Supporting the language skills of international students in guidance

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By selecting a degree programme you are able to see the general content as well as the possible degree programme-specific content.

In the guidance of international students, it is important to raise the issue of competence in the languages of Finland and its impact on employment in Finland. If there is little time, the most important thing is to ask the student

  • if they have any plans to find employment in Finland and
  • if they are aware that the competence in the languages of Finland promotes their ability to find employment in positions corresponding to their level of education in Finland.

Based on these questions, you can discuss the employment opportunities of the field briefly and you can instruct the student to consider studying languages independently using the Language PSP:

The Language HOPS is available in three languages in the Instructions for students or can be downloaded as an editable word file from the Kielibuusti website.

If the student has considered the need to study the languages of Finland independently and wants to discuss the topic, you can use these materials and instructions to support the discussion on language skills and language studies. In the guidance discussion, the questions in the Language PSP can be used as a support, or you can pick out meaningful points out of it.

Instructions for the supervisor on using the Language PSP
Questions related to language skills, studies and work tasks
Background questions
Dream freely section

Instructions for the supervisor on using the Language PSP

At the beginning of the discussion, agree on which language(s) you will use. You can suggest: should we speak Finnish? If necessary, you can use several languages in the discussion. It is always a good idea to return to the Language PSP prepared by the student in connection with the PSP discussions.

Here are some ideas for what aspects/perspectives can be highlighted in the guidance discussion on the students' responses in the Language PSP. Use and apply the questions and perspectives at your own discretion!

After filling in the Language PSP and discussing it with the supervising teacher

  • the student is aware of the impacts and consequences of solutions related to studying the languages of Finland on finding employment and traineeships in Finland.
  • the student has a plan for what they will do next to develop their language skills.

Questions related to language skills, studies and work tasks

The objective of these questions is to determine whether the student's language proficiency (and the related objectives) is in line with the goals and wishes they have with regard to future traineeships/work. If the field has a language proficiency requirement, it is a good idea to highlight it here.

If the student wishes to develop their Finnish/Swedish language skills:

  • How much time/resources/room does the student have for studying Finnish/Swedish in the degree programme? Is there time/room for language courses? If not, how else could they start using and develop their existing language skills?
  • If the student has the opportunity/interest to complete a course in Finnish/Swedish, you can instruct them to familiarise themselves with the available optional language studies on and encourage them to contact student services if the student needs support in selecting a course of the right level. Further information about language and communication studies can be found here.
  • It is a good idea to highlight the perspective that you can develop your language skills in a number of different ways independently in different everyday situations. You can also find tips under question 10 on the Language PSP.
  • What is the student's next concrete goal in the development of their language proficiency? In order to find this out, you can use question 7 on the Language PSP. Make sure the student has thought about this.

If the student does not have any Finnish/Swedish skills and does not wish to study the language:

  • It is a good idea to find out what the student's goals are for the traineeship/work. If their goal is to complete a traineeship abroad and find employment with work tasks where Finnish/Swedish skills are not needed, the situation is OK in principle. 
  • It should be emphasised that Finland has very few traineeship/work opportunities without Finnish language skills. If the student wishes to complete a traineeship or find employment in Finland, it is a good idea to remind them of the fact that it is important to know one of the languages of Finland.
  • The student's degree may include compulsory studies in Finnish/Swedish even if they have no motivation to study. For this reason, the student should be encouraged to adopt a positive and open attitude towards Finnish/Swedish language studies in any case. For example, you can mention in the discussion that even simple language skills will help them a lot when studying in Finland, even if they do not intend to stay here. It is also possible to highlight the possibility that anyone's plans for the future may change. 

Background questions

The purpose of the background questions of Language PSP is to inspire the student to reflect on their own language learning style and method and to raise the student's awareness of the areas of language proficiency and in how many places they can learn a language.

  • You can discuss the student's language skills and previous language studies and the language(s) in which the student is used to studying/working.
  • You can draw attention to how the student has described their language learning style, i.e., what kind of choices they have made in question 10 of the Language PSP.

Dream freely section

At the end of the Language PSP, students are encouraged to freely visualise their own future and consider what good command of Finnish/Swedish would enable. You can discuss the following matters with the student:

  • Where would they like to live and work? (What kind of language skills would be needed?) What if they were very fluent in Finnish/Swedish? How would it affect their plans?
  • During the discussion, you can also point out that the original plans often change due to, for example, relationships. Does the student have a plan B? Would a change of plans affect what language skills the student would need in the future?
  • If the student has shown interest in studying Finnish/Swedish and working in Finland during the discussion, it is worth adopting a very encouraging attitude towards these ideas and emphasising that the Finnish/Swedish language may become the student's working language, as it has become for many others before them.
  • At the end of the discussion, it is a good idea to remind the student that they should update their Language PSP and actively set new goals to develop their language skills.