Entrepreneurship task 1 and 2

Core questions:
1. What is meant by intrapreneurship?
2. What are the teaching and assessment methods that will enhance development of the student’s intrapreneurship?
3. How to further/aid the process from intrapreneuship/internal entrepreneurship towards (external) entrepreneurship?
4. How to teach entrepreneurship in the best and most effective manner in vocational education?

Intraneurship and entrepreneurship even though they are similar in many ways they do have some differences. Intrapreneurship is when a person inside a bigcompany take responsibility to make an idea into a profitable product. This people who are intrapreneurs are more ready to take risks. For them is easier to apoligize for a mistake then prevent the mistake itself.
Entrepreneurship is when a person is not working for a big company but has the same attitude to make an idea into a profitavle and durable business. In a way the intrapreneur has got "easier" life cause he/she will get the financial support from the company where they are working. If we consider that point of view I could say that intrapreneurs use less creativity than entrepreneurs (or actually they use it differently). The entrepreneurs use creativity for getting OWN idea realized ; intrapreneurs they use the creativity in the sense that they want to make their company profits.
I think that both can be taught. As a teacher we should keep on to those students that are for instance very practical personalities, who like to take risks and those who are not that good in some subjects ;)
The question in my pointof view is: how we can teache to the teachers that this is an importan issue? the world is constantky changingand so the jobs available out there. Teachers who don´t teach this issue won´t give to their students anything else that their own subjects. I think we should start to teach and to push the future "entrepreneurial" and "intrapreneurial students from the elementary schools.For the Espoo days we had to make a SWOT analysis to different kind of schools/ institutions that educate the students to different kind of schools/institutions that educate the students to be an entrepreneur. That experience and also my teaching training (where we did speak about " intrapreneurship" more than "entrepreneurship") made me think: how much time we spend usually in school learning theories on theories instead to give the students practical examples! If I would work in school I would probabily make the exercises mentioned in your "Teaching the entrepreneurship". I think it gives to the students always the idea that the plan B is always out there. They should just find the right idea and the attitude to make into practise. 

Task 2

I found this video really inspiring as a parent and as a teacher:
http://www.ted.com/talks/cameron_herold_let_s_raise_kids_to_be_entrepreneurs.html 

Cameron Herold is an entrepreneur since childhood and in this video gives some advices as a parent and as a teacher how to raise kids to be an entrepreneur.
In my opinion he pointed out that the traditional schools want to uniformity and not diversity. In this video I liked how he describes different kinds of entrepreneurs in the same person and to develop creativity in business matters.
The bottom line is that entrepreneurs create value where others don't recognize it. This includes capitalizing on present market opportunities. This can result in exploitation or win-win arrangements, depending on the motive or application. Perhaps Cameron is being criticized for his examples, but the principle I think he's getting at is this: we need to re-kindle an entrepreneurial spirit in our culture. Such creativity is the promise of tomorrow and affects not only business, but also science and the arts. Sure, it needs to be governed by principle, but the entrepreneurial gift always starts out in raw form while it develops. Beside my video (which underline the creativity) I think also Katariina´s material was really good and I could take that as an example how I applied during my teacher training. You will find the practical application from my part during my teaching training in red.
I was teaching in Diaconia Univeristy of Applied Science - Bachelor of Social Service - English Orientation.

• communication skills, especially persuasion > we working on that all the time starting with an activity called "how to bring the person to own side". It´s pretty simple and practical activity. The goal is to bring physically the person to your side using words, gestures and all the tools you have to get into the goal. 
• creativity skills > every day the students in group of 3 should start with something creative in order to use their English. In add we had quite many problem solving and they have to think how to present the solutions in creative way in order to get the other group sure that your solution is the best.
• critical thinking and assessment skills > during the lesson on adoption students were forced to think critical and assess the situation to avoid the risks of failure (like in business)
• leadership skills > there was always a group leader even though I didn´t ask them to choose one. 
• negotiation skills > when we spoke about family and adoption they had to figure out how to negotiate some rules between for instance the foster families and biological families in order to make the interest of the child
• problem-solving skills > I mostly presented them cases in order to cover different clients. .
• social networking skills > we had one day POPPLET day: they had to answer all together in order to solve several questions about a case study on alcohol problem pregnant woman
• time management skills > they did have a strictly timetable to come out with good solution and its presentation

