Although Löhr was born in Finland and has a Finnish mother, she did not learn the language while growing up.
– I can feel it as a little sadness that I don’t have the Finnish language, she notes.
Löhr says that national minorities and multilingualism are covered in several courses during preschool teacher education.
Many good tips
– We have received a lot of good tips on how we can do it in practice, and how digital resources can help us in the work of including minority languages in teaching. There are many good apps and you can also get in touch with other preschools, so that you can, for example, have a singing session together over the internet.
– I myself have made a digital children’s book, where magical snow speaks Finnish. The child in the book does not understand what the snow is saying, but his mother does who knows the language, and then they can play with the snow. The child sees the mother’s language skills as a superpower.
Fun and pretty easy
– Making a digital book with recorded speech was not that difficult, and you could easily change the language if you wanted. It was also a lot of fun making the book, says Löhr.
The voice in the book is her mother’s.
Together with the children
But do you have time to create your own books when you work as a preschool teacher?
– Then I think that I create them together with the children, says Löhr.
– In addition, the assignment as a preschool teacher includes working with the minority languages, so you get to take that time. It’s about my approach, my attitude. But it is not optional.
