There aren't many articles in the English Wikipedia that have a Finnish word as their title. Sauna is probably one, but can you think of any others? Perhaps surprisingly, practical working experience - TET, in other words - doesn't have an equivalent in the English-speaking world. The next two weeks our students will spend gathering practical working experience. Here are some of their past experiences from 7th and 8th grade as well as expectations for the coming TET week.
On seventh grade I was tet in my mother’s job place called Wawin-Labko.
I packed 175 tubes in a bag. It was very boring but I got lot of money doing
that. On eight grade I was tet on my old school in Huutijärvi. I was there with
my friend Otto. It was very nice job and we have lot of free time here,
but also lot of job. I like to do things with little kids, example play
football and other excersice with them. I’m not never be a teacher because I
don’t like the kids who annoy teachers. Now in ninth grade I’m going to TET my
mother job place again with my friend Kalle-Emil. We get there over 200 euros.
Nicklas Gaustad
In 7th grade, I was at Haviseva Elementary school. I worked in the
kitchen area, you know, doing dishes and such for six straight hours. I
realized that working in a school sucks. In 8th grade, I worked at my mom’s
workplace, Work- health facility (Työ-terveys laitos). I lifted boxes and
tables etc. It was hard work, but I was happy to do all the physical work,
since the office stuff just isn’t for me. Now, in the 9th grade, I’m going to
work at ABC Oritupa, a gas station in Orivesi, I will be filling the shelves at
the market, and hopefully, I also get to make food there.
Pete Rusky
In 8th grade I was in S-Market Kangasala. I packed products in shelf
and cleaned up places. I didn’t like doing the packing ’cause sometimes it hurt
my back. I don’t remember where I was in 7th grade, ’cause that year’s TET was
only one day. Now in 9th grade I’m going to Kangasalan Kiinteistöpalvelu. I think
we cut grass, fix something and clean up places around Kangasala. My
expectations about this year’s TET is good ’cause I think I’ll do fine in those
jobs. I have one friend that is also coming to Kangasalan kiinteistöpalvelu at
the TET. He was with me in S-Market too. This year’s TET is one week long and
gives more time to get to know all jobs that people do in Kiinteistöpalvelu.
When we went there to apply for a job, we needed to fill some papers with a man who applied us to a job.
Max Corvin
I’ve had two TET places in these
last two years. In the 7th grade I was in a hairdresser called FresHair. I
spend there one day and it was quite nice. I liked it because it had something
to do with beauty. My job wasn’t too difficult or hard. Most of the time I just
cleaned the working area. I also helped with all kind of little stuff.
In the 8th grade I was in firm
called Polarmatic. It was also nice and I did a lot of office job. I helped
with some kind of papers and I emptied old files. The job was also quite relaxed
and I was there just two days because I left to Spain for a holiday.
Now I’m going to Riku kindergarten.
This time it’s going to be very different from those two other jobs. I like
children and I think it’s going to be a lot of fun!
Kate Ronney
I have had two TET places, one in
the seventh grade and one in the eighth grade. Both of them have been in my
parents’ workplaces and they are graduate engineers. The first one was in
Fastems, which is my dad’s workplace and it’s kind of big company. It was very
useful to be there, because I got a summer job in Fastems last summer.
The second one TET place was in my mother’s workplace called Polarmatic. It’s quite small firm and my mom works there. I was there only two days, because I left to Spain for a holiday. I helped with paper jobs and that kind of little things.
My last one TET place is going to be a kindergarten called “Rikun päiväkoti”. It’s very different than the other places have been, but I’m looking forward my TET week. It’s also very fun to go there, because when I was younger that was my kindergarten too.
Kathy Spoon
In seventh grade I was in TET in Stocker & Scandinavian Design. It
is a clothes shop at Hämeenkatu. My TET in 7th grade lasted just a one day, so
there wasn’t so much work for me. I cleaned the floors and mirrors, placed the
clothes and that kind of stuff.
In eighth grade I was in Esprit Hämeenkatu. It has the same store manager as my previous TET workplace, so basically it was the same place as last year. I cleaned places, took the garbages out, unwrapped new deliveries and so on. I really liked that week. The employees were really nice to me and the job was interesting.
