Every so often in life we come across people who change our lives for the better, be it in big or small ways.

On this World Teachers’ Day, celebrated annually on 5 October, we thank those wonderful educators who have shaped us into the people we are today with their knowledge and their passion for educating others.

On a personal note, there is one particular teacher I have known since I was about 12 years old, who I greatly admire to this day.

Pericles Thouas (or Kurie Pericles as my classmates and I called him) was my Greek school teacher.

He taught at St Catherine’s on Friday evenings and Saturday mornings at the Victorian School of Languages (VSL), however this was not his original career path.

“It came as a surprise to me because I was working in the lab as industrial chemist at the time, a friend of mine passed through my place and he was the Vice Principal at Chadstone VSL, or back then it was called the Saturday School of Modern Languages. His name is Con Dimopoulos, I knew him from back home in Greece and we were very close friends.”

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Mr Dimopoulos was looking for Saturday school teachers and asked Mr Thouas to come along.

“He said ‘look, you’ve finished your high school in Greece, your Greek is up to standard and we do need some extra people for Saturday mornings’. I said I’d give it a go and I hope I’ll be able to meet all your requirements and that was the beginning back in 1974,” Mr Thouas explained laughing.

After 43 years of sharing his love for the Greek language with hundreds of students, mainly those in VCE, Mr Thouas had to take a break due to family priorities.

He admits though, that teaching Greek was almost more of a benefit for himself.

“I never looked back because I enjoyed it so much. Mainly it was more for my own benefit that I took it up, maybe because I didn’t want to lose my own language. I would see people coming back to Australia and after a few years they were trying to work out how do you say this or that in Greek. I wanted to keep my language, because in my opinion my mother language is one of the most beautiful languages you can get your hands on. It’s the basis for a lot of other languages,” Mr Thouas said.

Mr Thouas had a special way of connecting with his students and helping them feel empowered to learn a second language.

“I wanted to make sure I could get through to the students without being a hard teacher in any way and to be able to get on my side and sit down and talk and make them understand why they’re learning the language. I felt that I managed to do that,” he said.

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Having taught for just over four decades, it is almost inevitable that Mr Thouas would see some changes throughout his career.

“Year after year, the level of Greek the students would come into class with started deteriorating. I remember one occasion a grandmother asking her grandchild ‘Pou einai ta bouka sou?’ and I told her if you don’t use those words properly what chance do those kids have to continue and use the proper language instead of mixing English words,” he said.

As Greek language class sizes dwindled, many teachers had to take on classes with large age gaps. This did not deter Mr Thouas.

“That was a great teaching challenge, trying to maintain the interest of the higher level and at the same time make sure the younger ones achieved something. It’s not as easy, it wasn’t an easy time. Overall though, I still enjoyed every bit of teaching,” he said.

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At the end of the day, every second spent in those classroom never went wasted said Mr Thouas.

“Meeting some of my students and seeing them speak Greek and seeing them try to keep up their Greek was the greatest reward.”

When I look back at my time at school, I am grateful that my experience was mostly positive.

I loved going to school, however that was only made possible by all the wonderful educators I had come across.

Kurie Pericles was one of those awe inspiring teachers, who would not only go the extra mile for his students, but also fostered an environment that encouraged our thirst for knowledge in keeping the Greek language alive in Australia.

Thank you Kurie Pericles for your passion and care in teaching so many young Greek-Australians.