A great language teacher passed away this week.
Calliope Petropoulou, born in Thessaloniki, died aged 94. She will be remembered to generations of Greek Australians of Melbourne for her work at the schools of the Greek Community of Melbourne and her own language school, Protypo.
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Ms Petropoulou had played a huge role in the success of the Greek Community of Melbourne’s school unit at Prahran and was one of the first teachers there in 1961. The Greek language was taught in a hall belonging to the Methodist church where St Dimitrios church is now located. The huge number of students crowding into the school at 243 Bourke St later caused the creation of more language centres at Richmond, Brunswick and Footscray.
For 10 years, Ms Petropoulou managed the school unit at Prahran. She worked as a teacher for 40 years and is remembered by many who owe their Greek language acquisition to this great teacher.