On December, 12th, we visited Ivalon lukio (Ivalo upper secondary school), in Ivalo, municipality of Inari, Sápmi (or Lapland) area, in Finland.
Entrance of Ivalon lukio
Inari is the largest municipality in Finland and Ivalo is its administrative center. The whole municipality has a population of approximately 7,000 inhabitants, and Ivalo, around 4,000.
There are four official languages spoken in the municipality: Finnish, Inari Sámi, Northern Sámi, and Skolt Sámi.
Typical clothes of Sámi people
We were warmly welcomed by the headmaster Ulla Hynönen, which is also teacher of English. I'd like to express my gratitude for her attention.
That day, there was a show of Northern Sámi music by the band Ravggon. I really enjoyed the music, even without understanding a word in Sámi.
Waiting for the beginning of the show
The school has approximately 90 students. Around one third of them study Sámi as a first or second language. This is a challenge regarding the small number of students, but they solve it through technology. A Sámi teacher in Ivalo teaches students in Rovaniemi by using web conferencing softwares.
We visited the 1st grade class. Ulla had previously asked students to organize some questions using padlet. Their questions regarded climate in Brazil, our spare time, northern lights, impression about Finland, etc. It was very nice to talk with them. Their main complain about living there is the small size of the village. I understand their point of view, of course, but there you find two supermarkets, cinema, ice hockey hall, library, and a public swimming pool, what is unimaginable in a Brazilian city of the same size.
We observed in this school the same high standard of bigger schools in Southern Finland. For instance, they can choose to study the following languages: Inari Sámi, Skolt Sámi, Northern Sámi, German, French, Russian, and English. Students also have the opportunity to visit CERN, in Geneva.
One of the classrooms
Chemistry classroom
Students' space
Students' space
Teachers' room
Teachers' offices
We visited briefly the music classroom. At that moment, there was an audition session, where each student should sing in the acoustic cabin for assessment by the teacher.
Nenhum comentário:
Postar um comentário