We started our school day by giving a concert to the whole body of Peltolammin Koulu and some other neighbouring schools. Once again we impressed our Finnish friends with our talent and hardwork in music. We then got a chance to sit into classes. Since most schools in Finland have less than 300 pupils, our whole group would be too big for one school to take care of. So we split up into two groups (wind band & strings) and went to classes in the two schools simultaneously.
How do Finnish students learn in schools? I'll let our students report on that soon. In general, they have small class sizes. Students seem to have lots of freedom and time to learn their topic of interest. Our students were so happy to meet new friends, and they quickly engaged into conversations about Finnish and Chinese cultures. Some went out to the fields and played in the snow. Our students had lunch at the schools. Our students liked the simple meal of salad and baked potatoes with meat sauce. They even said it tasted much better than our meals in HK. ^_^
Our kids then had a short but wonderful time to play with our friends at recess. For most of our boys, this was their first time to play soccer in the snow, and they would surely remember this experience.
Our two groups regrouped at Harmela Koulu and our string orchestra gave a mini-concert to the pupils at Harmela Koulu. A small singing group from the school led us in singing some Finnish songs. Our time was filled with laughter and cheers.
What a wonderful learning experience!
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