Nuppu Tuononen is the 2019 S2 Teacher of the Year

Nuppu Tuononen, MA, from Helsingin aikuisopisto has been named the 2019 Finnish as a Second Language (S2) Teacher of the Year at the national Finnish as a Second Language development days on 7 October 2019. The Teacher of the Year was announced by Olli-Pekka Heinonen, Director General of the Finnish National Agency for Education.

Nuppu has had a long, varied and successful career as a teacher of Finnish as a second language

According to the selection criteria of the Finnish National Agency for Education, “Nuppu Tuononen is a highly valued teacher and coordinator in her work community who shares her digital and assessment expertise with her colleagues both in various trainings and on social media. She has created numerous sets of learning materials, works as a test developer and assessor for the Finnish tests of the National Certificates of Language Proficiency (YKI) and promotes awareness of plain language. When guiding people to language courses, she meets adult learners of Finnish every day, from those learning to read and write to those with a university education.”

Nuppu Tuononen commented on her selection on Facebook: “A little bewildered, but very grateful after this evening! From the very beginning, I have had the privilege of learning and growing with wonderful teachers, colleagues and friends. I have learnt from them everything that was said about me today. I have also got the very best from my students – that makes it easy to teach well. Warm thanks!”

In Tuononen’s view, one of the best things about the field is its variety and diversity. The students are also diverse and have different needs when it comes to learning the language. “Helsingin aikuisopisto has a wide range of courses and a huge amount of cooperation with different partners. Within Helsingin aikuisopisto, we can guide a student who already uses the language independently to music or sports courses, for example. Meeting other adult education students supports immigrants’ sense of inclusion,” Tuononen says.

The Finnish as a Second Language Teacher of the Year was chosen by Suomi toisena kielenä -opettajat ry (the association of teachers of Finnish as a second language) together with the Finnish National Agency for Education. In addition to these organisations, the University of Helsinki, the University of Jyväskylä and educational institutions were represented on the award jury.

Photo: Carrie Beth Williams, Unsplash