Global and Culture Competence - task 2 - 2nd part

Task: In pakistan your will be working in a school with a group of students who aspire to pursue studeis in states or similar countries in the west. How will you plan your course to help them to acclimate into the culture?

I would organize a training of 6 meetings where students can express themsleves and if it´s necessary share with others their feelings about different cultures. I would choose working in small groups, discussions, sharing own personal experience. I would choose traditional presentation for giving practical information about working policies of different countries, case studies for deeping a specific situation, role play and simulation for processing identification in real life situation and personal limits in different contest. I would add energizers (to build the group) and creatives activites to stimulate also other communicative ways of approaching.

1st lesson: Working on getting to know each other, presentation about the course methodology, the programme and definition of the time, the way and the work places. Expectation about the course.

2nd lesson: Starting from students ideas: where would you like to go to work and why? Differences and similarities on those ideas. The role of a foreigner worker in west countries and working policies of the chosen west countries/states.

3rd lesson: what do you think will be your working day? comparison with the expectation and real day routine. Reflections of moving abroad.

4th lesson: Comparison and exchange on culture peculiarities of home country and west countries/states.
Why the dialogue is important in different cultures. Prejudices and Stereotypes. Why differences in culture are positive.

5th lesson: Tollerance and integration: reflection on own membership and nationality (in this case Pakistan)
Case study: analyse a concrete situation and different modalities of adaptation and integration.

6th and last lesson: analyse of the real opportunities on western markets. Reflection on ideas, projects, organizations and evaluation of own idea. Looking for already implement projects and analyse them from the culture point of view.

Global and Cultural Competencies - Task 2 - 1st part

The Global and Culture Competencies asked to give a short answers (Around 250-500 words) on these questions:
How I will prepare myself for a group of students from different cultures? (Finnish language teacher)
What I will do to help the student that speaks only arabic to learn Finnish?

To have a multiculture classes is a challenge but it´s not impossible to deal with students from different cultures. I would at the beginning find out their personal information (for instance where are they from, what schools they attended and so on) and then organize a previous meeting with them and/or with their families.
If it is absolutely necessary I would ask the help of a translator, but at the beginning I would probabily find out their knowledge in Finnish language.
In order to do that I think would be enough have an informal conversation. After that I could divide them in 3 different levels:
- beginners
- intermidiate
- advanced.
With the beginners I would start working on pronunciation: using a lot my body language and try to do as much as I can to involve them. One good activity might be in group to write (and it doesn´t matter if it´s not written correctly) a list of Finnish words (including names of famous Finns, food, cities and so on..) I would then with them start to work on the pronunciation of those words. If necessary I could use as a language  support English/French and Italian ;)
Probabily in this group will be also that student that knows only arabic: she will be treated as the rest and if necessary I could ask help for a translator. Putting her with beginners won´t let her/his motivation going down if she/he will be if would be with advanced or intermidiate.
With the intermidiate: I would start with a simple conversation on daily routines in order to check what are their speaking skills. I would ask them also to write down a small presentation on themselves (in order to see their written skill). Based on this I could carry on a tailor made course for them too.
With the advanced: Conversations, discussions on newspapers articles, about cultures. Movies. Comments on national happenings. Same strategy than intermidiate course: build a tailored course for them.


