Employers

Language workshop

Regular informal discussions in the work community link language learning to everyday tasks at work. Language workshops reinforce additional language courses, as the workshops focus on the specific language needed at work.
Three people collaborating at a table with sticky notes and laptops.
Content:

A workshop to discuss work-related (language) issues and find solutions together.
For whom:

Language-learning employees. Led by an advanced learner or native speaker colleague.
Time:

For example, 1 hour every other week, with participants writing down observations and questions between sessions.
Current situation:

The working language is Finnish or Swedish, and the work community includes several employees whose language skills are limited.
Benefit:

Employees learn language relevant for their work.

A language workshop is a language discussion and learning scenario by the work community in which language learners can participate during working hours

The language workshop is built on the participants' own needs, wishes and challenges. Discussion is led by colleagues, language mentors, persons responsible for onboarding, or supervisors, as agreed in the work community. Language learners receive support and language learning tips from peers in the language workshop.

Language workshops are particularly suitable for workplaces where there is more than one language-learning employee. If there is only one or few employees learning language at the workplace, other methods can be used to support language learning, such as the pocketbook and language mentor. 

It is important to discuss models and phrases for interactive scenarios important to participants in workshops so that participants can adopt new models and phrases immediately. In the workshop, interaction can be practised, for example, by going through typical interactive scenarios at work together. 

Discussing wishes and needs of the participants in the first language workshop session is advisable. For example, the following questions may be asked in the first session: 

  1. What kind of language learning suits you best? What kind of a language learner are you? 
  2. What kind of situations at work cause anxiety? Where do you need support? 
  3. What work scenarios require you to speak Finnish? How would you like your colleagues to respond in these situations? 
  4. What level of Finnish proficiency are you aiming for? In what situations would you like to be able to use Finnish? What is your next concrete language learning goal? 

©2024 Katriina Eronen, Johanna Komppa and Eveliina Korpela

Language workshop, august 2024, produced by Katriina Eronen, Johanna Komppa and Eveliina Korpela, is licensed under a CC-BY Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. The material can be found at kielibuusti.fi. Photos: All rights reserved. 

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Time:

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Benefit:

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