Cultural Exchange at a Grassroots Level

In January of 2024, I received the news that I had been selected for the Fulbright Finnish Language and Culture Teaching Assistant grant for the academic year of 2024-25. 

Before applying for the program, I had completed my bachelor’s degree in Finnish language with a minor in teaching Finnish as a second language. I knew I wanted to gain work experience in teaching Finnish abroad. However, I did not realize the rich opportunities this program would provide me with.

At the Fulbright Finland Foundation's Pre-departure orientation seminar back in Finland, I was warned of the culture shock I would experience in a new environment. Upon arriving at my host university, the University of Washington, Seattle, I was amazed: the campus, with its castle-like buildings, looked like Hogwarts from the Harry Potter series. Despite the Seattleites being infamous for their “Seattle freeze”, I felt warmly welcomed in my new host community.

My daily tasks during the grant consisted of lesson planning, assisting my colleague in the classroom, and eventually teaching independently. The course in Language Teaching Pedagogy and the Teaching Assistant Workshop that my department offered to new teaching assistants were extremely helpful in adjusting to a new work environment. Especially as a teacher at the beginning of their career, I felt that the courses helped me to implement the principles of communicative language teaching in practice.

I was fortunate enough to have an experienced colleague to work with and guide me through the routine tasks of a foreign language teacher. This was the first time I had taught a language abroad, so everything about the job was relatively new to me. The beginner language courses in my host institution were divided into 50-minute lessons, 5 days a week. This was pedagogically ideal in the amount of repetition that the students had in their language learning journeys. The workload expected of FLTA grantees was humane and allowed for their own research and studies.

Having the guidance of a knowledgeable colleague and ample time to plan lessons and study simultaneously are privileges that few workplaces can offer. The FLTA program is a perfect opportunity for professionals early in their careers to acquire invaluable teaching skills in a culturally diverse environment.

Of course, the grant term wasn’t all fun and games. There were aspects of the culture that felt foreign to me, for example, the confusing bureaucracy of dealing with taxes and the inequality that was visible in the number of unhoused people. At first, the American style of communication felt very assertive to a Finn, who had been used to a calmer, silence-tolerating conversational style. Seasonal homesickness was unavoidable but could be alleviated by staying active and seeing friends.

After returning to Finland, I found myself missing the small talk that had felt slightly intrusive at first. What I really appreciated in American culture was the hospitality and can-do attitude – something that Finnish culture could take as an example.

Living outside my home country and being a visitor in another culture helped me reflect on my own assumptions and stereotypes that I had about the U.S. I now understand that the U.S. and Americans are indeed not a monolith – such as mass media often portrays the U.S. – but rather a collection of vastly diverse individuals.

After having lived in the U.S. and encountered people from a rather different culture from my own, I better understand the significance of the trans-Atlantic cooperation, which is at the core of the Fulbright Finland Foundation. 

In addition to political, official ambassadors, it is vital for mutual understanding to continue the grassroots-level cultural exchange that Fulbrighters do.

The FLTA program has provided me with a set of skills that I believe will be valuable in working life. Most importantly, it has given me relationships – both professional and personal – that I hope will last a lifetime.