Blueberries, floorball and STEAM: Helmi Learning brings Chinese students to Finland

“Contracts are not secured simply by exchanging emails.” For Ari Perälä, CEO at Helmi Learning, that sentence sums up years of work. This August, two groups of Chinese students arrived in Finland to study alongside Finnish peers — the first from the Beijing area for two days, the second from Hangzhou for a five-day stay.

Helmi Learning is a Finnish education export company built around international winter and summer camps, where foreign students learn side by side with Finnish children rather than in a group of their own. Alongside the camps, the company runs professional development programmes for teachers in inclusive education, holistic well-being, STEAM and nature education, from early childhood through upper secondary level.

What the Chinese students remember is rarely the classroom. A trip into the forest. Picking blueberries. Finnish baseball and floorball. Afternoons of hands-on STEAM lessons and a workshop where they were asked to think like an architect. For both groups, the days together became a genuine chance to meet another culture and to use English for something that mattered.

“Achieving a good outcome requires seamless cooperation, an understanding of cultural differences, and patience.” Ari Perälä, CEO at Helmi Learning

Interest in Finland has been growing for years, Ari says — in the education system, in the nature, and in the Northern Lights. Some clients have never seen snow, which makes a Finnish winter camp something close to unimaginable.

But interest alone does not close a deal. Helmi Learning has travelled to China many times over: visiting schools, giving lectures and workshops, sitting down with principals and teachers. There is no single moment Ari can point to. The agreement came out of consistent, determined work, a concept sharpened over years, and camps he is genuinely proud of.

Through Leap4Growth, the company also had mentors and support on the ground — Rachel Ou and Yi Tang — and the contacts built up in Hangzhou over the years proved their worth. In-person meetings are what count, Ari says. You have to know the client and their needs, and show that you can meet them.

Helmi Learning is now developing its teacher training package around inclusive teaching methods, with Hong Kong as the next market.

Want to know more about Helmi Learning?
Web: https://www.helmilearning.com/