In all of three I would teach them the Finnish culture: showing them videos (according to their level), receipts (according to their level) and everything what included the Finnish daily culture routines.
I would also recommend to have a book, an exercise book and cd that they could listening at the different dialogue and pronunciation during their spare time.
For teaching culture I would also spend some time during my lessons to let the students express themselves and talk about their own culture. I would work (beside the language itself) on the concepts of:
- communication between different culture
-  expectations on the other culture actions
 - building a group and a community
- the advantages of no violence approach but see the idea of conflict as a constructive opportunity to have a dialogue
- culture shock

I would use for cover this part the material used by the National Agencies from different training programmes. One of it you can find in here: salto-youth.net  

More reflections about my learning path and some answers for my DP feedback

I define myself as a social person, even though in my family I am the quietest one. I enjoy to be around people:I love to work in groups and I can work also easily as an individual. In groups of 2-4 people in an specific task I work pretty easy. Bigger group (for instance our iVet) it's suitable for me to give me the whole picture or the whole process and different reactions and knowledge in front of the things. I am conscious now that a group as its own life and we have to take as much as possible during the phase of the max activity.
As A learner I discovered during these studies how important is to share ideas, paths, questions with other learners. We have that kind of situation ( learning from others) in front of us everyday if we think about children. The children copy other children. In adult world pf course we don't copy others but we can have from others the right support to come up with a brillian idea. As a teacher I discover how much more the teaching itself is engaging me when I make my students work in collaborative learning tasks. From there comes new ideas, problems and healthy discussions. I am totally in and it's look so democratic! The time goes faster, nobody sleep and I am actually feeling that I am giving something to the people. Covering different learning styles and especially that one which is for me the weakest make me feel more efficient. It's a challenging when sometimes in front of me there are different generation of students that are especting to learn according with the old methods. I am different teacher since I began these studies path: before my willing to learn and to give was restricted to my job: now I would like to espand and catch all the opportunities out there. Become intrapreneur of my own life ( at the end it's me who pays).Go global. Save the world and take with me all those students that share with me the will to improve and take risks. I am more and more sure that we could create a better community if we just help learners to understand basic values and take risks.
Like I said in my previous post I enjoyed the virtual studies and specifically to these ones I would probabily change our study platform such Optima and give us the possibility to choose what learning platform could be more suitable for the whole group. This process could take time I know but at least not complains ;) I would prefer having more contact days with the group and the tutors. Maybe not so much but only three times per year 2 days are quite low. We are quite far for having the vocational teaching done completely on line so a bit more contact days wouldn't be bad for me. Like I said I am social person so I am a social teacher. Not perfect one, I do also make mistakes and get bad feedback. What I do when I go those ones? I took my entrepreneur attitude and using the bad one as a incentive for re building the whole process. I don't give up.
Never.

Sharing some thoughts after winter holidays

This evening I had opportunity to watch a video by Daphne Koller, co founder of Cursera about the potential of e-learning and what we're learning from online education. The video was really inspiring so I went to look what courses they have to offer and it seems that I found a couple of them which interested me.
Lately I have been thinking quite much at the potential of the e-learning and how I could use my skills in that field of education: the reality is that there is not a school ib Oulu area ready to take me on board. I have to make a move and start to dance according to the music. Nowadays is not the world what they were teaching me at school and that's the problem of my country. We should start to look around us and go to looking for opportunities. I won't have perhaps ever a permanent job from 8-16 5 days a week so I have to organize myself with the plan B. I have the biggest motivation sleeping in the next room and I will never let him down. I will provide for him opportunities to have an education, possibilities and choices. Those that I never had.
The potential of e-learning is extremely wide: is quite democratic cause everybody could access to the courses, it supports collaborative learning and last but not the least give a chance to re-invent your entire career if it is necessary. I find this last aspect very positive: I define myself as a person that could always change like a chameleon and give me the possibilities to become someone else (in potential) is like giving to an hungry animal food.
Here is the link to the speech:
Ted Daphne Koller What we are learning from online education

Interaction with working community _ task 3

How do you interact with your working community? What could you do differently to enhance the spirits of your working place? Is there someone in your working community who brings positive energy to you; why is that? Reflect on the quality of the interaction in the light of where and why is the interaction fruitful to you to lift up your working spirit.

