Eugenia Manolidou: “Elliniki Agogi’s vision is to make every child learn and love Classical Greek”

Elliniki Agogi (Hellenic Education) is one of the educational institutions that has stood out in recent years for teaching Classical Greek to children and adults as well as for the innovative methods it applies.

Those fortunate students who attend classes either live or remotely note that it is the ideal choice for a child to experience the magic of the Greek language by utilizing the principles of experiential learning.

We wanted to learn more about the educational work of “Elliniki Agogi” and the Classical Greek learning programs, so we spoke with Eugenia Manolidou, the director of the school, who presented to us the practices that have turned Elliniki Agogi into a leading educational institution with international distinctions which aims to promote Classical Greek in Greece and abroad.

“Elliniki Agogi” and its remarkable work enjoy the recognition of the educational community worldwide. Tell us about the collaborations you have developed with academic Institutions of classical studies abroad.

In the last two years we have indeed started contacting and collaborating with educational institutions abroad. In 2020 I visited the Vivarium Novum Academy in Rome for the first time, where Classical Greek is taught as a living language. I was impressed by the love and zeal with which young students, who are not Greek, learn Classical Greek.

I admired the professors when I heard them teach by speaking in Classical Greek, something which I have never seen happen in Greece.
Since then, the relations with all the members of the faculty have been excellent.

Recently, we visited the Academy with a group of our teenage students. But also, with Polis Institute in Jerusalem, Paideia Institute in New York and Ralston College in Savannah the relations that have been established are excellent and you will see many collaborations happening in the future.

Recently the “Journal of Classics Teaching” published an article about the teaching method in “Elliniki Agogi” for preschool and elementary school students. The steps taken are slow; slow and steady win the race!

Ιn the last 25 years, “Elliniki Agogi” has raised generations of children who learn to love the Greek language and treat Classical Greek as a key element of this culture. What is the secret of success?

This year we celebrate 29 years of continuous operation and we are on our way to our 30th anniversary! There is no special secret, except for the hard work and the love of the founder and the partners of “Elliniki Agogi” for the Greek Civilization. The truth is that by reading the texts of the Classical Greek literature in depth and acquiring even minimal knowledge of the masterpieces of History, Philosophy, Poetry and Mythology, it becomes so easy to love and admire this marvellous language. I believe that every Greek should have minimal knowledge of Classical Greek at some point in their life, in order to read some of the masterpieces of the Classical Greek literature.

Furthermore, in “Elliniki Agogi” we all love children very much. We want to offer them as much as we can, to lead them on the path of knowledge, virtue and philomathy so that they are always ready and strong to deal with life’s difficulties.

Many children consider Classical Greek hard, outdated and not relevant to the present times. What is your teaching proposal so that the teaching of the language is freed from the traditional model (text-translation-grammar-exercises)?

After travelling extensively in the last two years in America, Canada and Europe, I have come to the conclusion that the only way to properly transmit Classical Greek to children is to teach it with a live and experiential approach, as we do with any foreign language.

The problem is that teachers and professors will have to be trained in this new way of teaching and most of them are hesitant because it is something completely new.

However, I have seen it done in class and witnessed the results which are impressive and so I am sure that it is much easier for any Greek to learn Classical Greek than it is for non-Greeks who teach it by speaking it. If they can do it, then we certainly can do it, too! This is the way to bring children closer to Classical Greek and make it one of their most favourite subjects.

Tell us about the original ‘Athena Pallas Project’. Do you think that this teaching program which brings the students of the Greek Diaspora closer to the Ancient Greek language can be a vehicle for a greater bonding of the Diaspora with their homeland?

We created the “Athena Pallas Project” to introduce Classical Greek to the students of the Greek schools of the Diaspora. You know, in many European countries, but also in America, children in schools are taught Greek or Latin, either in High School or even starting at Primary School.

Since Greek day-schools go up to 8th grade, the children do not learn Classical Greek, or learn very little, since the priority of the teachers there, is to get the children to learn modern Greek.

The “Athena Pallas Project” works as an enrichment program of modern Greek and brings children closer to the language through Mythology, History, Etymology and Traditions that date all the way back in antiquity and reach up to the present day. Classes from different schools are already participating in the program and more are being added.

How will a student who participates in the summer program of “Elliniki Agogi” be creatively occupied? What is so special about the educational program that you recommend in the summer that makes it so unique, that is admittedly loved by parents who have trusted it for so many years?

The all-day summer program of Elliniki Agogi takes the children to different destinations in the historical center of Athens every day. Within 5 weeks, we visit 25 different archaeological sites and learn the history and the “secrets” that each place hides. We begin the journey through time with the assumption that all monuments have memory and they “remember”, and that all we have to do is lean in and listen. By combining knowledge with adventure and imagination, our little “history trackers” get so excited and with great joy, acquire knowledge and experiences that will never forget. The program starts at the end of the school term and runs until the end of July.

 

Elliniki Agogi

Kifisias Av.125, Athens

210.5221314

[email protected]

Find out more about the camp: https://camp.ellinikiagogi.gr

 

 

*The interview is also available in Greek.