.

Por último, comentar que las actividades que hemos realizado hasta ahora se adaptan y ajustan perfectamente al tema de la juventud, tratando de potenciar al máximo la creatividad individual de cada miembro dentro de un ambiente de trabajo en equipo.

La experiencia está siendo increíble y por mi parte invito a todo el mundo que luche por conseguir vivir una experiencia como esta ya que le va a servir para desarrollarse tanto como persona como profesionalmente hablando.

Un abrazo fuerte

Alberto Baratas

Day 2 at Villa Elba

Another beautiful morning here at Villa Elba for day 2. Having had the chance to get to know everyone really well yesterday I am excited to get started on the real issues that we are here to look at.
How can we create a better future for our young people? What tools and practise can we use? Let's get talking .....

Day one

Here's a few pictures from my first day! Some amazing views and amazing dancing during our intercultural evening! Roll on the rest of the week. 

Sadie

Guillem Porres. Education Inspirations

Hi guys, 

I am very glad that this adventure has finally begun. I think it will be a very intense week where we will share great experiences that help us grow as educators. For now, here are two images that summarize my impressions of this meeting yet. One is from the natural environment around us (wonderful) and another is the whole group working together. I hope to contribute a lot more as the week progresses.

Great job team!

Teambuilding - creative treasure hunt

George found a very interesting and intriguing sign in the woods, we will try and get a translation later explaining this

Originally we thought the project would have five countries participating, but now we realise there are 10 countries represented from four different continents. This is a vibrant and interesting mix of professionals.

Some of them are featured below on the treasure hunt team building challenge.

What to expect when you arrive...

I've fallen in love with this place, imagine waking up to this everyday ...?

I feel a swim in the Gulf of Bothnia coming on! After a red hot sauna of course!!!

Hello,

Hi Everyone,

My name is Janita. I am with the English crew currently on the train to Kokkola. Thank goodness for wifi!!
I am the youth manager for a wonderful charity called Hackney Quest. Check out the website www.hackneyquest.org.uk :-)

Finland so far has been great. Got to wonder around the market at Tikkurila drinking hot chocolate in the glorious sunshine (who said Finland was cold?? Lol!)) and learning the finish word for thank you...Kiitos

Look forward or meeting you all

Janita

Excited to be here!

Hello! As we sit in the train on our way to Kokkola, I thought I'd introduce myself.

My name is Rosa and I work as a Membership Development Officer at London Youth.

London Youth is a vibrant network of 400 youth organisations across the capital who are supported by the London Youth team in London and at our two centres. We're here to support and challenge young people, whatever their background and whoever they are, to reach their full potential.

In my role, I get to work with many of our members, three of which are also going to be present at the course.

I am looking forward to arrive to Villa Elba and meeting all of you!

UK girl gang

The UK group at just waiting at the airport for our flight to Helsinki. We will be meeting George at Villa Elba, until then the girls are ready to go despite the early start. 

Keep an eye on the blog over the next few dates to find out more about each organisation and participant. 

Once we arrive in Finland we have a long train journey to Kokkola where we will travel through the Finnish countryside so photos to come I feel. 

Introductions from UK

Hi I'm Tanya, I'm 22, and currently at Uni studying childhood studies, but then i hope to do a PGCE and become a teacher! 

I am really looking forward to the project as it will be my first one! See you all this evening!! :)

Who to expect...

Paul reviews the list of participants by age, gender and country. It's a great mix of people and this is sure to make it an interesting and unusual week. Now we can't wait to meet everyone.

Meanwhile, Villa Elba is quiet and empty tonight. The only sound is the gentle patter of raindrops in the forests. Sanna tells us there are moose in the area, but we haven't spotted one yet.

Villa Elba

    

Youth Centre Villa Elba is located in Finland,  at the shore of Gulf of Bothnia, only 4 km from the Kokkola town centre. Villa Elba is a National Youth Centre supported and observed by the Finnish Ministry of Education, so youth work is our strong side. 

We offer ideal space for different kind of events and we also organise yearly international camps. The international work among young people is one of the priorities in Youth Centre Villa Elba's work. Our goal is to offer youngsters the possibilities of learning in multicultural environment and finding their own strengths and abilities through international activity. 

Villa Elba has a global education project, an activity that supports the growth of human beings to promote the fulfillment of the human rights and a more fair and equitable world. For Finnish youngsters we have social youth work projec (Tailwind-training), that helps young people to find their individual resources and begin planning for their future. 

The goal of the training is to improve their everyday skills and develop skills that are needed in both studies and working life. For other youth groups and our adult guests we offer pleasant and functional rooms for camps, meetings, trainings and festivities.

Samba Läspä

Guess where we are?

The Journey to Heathrow took us 30 mins and the weather is very mild in the UK, I think it's cooler in Finland. We will soon find out.

Let us introduce George from London...

Quick fire interview.... Question 1 tell us about yourself?

"Hi I'm George I enjoy travelling, I enjoy music and meeting new people"

Question 2 - What are you doing at the moment?

"I am current on a gap year sorting out university places and looking for new work experience opportunities some of this involves working with Momentum World"

Question 3 - What was the highlight of your summer?

"It was having a holiday with my friends in Cornwall"

Question 4 - What do you hope to get out of this week?

