With an increasing focus on the use of technology in the classroom, and many children familiar with how to use a laptop by the time they enter primary school, Professor Michalis Damanakis suggests that in moving with the times, e-learning could be the key to success for Greek education in the diaspora.
Currently in Australia to present a series of lectures on ‘Greek Language Education in the Diaspora Today’, the professor is part of a team at the University of Crete developing teaching materials for Modern Greek as a foreign and second language.

For the past 15 years, the team has been working with educators from abroad to assist them in adjusting their teaching materials and methods to cater to the changing Greek-speaking communities, which has led to the development of an e-learning platform.

“All of these are currently available free through the internet, and every educator can access them and use these tools that have been created by the University of Crete in conjunction with scientists and educators from the diaspora,” Professor Damanakis told Neos Kosmos.

According to the professor, online access to teaching materials and e-learning ‘classrooms’ is particularly important today as research shows children from a Greek speaking background are no longer gathered and living in the city centre and its surrounds, but rather are dispersed throughout the country.

“They are spread everywhere – on the outskirts of cities and in small towns, places where it often can be difficult to assemble enough children for someone to be able to create a department to teach the Greek language, as there aren’t enough students,” he said.

“In these situations, a teacher from Sydney can give classes through the internet to isolated locations, where there are few children.”

When it comes to motivating children to learn and speak Greece, aside from introducing technologies they are already familiar with, Professor Damanakis highlights the important role that families can play.

He suggests that parents and the extended family create spaces and opportunities for the child to use Greek within the household, so that they are accustomed to it from a young age.

In addition, the Professor stresses the significant role that educators play in making the Greek school environment a pleasant one, so that children look forward to attending.

“There is a big problem regarding how we can push children to learn Greek, or how you can inspire them. School is not just a space to go and learn the language, culture or mathematics; school is a place for social development, a space where the children gather and play, they create friendships,” he said.

“If the space where they go and learn Greek one night a week is a pleasant environment, then the child has vested interests to go and see their friends. This is one way to motivate the child to go and learn Greek.”

As a result of the 2009 economic crisis, large numbers of Greeks have migrated abroad, which the Professor sees as a positive for the Greek language in already existing diasporic communities, saying that they will bring with them ‘a new vocabulary’ for Greeks born in Australia.

Along with language maintenance playing a key role in the sense of cohesion and community amongst Greeks abroad, with the spread of globalisation there is an even greater significance in learning languages other than English.

“In a globalised world, we need to think beyond the borders. With globalisation, people don’t just live in one geographical location they live in many geographical locations – especially the Greeks,” he said.