Italy asks - Finland answers (group 2)

Questions about school and school life 

Class 3 E at Rosso di San Secondo middle school in Italy asks and class 6 at Sääksjärvi primary school in Finland answers.

1. What age do you start attending school in Finland?
We usually start school when when we are seven. We study 6 years at primary school and after that 3 years at secondary school. Comprehensive school is compulsory school and lasts 9 years all together.

2. What age can you leave school?
You can leave school after secondary school and then you are usually 16 years. After secondary school you can study for example at upper secondary school, vocational school, business college. After that you can go to university.

3. What time do you start and finish your lessons?
It depends on our timetable. We usually start at 8.30 (the first lesson of the day). Our lessons last 45 minutes. We finish our lessons in the afternoon at 12.30, or at 13.30 or at 14.30 depending on the school day.

4. Have you got any labs at school? If yes.how often do you use them?
No, we haven´t. But we would like to have.

5. Which subjects do you study at school?
We study maths, Finnish, geography, biology, English, physical education (PE), physics & chemistry, music, art, history, religious education (RE), technical work, textile work.

6.How many English lessons do you have a week?
We have two English lessons a week. One lesson lasts 45 minutes.

7.Do you have to do any homework? How much?
We think that sometimes we have too much homework, but usually the amount of homework is ok.

8.Do you have to wear a school uniform?

No, we don’t. In Finland pupils don't use school uniforms.

9.Do you have lunch at school every day? If yes,what do you usually eat?
Yes, we do. We have our own school canteen. Our school cook prepares the meals. We have for example pasta, chicken, rice, potatoes, fish, spaghetti, fish fingers, salad, meatballs, porridge, steaks, bread, spinach pancakes, crisp bread, vegetables and fruits. School lunches are free in Finland.

10.Do you use interactive boards, computers and e-books at school?
We use computers a few times a month, but our class monitors can use computers every day during the breaks. We don't have interactive boards or e-books in our school, but many primary schools in Finland use interactive boards.

11.How many breaks do you have during your school day?
We have two to four breaks a day. It depends on how long the school day is. At breaks we can play different games like football, floorball and basketball, we can also swing, walk, hang around, play camera (a game), chat or build huts. In wintertime we can skate in our skating field and make snow castles.

12.Have you got a swimming pool in your school? If yes,how often do you use it?

No, we haven't. Very few schools in Finland have swimming pools.

Playing ice hockey in PE lesson.

At break

Studying

School timetable in Finnish.

At lunch

Class monitors playing computer games during the morning break.

Our PE gym

  In English class

Finland asks - Italy answers (group 2)

Questions about school and school life 

Class 6 at Sääksjärvi primary school in Finland asks and class 3 E at Rosso di San Secondo middle school in Italy answers.

1. When does your school day usually start and finish? 
Our school day usually starts at 8.30 a.m. and finishes at 1.30 p.m. 
But on Tuesday and Thursday school finishes at 5.30, as our class (together with other five classes) has a special school day called “long time”. The other 18 classes finish lessons every day at 1.30. p.m. We go to school on Saturday, too. 

2. How do you come to school? By bike, by bus, on foot?
Our parents drive us to school; only five students walk to school. 

3. What school subjects do you have?
We have Italian, maths, history, geography, science, English, Spanish/French, information technology ,physical education, music, art and religious education. 

4. What kind of grades do you have? 
We are in grade 8 that is the last grade of middle school; after middle school we go to “Secondary High School “for about five years and then, those who want it ,can attend University. 

5. Do you have a classroom assistant (school assistant)?
No, we don’t. There are two school assistants for each floor.

6. At what age do you start and finish school in Italy?
We usually start school when we are six and we attend Elementary school ( 5 years), then we go to “Middlle School” (3 years), and then to Senior High School (five years).School is compulsory until 16 years. 

7. Do you have school lunch or packed lunch? What do you usually eat?
Twice a week our class has lunch at school and we have a packed lunch: a sandwich, a fruit juice,a bottle of water and a dessert. 

8. Can you use mobile phones in your class?
No, we can’t, but we’d like to use them. 

9. Can you play computer games during breaks?
We can use computer games during the lunch breaks only. 

10. What do you do in PE lessons?
We do lots of activities: we play volleyball, basketball fieldball and sometimes we play football. But we also do athletics. 

11. What games do you play during breaks? Do you play ice hockey?
The morning break is very short (it lasts 15 minutes) and we can just eat our roll bread, have a chat with our friends or walk in the school courtyard. During the lunch break we usually play football or volleyball. We don’t play ice-hockey: we don’t know much about it and we don’t have ice rinks in our town. 

12. What kind of school holidays do you have?
Well, talking about holidays is always nice: we have a long holiday (about 3 months) during the summer, because we have very hot summers and it is quite impossible to go to school and study when temperatures are near 40 ° C. Then we have a 15 days holiday at Christmas and five days at Easter

Italy asks - Finland answers (group 1)

Questions about school and school life 

Class 2 C at Rosso di San Secondo middle school in Italy asks and class 5 at Sääksjärvi primary school in Finland answers.