This autumn I’m going to Kuohu. It’s a public swimming pool in Kangasala and I’m going there with my friend. I’m really looking forward to it!
Nora Lakeside
At seventh grade I was at my dad’s work beacause we had one day TET. I
didn’t really like that job but it was only a day. I was cleaning all day. In
the eighth grade the TET was 5 days me and my friend was meant to go to Makuuni
but they didn’t take there anyone, so we asked everywhere but no one didn’t
take us then I have to go again to my dad´s work I didn’t do there much
beacause there weren’t anything what I could do. This year I am going to TET to
hairdresser. I think it is going to be so much fun and I think it is really
interesting job.
Iris Hill
In the 7th grade I worked at my dads
company. I mostly just cleaned places up. In the 8th grade I went to my dads
company again. That time I emptied a shipping container full of scrap metal, it
took me 3 whole days. The rest of the week I was cutting the metal things into
smaller pieces with a machine . Now in the ninth grade I’m gonna go work at my
dads company again. I think im mostly gonna be cleaning places up again and
maybe weld some stuff. I go to work at 8 or 9 at morning and get home at 2 or 3
in the evening. Luckily I get paid for it.
Oskar Gant
I am going to TET to Vesaniemi day care center. I have been there when
I was little also. I am going to take care of children and play with them. I
think it will be very awesome, because I like kids a lot. I go to the day care
center in the morning half past eight and I can go home half past three.
In the seventh grade I was in a little shop called Kemikalio in Kangasala center. I organized products and set the prices. It was a nice place to work.
In the eighth grade I was in a hairdresser in Nekala. It was called FresHair. I cleaned and organized the hairdresser. Then I curled and straightened hair. This hairdresser was an awesome experience, but now I know that I will not be a hairdresser.
Paulina Rock
In 7th grade I was at Liuksiala
school as a support teacher. It was amazing experience , because in class was
one girl who was half-deaf. I was at school one day, but I did a lot of things.
For example I helped pupils to do tasks, helped them with play and went to eat
with them. The class teacher was nice and we had good time.
In 8th grade I was in Liuksiala
kindergarden. I liked it so much. Children in my group were from 3 to 6 years
old. The people there were so nice and felt like I was one of them. I was there
one week. In the kindergarden I I played with childrens, eat with them and
helped them with growing up. I would like to go there again. When I went go one
girl said to me that I could be a good nurse.
Now in 9th grade I’m going to go to
English playschool in Kangasala. I wanted something different and I decided to
go to English playschool. I hope that it will be cool.
Elisabeth Jenkins
I will go to TET to Liuksiala’s school. It is a primary school in Kangasala.
I have studied there when I was little too. I will be in the lessons helping
the teacher and students. I can maybe even teach there. My work day will start
at nine o’clock and it ends at three o’clock.
In the seventh and eighth grades I was in hairdresser called FresHair in Nekala. That is my cousin’s own place and I really liked to work there. I organized and cleaned the hairdresser and some days I curled hairs. When I was little it was my dream job be a hairdresser, but it is not my dream anymore. Both TETs were an excellent experiences.
Marie Rivers
I have never been very excited about
the TET week but in the eighth grade it went very well. In the eighth grade I
went to a company called Trimaster. They design and then build industrial
machines or robots. For example if you have ever eaten rice pie it’s probably
made by machines from Trimaster. They have made robots for almost every big
food/other consumables (like tires) manufacturer here in Finland.
I got the job because my both
brothers went there too when they were in the eighth grade. There they let me
participate in building of the robots. I helped installing some wires in to a
machine witch tested that was the rubber that was placed inside the machine
good for tires. I also started building some assembly lines with them. There
were many breaks and it was fun working there.
I hope my next TET week will be at
least as pleasant as in the eighth grade. I’m going to a printer store near our
school. The store is called EHD Finland. When I went there asking if I could go
there to work for the week they sounded a bit demanding. The founder of the
company told me that he had bad experiences about students who had worked
there. Some had used phones and didn’t do what they were supposed to do. But he
said that he will give me the job because I came asking all by myself and not
with my parents or friends. I hope it goes well.
Wayne Teller