Moi kaikki, hi everyone!





My name is Mari Nikonen.

Like many other guest writers in this blog,

I run a small business teaching Finnish.

Because of the current pandemic situation,

I mainly teach online at the moment,

but I also teach a small number of private students face to face

at my office in Kallio, Helsinki.





I’m specialized in teaching speaking, pronunciation

and spoken language,

with Eija Aho and Aino Huhtaniemi.





I’m a native Finnish speaker,

but I spent most of my childhood in Belgium,

where I went to school in English and French

and spent most of my free time speaking French.

We moved back to Finland when I was 11 years old,

which was quite a culture shock

even though we had spent a lot of holidays in Finland during the years.





I have the huge privilege of being trilingual from childhood,

but growing up, I never had a single language that I felt was truly mine

– I spoke each of my languages well,

and have received education in all three,

but I always felt that something was lacking.





I went to university to study Finnish

because I wanted to learn it properly, once and for all.

In the process of studying Finnish linguistics and literature,

I found a home in the Finnish language.

I also realized that you don’t have to speak a language perfectly

in order to feel at home in it, to play with it,

to use it as you wish.





As a teacher,

my mission is to help my students feel at home in the Finnish language,

to dare to own it and use it courageously,

even when they’re not sure which grammatical form to use.





My courses





This autumn, I’m teaching two types of online courses:

Steps towards YKI is a series of courses to help you get into shape for the YKI test.

The courses also suitable for anyone wanting to get to level B1.

Each course lasts for one month.

Each month, we focus on a new theme and new grammar.

You can jump in at the beginning of any month,

pick and choose the themes that feel relevant for you

or even study the entire 9 month series.





More on Steps towards YKI and registration here:





Puhetta! B1-B2 is a course for advanced intermediate learners

who want to gain the courage to speak,

speak more fluently

and understand more of the everyday conversations around them.

More on Puhetta! B1-B2 and registration here:









Kiitos kirjoituksesta, Mari!





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