Innovation in Language Learning

It is little known abroad that Swedish is an official language in Finland alongside the majority language Finnish. Also, it is little known that there are municipalities along the Finnish coast where Swedish is the predominant language or play an important role in a bilingual society. Foreigners coming to Finland can choose to integrate into the Finnish society either in Finnish or in Swedish. In our presentation, we introduce an upcoming MOOC with the aim to present the Swedish speaking society and culture in Finland for international experts with an interest to work or study in Finland. The MOOC will be a trilingual, multifunctional course, where language can be learned through studying Finnish Swedish society and culture. To maximize the learning experience, our aim has been to create informative and engaging course material with focus on visuality and personal stories. Parts of the course will take place in 360-degree environments showing interesting places in the Swedish parts of Finland. Another important element will be interviews with international experts that already have integrated in Finland in Swedish as well as with employers who have international personnel. The MOOC is part of a national project called “Kielibuusti” (Language Boost), which again is part of the project “Talent Boost”. The projects aim to attract international experts to work and study in Finland and to learn the national languages.