It was a pleasure and an honour to be invited, together with Denise Diakodimitriou and Stephie Nikoloudis, from the Pharos Working Party to attend a fantastic event organised by the Greek bilingual program of Lalor North Primary School on Tuesday, September 12.
Pharos Working Party, a diverse group of Greek Australians, aims to revitalise Greek language teaching at schools and is supported by other state and Victorian community language advocacy groups like VietSpeak.
I met again with past program stalwarts Jim Politis and Vlasis Mavragiannis, who were also there to enjoy the moment. The school’s principal, Elizabeth Bryan, highlighted the significant advocacy role that Pharos played in supporting this dynamic program and emphasised its advocatory in revitalising Greek language teaching.
Elizabeth’s commitment to multilingual learning is evident.
Hearing a young Greek student reciting the Acknowledgment of Country in perfect Greek and English was an absolute pleasure.
Watching the students sing, dance and perform a short play using the Greek language with such ease and fluency made me smile.
Well done to the teachers, Connie Diakodimitriou and Anna Koutsouroupas, seconded teacher Giota Stavridou, and Greek aid, Toula Georgaklis, for their passion and devotion to the program.
Having the opportunity to learn a community language within your daily school curriculum and environment ticks all the right boxes.
If I had to do things again, I would not hesitate to enrol my children in the bilingual program at Lalor North. I’d be happy to travel from Doncaster to do it.
