Joensuun seudun erilaiset oppijat ry (Jose) is a nonprofit organization that aims to help people with difficulties in learning in the North Karelia region. We give out information, guidance and organize activities to support you as a learner.
Joensuun seudun erilaiset oppijat ry provides:
- Information
- Personal guidance
- Groups and peer-support
- Training
- Events
Contact information:
tel. 044 282 0022
email: info(at)lukijose.fi
Suvantokatu 20
80100 Joensuu
Welcome!
More about us
Joensuu regional association for special learners (or JOSE) is an organisation that helps people with learning difficulties and provides:
- · information, support, counselling, and guidance on learning
- · information and advice on devices & apps that enhance the learning process
- · help for individuals
- · reading test (you can get an official certificate of reading difficulty) Only in finnish.
You are welcome to participate in the following activities:
· courses
· peer groups
· training
· individual counselling⁄consultation
· learning-related events
Learning disability
What?
According to Statistics Finland, about 20% of elementary school pupils experience learning difficulties in writing, reading, mathematics, perceiving space, direction, time, attention, or just with their motor skills. Still, having learning difficulties does not mean that you should not learn. You learn, only with a little bit different pace and/or senses than the rest of people do.
Most often, learning difficulties can appear in the following areas:
- perception
- motor skills
- linguistic development
- alertness and operational control
- reading and writing
- mathematics
- learning foreign languages
Why?
The reason behind learning difficulties can be, for instance, genes, an early childhood disease/illness, injuries, or accidents. One of the most wide-spread learning difficulties is dyslexia, found to be hereditary, and the reasons are mostly neurological or neurobiological.
Solution
Though learning difficulties stay with you throughout your life, you still have all chances for learning. For that, however, you need to try a lot of different learning ways and find the easiest and most suitable ones for you. The learning process may take more time and efforts than usual, and the most important thing is to accept your learning difficulty.
We have also developed a number of tools and tips to support your learning process and make it easier:
Kanban
Kanban is a simple task management tool which can appear in two forms: physical and digital. Irrelevant of the form, however, it has one and the same function, i.e. to make your work clear and understandable through visualisation.
If you use a physical type of Kanban, you can laminate it and write on it with erasable markers, for instance. Another option is to use sticky notes which you can stick to any Kanban column and then move them to the next one.
You can use a Kanban board, for instance, when writing an essay or outlining work tasks for the next week, or even month.
If writing an essay seems to be rather a burdensome task, you can divide the process into different parts. All parts should be depicted on the Kanban board, either with an erasable marker or on a piece of a sticker. First, you place these parts into the column ”tehtävä/task”, then ”työn alla/work in progress”, and, finally, ”valmis/ready”.
You can put Kanban on the wall near you or in front of your working place and look at the schedule.
Semester Plan
A semester plan chart can be used for making your semester plan. In the horizontal boxes above, you can write the studying months. The vertical boxes on the left can be used for the names of the courses. In order to make your plan stand out or more vivid you can use different colourful markers. Besides, you can also laminate it (as it was the case with Kanban described above) and use either erasable markers or sticky (colourful) notes. Inside the ‘white’ boxes, you can put any relevant information concerning your studies: deadlines, types of the course, exams, etc.
In case it is hard for you to plan your work for the whole semester, you can use a shorter version of the studying plan described below.
2-weeks schedule/plan
Such schedule template can be used not only for your studies but for the everyday life as well. You can plan all kinds of events there, from school to doctor appointments.
Tips for writing
We have compiled some useful and reliable guidelines for writing. Try them yourself and leave a comment!
1. Plan
· read the assignment carefully and understand what is needed from you: describe, compare, tell, classify, reflect on, etc. In case you do not understand, try to read the assignment once again
· divide the task into several parts: research materials, reading, note-taking, making a draft, writing, etc.
· make yourself familiar with the topic: read the materials you have searched for, take notes, make a mind map, make a comparison chart, etc.
· make a draft/a rough copy. If you read it out loud, it can give you an opportunity to notice words that do not fit, grammar mistakes, or just words that do not sound nice
· You can make a schedule of all the tasks you need to do in order to finish the assignment. You can put that schedule onto your Kanban or schedule board
2. Work
· in case of large written projects, you can divide them into different parts and files
· with short projects (an essay, for instance) do not forget to divide your text into paragraphs
· the process of writing an essay:
· research on the topic – writing a draft – revision – second draft – revision – final version. You can come up with as many drafts as you need to get a satisfactory result
· print the final version of your text and check it for any errors. You can use colourful markers to highlight the passages (sentences, or just words) that sound odd or unpleasant. Reading aloud also helps you differentiate unpleasant words, grammatical mistakes, wrong structures
· in case of writing a thesis or an article, do not forget about the reference list
3. Finish
· you can read your final version aloud to your relatives or friends. Sometimes, it is useful to show your work to someone else with a ‘fresh eye’, so to say. If you work on your project for a long time, you can get used to the words and text, and you can miss some very nasty mistakes, illogical sequence of events and narration, or unpleasantries.
· if your work consists of multiple files or parts, then, it is time to combine them all and finalise your version. If you need to send your work on your institution’s template, it is also the stage when you insert your work into the template.
Essay Structure
In case you need more detailed notes on how to write an essay, download our Essay-writing tips! We hope they will help you reach the results you are aiming at.
Introduction
- Ø always start with the phrases that can get the reader’s attention. For that, you can use descriptions of your experience, environment, part of the day, a definition or a statement, or get straight to the point, etc., e.g.: ”The night was pitch-dark, quiet, and moonless when Peter was walking home through the park. The wind brought some rustling from the dark bushes on the left…”
- Ø remember that Introduction serves the purpose of presenting your topic. You can start it with such words and phrases (or sentences):
· The topic of my essay/narration/report is…
· In this essay I am going to talk/discuss/compare/ review…
· The topic I am talking about here is relevant/important to me because…
- Ø remember about the style: your essay can be either formal or informal. In case you are writing an informal essay, you should choose informal language and structures.
- Ø give some background information: why this topic, why it is important.
- Ø though Introduction is the first part of any essay, it is not mandatory to write it first. You can make a draft of the essay in general and write Introduction at the final stage.
- Ø remember that Introduction cannot be a long part of your essay. Usually, it takes up to 5 – 6 sentences in case of a short (1 page) essay (about 10% of the essay).
Middle Part/The body
Ø the middle is always the most important and interesting part in any essay. It is the part where you reveal your topic: you describe, explain, teach, depict, etc.
Ø the body of the text can include as many parts and⁄or paragraphs as you see fit. But you should always remember that every new topic, thought, or idea must be started with a new paragraph. Moreover, the paragraphs should be arranged in some kind of an order that you choose: chronological, for instance, or comparative, etc. Let´s say, you want to write a description of two things. Do not forget to write about one thing first in one paragraph and about another thing in the next paragraph. If you are describing advantages and disadvantages, it is better to write about advantages of both things first, sorting through each and every item, and only then go to describing their disadvantages, step by step.
Ø remember about using linking words and phrases that help you link words and sentences in the text, making the text smooth and logical. All linking words and phrases can be divided into groups depending on their purpose. Here is a list of some of them: to start with, first, second, next, then, afterwards, finally, in conclusion, to sum up, however, moreover, furthermore, and many others.
Conclusion
Usually, the final part of any essay is intended for giving results or conclusions. First, you summarise everything you have talked about in your text, just giving some main points. Second, you provide your opinion on the main ideas expressed in the text. You can also give a piece of advice, provide some arguments, raise a /rhetorical/ question (s). Then, you can also dwell on future development of the topic, making some prognosis, for instance, or introducing your plans for your future research or investigation.