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UCL Credits: 15 | Total Learning Hours: 150 | ECTS: 7.5 |
Level: Beginner | Course Unit: 0.5 | Terms 1 and 2 |
Module Coordinator: Riitta-Liisa Valijärvi Taught By: Riitta-Liisa Valijärvi To find out more about this module, please contact the Module Coordinator. |
| Weekly Contact Hours: 2 hours per week |
| Prerequisites: None |
| Compulsory Module for: N/A |
Summative Assessment
2 hour written examination (70%), including grammar and lexical exercises (20%), reading (25%), and writing (25%); oral examination (30%), consisting of presentation (15%) and social conversation (15%).
Formative Coursework
Progress is carefully monitored, in particular in the early stages of the course, through a number of formative assessment tasks (short presentations and conversation exercises in class, informal and semi-formal vocabulary tests, reading comprehension tasks, grammar practice, Q&A sessions) and homework exercises.
Module Outline
This course aims to enable students to function in simple everyday situations and get by in straightforward social settings in Finnish. This includes knowledge of basic vocabulary (e.g. lexis used to introduce yourself, to travel and find your way around, to shop, to use a library, and key concepts of the culture particular to the language), grammar, morphology (e.g. verbs in the present tense, noun cases), syntax (word order in simple sentences), and phonetics (pronunciation, assimilation patterns, etc.). The course prepares students to continue their studies of Finnish on the Finnish B off-track language module, and ultimately for a study year abroad, or other extended stay or holiday visit to places where Finnish is used as a first language, particularly Finland.
EXPECTED OUTCOMES
By the end of the course students should have reached level A1+ (a solid lower intermediate level) in all four skills according to the grading provided by the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR).
Students will improve their intercultural communication skills, independent study skills, and general language learning ability.
Indicative Texts
Course materials produced by the teacher will be provided.
Core learning materials:
Gehring, Sonja & Sanni Heinzmann (2012) Suomen mestari 1. Helsinki: Finn Lectura.
Material from the following will also be provided in class or may be used independently:
Karlsson, Fred (2015) Finnish: An Essential Grammar. London: Routledge.
Please note: This outline is accurate at the time of publication. Minor amendments may be made prior to the start of the academic year.