1.From what age until what age is primary school in Finland? What is there after that?

We start primary school when we are 7 years and finish it when we are 13 years. After that we go to secondary school, which lasts 3 years. After secondary school we can study for example at upper secondary school or vocational school or business college. After that you can go to university.

2.Until what age is school compulsory in Finland?

In Finland you can leave school when you are 16 years.

3.What time do you start and finish lessons?

It depends on our timetable. We usually start at 8.30 (the first lesson of the day). Our lessons last 45 minutes. We have 4 to 6 lessons a day. We finish our lessons in the afternoon at 12.30, or at 13.30 or at 14.30 depending on the school day.

4.What school subjects do you have?

We have maths, biology, physical education (PE), English, chemistry & physics, music, Finnish, history, religious education (RE), art, textile work, technical work, geography.

5.Do you wear a school uniform ?

No, we don’t. In Finland pupils don't wear school uniforms.

6. What time is the break, where do you spend it (outside/inside the school)?

The first break is at 10 – 10.30. The next break is at 11.30-11.45 and in the afternoon we have two breaks at 12.30-12-45 and at 13.30-13.45. We spend the breaks outside, but if the weather is freezing like under minus 15 (in wintertime it can get very cold in Finland) we can stay inside. 

At break we play different games like tag, football, floorball, basketball. We also hang around, swing, chat, play hide and seek. In wintertime we can skate in our skating field and make snow castles.

7.Do you have lunch at school?

Yes, we do. We have our own school canteen and our school cook prepares the meals. We have porridge, rice, potatoes, pasta, meatballs, chicken, fish, spaghetti, meat, pizza, fish fingers, salad, mashed potatoes, pea soup, bread, milk, juice. Sometimes we have dessert. School lunches are free in Finland.

8.Have you got any labs in your school? What are they?

No, we don’t.

9.Have you got a swimming pool/ any sports grounds in your school?

We haven't got a swimming pool. Very few schools in Finland have a swimming pool. We have a football / ice hockey / basketball field and PE gym. We also have a little forest next to our school yard where we can play.

10.How often do you do PE and do you play any sports at school?

We have PE twice a week (two lessons a week). We play football, ice hockey, floorball, basketball and volleyball. In spring and autumn we do track and field sports and in wintertime we go skiing and skating and sometimes we are on the sledge hill. We do gymnastics in our PE gym. Sometimes we play town war with paper balls.

11.How do you study? Do you use books? Do you use interactive boards?

We use mainly books and other study materials. We use computers a few times a month. We don’t have interactive boards in our school, but many primary school in Finland have interactive boards.

12.Do you stay all the time in one classroom or do you move to different classrooms for different subjects, like in the UK?

Most of the time we stay in our own classroom with our class teacher, but we have different classrooms for English, technical and textile work and IT.

At break

In English class

 

At lunch

In our own classroom

'

Finland asks - Italy answers (group 1)

Questions about school and school life

Class 5 at Sääksjärvi primary school in Finland asks and class 2 C at Rosso di San Secondo middle school in Italy answers

1. When does your school day start and finish? 
Our school day starts at 8.30 a.m. and finishes at 1.30 p.m. 

2. How do you come to school? 

We usually come to school by car or by scooter. Some of us walk to school. 

3. What school subjects do you have?
We have maths, Italian, English, Spanish, PE, religious education, technology, history, geography, art, science and music. 

4. How many lessons do you have a week? 

We have five lessons a day, 30 lessons a week in total. 

5. Do you have a class monitor? 
Yes, we have two class monitors. They are in charge for the whole year. 

6. Do you use computers or smartboards in your classroom? 

Yes, we do. Our class is a 2.0 class: we use iPads, smartboards and very few books because our teachers store all the subject contents on our school platform and we download them from it.

7. What do you do during the breaks? 

We walk around the school playground, we chat and we have a snack. When it’s rainy we stay inside. Our break lasts 15 minutes. 

8. Do you have after-school activities?
No, we don’t. We don’'t have after school activities. 

9. How many years do you study in the middle school? What do you do after that?
We study in middle school for three years, then we go to secondary school for five years. There are different kinds of secondary schools: academic schools, technical schools etc. 

10. What time do you have a lunch break? What do you eat? 
We don’t have a lunch break because we finish our lessons at half past one, so we have lunch at home with our families. Some classes in the school have a different timetable and they have lunch at school twice a week. At home we usually have a complete meal for lunch: some pasta, some meat with vegetables or chips and some fruit. 

11. Can you use mobile phones or play computer games during the breaks?
No, we can’t. We can’t use mobile phones or play computer games during the breaks. 

12. What do you do in PE lessons? 
We usually play sports, like volleyball or basketball, or we do physical exercises.

In class

At break

In PE lesson