The interaction with my working community is with  my students, my boses and my collegue Marina (who is also an Italian teacher). The interaction with them is by phone, emails and social networks such facebook, linkedin and skype. I work in Community Colleges (in Finnish Kansalaisopisto) so the spirit is to give our customers a learning and relaxing enviroment while following their passions. I am an Italian teacher and I lead courses for those who are going to Italy (mostly for vacation) but also for those who wants to learn the language for other reasons (family member, passion for Italian culture or because they can speak already Spanish).
My boses are quite open minded we are basically free to express our ideas and - in my case - propose new courses. There is not s specific person who does bring positive energy: I would say that I got that from the group in general. Students are there cause they want to learn Italian so they actively partecipate to the lessons: this give me positive energy that I give back to them as a mirror. Sometimes I face difficult groups: with them it is harder than usually is but I try my best to give them anyway a good service. In those cases I share my feelings with my only collegue, Marina, by phone. I travel quite a lot and so is she, so when we want to give each other support, we call during this long trips. We could talk over an hour! We share the difficulties with a specific group and try to give each other support and solutions.
I would say that my interaction has been good until now but lately I have felt that I would need to partecipate more to the activities of the schools: it seems to me that I am quite separate to the general philosophy of a specific organization, instead would be nice to help to organize and bring new ideas. I would like to have possibility to build some projects that involves students but most of the time the schools they do not have enought financial possibilities. I would say that going to work is refreshing for me: the interaction with the students is extremely positive even sometimes (for my personal reasons) I am going to work that I am already tired.
It would be nice to have stronger interaction with my boses or from those who have longer experience in teaching than me: it would be nice to organize not only language courses but also courses related to cultures and communication in foreigner country. Maybe one day...who knows?

Make the move video

Our assignment was to watch a video about substanbility. Many pictures that cover different themes. Some of them were for me clear what you meant and other not. (for instance...Colosseum) but I will try to share my thoughts while watching the video (is this what you asked right?)
The youth unemployement rates are scary and is one of the biggest reason why I moved here. In my home country there are not jobs available so I was "forced" to seek opportunities somewhere else too. To favourite mobility should be more programes that let people go abroad for working or studies. I don´t know how many they are out there, but when I was studying, we had only Erasmus, Leonardo da Vinci and Comenius and they are NOT for everybody. (meaning that in Italy to parteciapate in one of them you need to be good in school... ;) )
How balancing social economic and environment for the future generations?I read in internet few days ago that most of the ideas to save the world seems to be quite tecnological: sun shelter for instance is one of them(more in here http://www.treehugger.com/corporate-responsibility/ten-ideas-to-save-the-world.html)
but I am thinking something more practical and why not? more fun.
First of all we should give to solving the world problems a lot of time in terms of hours per week and change the attitude: we should have exactly the attitude to achieve the goal, ready to take all the risks that a mission would include... it´s the same attitude that we have when we play games. I have been inspire from this video that actually give us an idea how to save the world using games:  http://www.ted.com/talks/jane_mcgonigal_gaming_can_make_a_better_world.html .
Now in here she used the World of Warcraft but think about to transfer this kind of games in normal day situations starting from kindergarden: simulation activities with young children, youngsters and so on. Starting with a tasks that you and only you can solve (the others give you a task and they trust you in saving the world): the task is suitable for you capability and you are able to achieve it with some effors and go to the second level and so on. What about using simulations on line games to support the collaborative aspects and help the future generations to litlle by little making the gap smaller and smaller?
Similuation games can be done also in real life not only on line: starting with the youngest generations:in kindergarden why we don´t   for instance play games according to the children´s age, personalities that helps to saving the world?
Giving children/youngsters tasks in the game that they think is reasonable for them and they can solve. This will give them motivation to go on until they can get the goals. Playing a game together is also give the player the feelings that the other players won´t leave the game until the end. They will be there playing with us until the goal.

Would it be enough as crazy ideas?