We sat down with Hanna, our HUB3 teacher, to hear a bit about her life in the Maldives. In addition to classroom teaching, Hanna is our music teacher who creates fabulous musical adventures for several different grades. Hanna joined us with her family back in January 2021, let’s start with why she decided to apply to FISM.
1. What were the main reasons you wanted to join FISM, and move to Maldives?
I was curious, and wanted to expand my perspective in life and learn something new. I’ve always been interested in different cultures and people. I was ready to step out of my box and discover something new so I felt this was an opportunity of a lifetime for me and my family!
2. What is “the Finnish way of teaching” all about? What are the key things in your opinion?
We understand that every child is unique. It’s not a race to see how quickly a child can write, read or calculate. Every student is able to learn. Maybe just not on the same day, nor the same way. We want to make learning fun!
3. What are the biggest differences with teaching at FISM compared to your career in Finland?
The biggest difference is team teaching with 50 students as I didn’t have that kind of experience before. To be honest, It can be challenging at times, but with a great team we make it happen!
4. And what are the similarities?
I think the core essence of being a teacher is the same anywhere you go. I live a normal, everyday life with my students and love it! Children are fantastic everywhere in the world.
5. So far, what has been your biggest success as a teacher in FISM? What are you proud of?
I’m proud of our team. Me and my two local colleagues make a great and supportive team, and I value our attitude and willingness to grow as a team. We trust and respect each other.
6. Could you describe how you and your family have adapted to life in Maldives?
It’s never easy to move abroad, especially with kids. We had a good life in Finland, we were happy there. We could easily find out 50 reasons not to move to Maldives. But I’m so happy we did! This is an adventure we will remember for the rest of our lives.
We enjoy living in Maldives. Kids like to go to Finland School although school days tend to be a bit longer than in Finland. We leave every day around 7am and get back home around 4pm. In the evenings we often go to the skate park. Also two of our kids play soccer in Maldivian teams. And one has online violin lessons every week from Finland.
We enjoy the warm sea and the sun. We love all kinds of water sports; swimming, snorkelling, surfing, diving etc. Quite often we go to our favourite cafeteria to have ice-cream, and we do spend a lot of time at the skate park or football field.
We get to spend a lot of time together as a family. We are happy here!
7. What is the single best thing about FISM for you?
Internationality - we are all here to learn from each other.