"I am looking forward to gaining some wider experience of the world of education and how other countries education systems work"

Thanks George - have a great week

Sadie :)

Hi guys!

I'm Sadie, one of the UK participants coming along with momentum world. I'm currently a trainee Secondary school teacher but have also done some volunteering over the summer with momentum!

Can't wait to meet everyone and see what  Finland has install!

See you all soon!

P.s I hate flying so one of you guys may need to hold my hand!

10 unusual facts about Finland

Fact 1:
Finland has over 188000 lakes with 98000 islands.

Fact 2:
Finland have a wife carrying championship.

Fact 3:
Mobile company Nokia was founded in Finland.

Fact 4:
Finland is one of the only countries in the world which broadcasts news in Latin.

Fact 5:
There are 1.8 million saunas in Finland.

Fact 6:
Finland has two official languages, Finnish and Swedish.

Fact 7:
Donald Duck comics were banned in Finland because Donald Duck doesn’t wear pants.

Fact 8:
Santa Claus has his office in the North of Finland.

Fact 9:
Finland is the seventh largest country in Europe, in terms of area.

Fact 10:
The population of Finland is about 5 million and about 1 million of them live in the capital Helsiki

Amy's HELLLLLLLOOOOO

Hi Everyone,

I'm Amy and I am the Creative Assistant at Momentum World (The one on the left of the picture).

I just wanted to say a big hello to the rest of the participants and to share with you how excited I am to be coming to Finland this week.

I have meet a few members of the team from Villa Elba over the past year and have never had the opportunity to visit their beautiful country before, very excited indeed.

Hope everyone is ready for a hard working week with lots of fun packed in too. 

Can't wait to meet you all

2 days to go before Finland

So on Friday we depart for Finland to run the Education Inspirations programme. Today we have been packing resources printing off materials and checking the weather. It promises to be colder than the visit a few weeks ago but we are hardy British people used to going out in T-shirts and short skirts.

So what does the week hold for our participants? All I can say is it will be full on, involve some trips out exploring Finish culture, some film challenges, development of some amazing new ideas and a chance to take on a new 2020 Education project.

But there is more...

You will also get the opportunity to:

• build new friendships
• work with 4 other countries
• experience an amazing host project
• pass on your skills  
• hopefully really push yourself out of your comfort zone

But like anything the more you put in the more rewards you take out. So start your investment to this project when you pack your suitcase

Any questions email paul@momentumworld.org

Hello Everyone

Hello

I’m Ashling McGee and I will be coming as part of the UK team for the project. We had a meeting on Monday morning and so now I am very much looking forward to the start of the project and meeting everyone. It will also be my first visit to Finland, so cannot wait.

I am the company and volunteer manager for Haringey Shed. Haringey Shed is an inclusive performing arts charity based in Tottenham, London where we work with young people aged 7-25years old. Our work is centred on the performing arts with theatre, dance, music and singing however we also do a lot of extracurricular development with our young people. This includes training them up as mentors, volunteers, helping them get work placements and mostly giving them the skills they need to develop. We also work alongside many of the schools in the area delivery topic and issue based workshops and tours.

My career history has always focused around inclusion, community theatre and education. I have also worked as a learning support assistant at City of Westminster College with 16-19year olds and also worked as a teaching assistant at Fulham Primary School in reception so 4-5year olds and an drama facilitators for infants and babies, so lots of annoying nursery rhymes and games to share with you all.

I am very much looking forward to meeting you all, learning a lot and hopefully bringing back lots of ideas for us to use at Haringey Shed.

See you on Saturday.

Many thanks,

Ashling McGee

For more information about what we do visit www.haringeyshed.org

Looking forward to the Inspiration

My name is Andrew. I'm the CEO of Momentum World and I will be one of the facilitators on this course.

I was at Villa Elba just a few weeks ago, and I can honestly say it is a fantastic place with a great team of people - and plenty of good food, which is always important to keep energy levels up on a course like this. Villa Elba has been a partner of Momentum World for two years now, and we share an interest in developing innovative educational projects for young people and youth workers.

What is the purpose of education? How far do our schools actually prepare people for the challenges of the 21st century, with all its interconnected global problems? How do other countries do things? What is the added value of youth work, non-formal learning and international projects? "Education Inspirations" is all about these kinds of questions.

Please bring your ideas, energy and sense of humour. We will have some interesting discussions, new ideas, and real team challenges during this week. At the end, we will go back with some simple action plans that we can put into practice with our organisations, youth groups, or just our friends. We will learn about each other's cultures. And I am sure we will have a lot of fun.

I look forward to meeting everyone next Saturday!

Welcome from Paul Oxborough - Momentum World

Hi everyone I am Paul Oxborough from the UK a very warm welcome to this blog and the Education Inspirations project.

I am part of the training team on this project. Very excited about visiting Finland, we have worked a number of times with Heli from Villa Elba but never had the pleasure of visiting this wonderful country.

My interests are walking my dog, motorbikes, reading and travelling.

My background... I professionally qualified as a Youth Worker in 1992 then worked for the local authority in Buckinghamshire before moving into staff development and training role. After 6 years of this job I set up my first company using my youth work and film making skills. We set Momentum World up in 2008. I have had some amazing travelling opportunities doing a job I love.

Really looking forward to meeting you all and having a great week together. If you need anything I can be reached by emailing paul@momentumworld.org