Daycare Vaapukka’s group of children routinely put on their safety vests and go on a trip to the nearby forest in the Itäkeskus district. The group includes children from different countries, but it does not affect the unity of the group in any way. The children take each other by the hand in pairs and off they go!
Good team spirit and friendship skills are not completely self-evident things, even though it may seem so when visiting the daycare centre. They are based on providing systematic support for children and families.
Help for children and guardians
Daycare Vaapukka has about 240 children and more than 40 employees. The children speak more than ten languages as their mother tongue. The daycare employees also come from different backgrounds. They speak languages such as Somali, Russian, Estonian and Albanian as their native languages.
– Some of the children starting at the daycare centre are so young that they don’t speak any language yet. Some of them speak their own mother language fluently, and for some Finnish is a foreign language, says Hawa Geney, the multilingual instructor of daycare centre Vaapukka.
Geney herself has a Somali background and she especially helps Somali families, of which there are many among the daycare centre’s customers. She has lived in Finland for 14 years and studied to become a teaching assistant.
She says that the children of the daycare centre have won her heart. For Geney, the work is much more than just work, that’s how much she enjoys it.
There are four pre-primary education groups at Daycare Vaapukka, each of them with children who also speak mother languages other than Finnish. Twenty of the pre-primary education aged children are Somali speakers.
She has noticed that her presence brings a lot of safety for Somali-speaking children. But that’s also what it brings to the guardians.
– I feel that my job is to help not only the children but also their guardians, Geney says.
Important to earn the trust of the guardians
Geney is happy that the guardians are usually very interested in hearing about their children’s development, but also about very everyday things: does the child miss them, do they make friends and what else happened during the day?
She follows the development of children with a Somali background and notices if someone needs special support. She spends more time than usual with children who need support.
If more professional support is needed, she will discuss the matter with the child’s guardians.
– Such situations vary, and some guardians are reluctant at first. As the discussion continues and I explain to them what it is all about, they usually understand what is best for their child and the benefits of early intervention.
It has been noticed at the daycare centre that trying to resolve situations with the help of interpretation services may complicate things. Early childhood education has its own concepts that may cause misunderstandings when translated.
– It is important to earn the trust of the guardians. I tell them that they can always contact me if they are puzzled by anything, and many of them do so.
Support in integration
A daycare centre can be a significant help in integration for a whole family who has moved to Finland from another country and it may, perhaps, be the first public service whose employees the family gets to know better.
Geney feels that one of her tasks is to introduce and guide the family to services: how to apply for a place in a daycare centre, how children move on to pre-primary education or how to enrol to school and after-school activities and clubs. She also acts as a contact between the child in the pre-primary education group and their future school and talks about the child’s needs for special support with their guardians’ permission.
Geney receives a lot of appreciation for the work she is doing from the guardians, which she is happy about.
– Sometimes they call and ask about Finnish practices, even on weekends, Geney says with a laugh.
“You will learn”
The guardians hope that the child will learn Finnish at the daycare centre. However, it is up to the child how quickly they learn a new language. Some children first gather words and concepts in their minds for a long time before they start speaking complete sentences. Some, in turn, speak in single words almost immediately.
Geney talks to the children a lot and encourages them constantly.
– I tell them that even if the words go wrong sometimes, it doesn’t matter. I will say “You will learn”. Children need a lot of encouragement.
They learn Finnish words while playing a board game, for example. Finnish is spoken in the groups, though, sometimes, some things can be checked in Somali.
The children are used to occasionally hearing other languages in the group. It is an asset that they learn words from each other. In addition to Finnish and Somali, the children at the daycare centre hear at least Kurdish, English and Dari from time to time.
Geney points out that even though children learn Finnish at the daycare centre, the intention is not to replace the child’s mother tongue. The language spoken at home usually determines which language will be stronger. Sometimes the children may tell Geney about their matters in Finnish and Somali.
She has brought books to the daycare centre that have the same story in Finnish and Somali. So, even story reading sessions can be provided in two languages.
Hugs are the best
Let’s see whether the children are returning from their trip to the forest. Yes, as it will soon be lunch time. The children line up their boots, hang their overalls up on the wall and hurry to the canteen.
The meal is accompanied by high-spirited chatter as the children talk about what they have experienced on the trip.
Geney says that one of the good things about her job is its versatility. Each day is different, and plans can change on the fly.
– The best thing is when I hear children saying ”Hawa Hawa, come and hug me” when they see me.
Original text in Finnish: Kirsi Riipinen