Finland in FOCUS: EUROPA
Adult education centre: Theme weeks from 27 May to 7 June
From Monday, 27 May to Friday, 7 June, Finland will be the focus of FOKUS: EUROPA for a fortnight. After the first country special on Poland, the Chemnitz Adult Education Centre's European voyage of discovery continues northwards.
Finland, the land of breathtaking auroras, vast wild forests and expansive lake landscapes, was voted the happiest country in the world for the seventh time in a row in the latest World Happiness Report of 2024. What is the reason for this - the beautiful nature, the pioneering education system, the legendary sauna culture or the special devotion to tango? The adult education centre invites all those interested to discover the secret of happiness and the Finns' attitude to life at various events.
On Monday 27 May at 7 p.m. , there will be a good opportunity to kick off the theme weeks: in an online lecture entitled "Glücksland Finnland" (Finland - Land of Happiness ), German-Finnish journalist Tarja Prüss will explore why happiness lives in the north of all places - where winters are long and days are short. Accompanied by many photographs of nature, she tells of crazy, cheerful and touching experiences and encounters in Finland. Along the way, she reveals many a Finnish secret to happiness.
On Tuesday 28 May at 7 pm , Dr Petra Linderoos will give an "Insight into the Finnish education system". Since PISA 2000, the speaker has intensively studied Finnish education against the background of her own German qualification as a secondary school teacher. In her presentation, she will give an overview of the Finnish educational culture, focussing on learning and school culture, multi-professional networks, teacher training and other factors that support learning. Afterwards, there will be an invitation to discuss learning culture in Germany and Finland.
On Wednesday 29 May at 6 pm , the adult education centre invites you to an entertaining and sociable Finnish evening entitled "Tervetuloa!" (Finnish for welcome) in the VHS Gallery in the TIETZ. Finnish culture can be enjoyed in its many facets - with Finnish tango sounds and a photo exhibition with impressions of Chemnitz's twin city Tampere. A second exhibition entitled "My favourite Finnish word" is dedicated to selected Finnish words and their pronunciation.
Speaking of languages: There are several of them in Finland. In addition to Finnish, Swedish is also an official language. Then there are the Sami languages, which are spoken by the indigenous Sami people in the northern regions of Lapland.
The adult education centre will be devoting various events to all three languages between 28 May and 6 June : There will be courses in Finnish and Northern Sámi as well as a lecture on Finnish Swedish.
On Friday, 31 May, from 7 pm and on Sunday, 2 June, from 1 pm, Finnish sauna culture can be celebrated in the Rabensteiner Golfbad Gesundheitspark. The Finnish Wenik ritual will be used. Guests can expect not only the soothing warmth of the sauna, but also interesting and amusing knowledge about the meaning and use of the sauna in Finland.
On Friday, 7 June at 8 pm, the Elina Arlin Trio's concert at Lokomov in Chemnitz, Augustusburger Straße 102, will be the crowning finale of the VHS Finland Weeks.
The formation has arranged Finnish classics from various decades into their own acoustic versions for vocals, guitar and piano. The audience can look forward to Finnish poetry as well as fresh and soulful songwriting.
All events of the Finland special of the Chemnitz Adult Education Centre at: