Adult education centres offer teaching in a wide variety of languages. You can choose to either start from scratch with a completely new language or improve and maintain skills you already have. The exact choice of languages available varies between centres and ranges from enduring favourites, such as English, Spanish and Russian, to more unusual options, including Hebrew, Portuguese and Japanese. Some centres have chosen to specialise in foreign language tuition, and may offer up to twenty language choices. In total, language tuition makes up 18 per cent of all provision.
Courses are offered to suit all levels, from complete beginners to more seasoned speakers. Some are more traditional, progressing from beginner to intermediate and advanced, while others cater for students who wish to improve their grammar or conversational skills.
Some centres offer the opportunity to gain the National Certificate of Language Proficiency (known in Finnish as yleinen kielitutkinto or YKI-tutkinto). The national certificate is a qualification aimed at adults. It assesses your language skills in a wide variety of practical everyday situations, including speaking, listening, reading and writing. For more information on the qualification and the centres that offer testing, please visit the National Board of Education website.
Adult education centres also offer courses that are designed to broaden your knowledge of other cultures. These are organised as one-off lectures open to the public and as longer packages. Some centres also offer study visits. Some of the courses aimed at enhancing your understanding of other cultures are offered alongside other subjects. For example, a music course may focus on songs in a specific language and a cookery course may concentrate on a single national cuisine.
