Learn Greek Abroad On-Line

The teaching of Greek abroad will soon go online with a new e-learning programme being developed by the Centre of Intercultural and Migration Studies at the University of Crete.
The Centre is establishing a pilot Greek Diaspora school network that aims to eventually operate on an independent basis.
Greek teachers from schools abroad will visit Crete in July to participate in the creation of the project as partners. The teachers will participate in a two-week training programme at the University, following a 10-hour teleseminar briefing on Greek-language teaching methodology that they will undergo before their arrival. The programme is sponsored by the Ministry of Education, Lifelong Learning and Religious Affairs.
(GREEK NEWS AGENDA)

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Εκδηλώσεις “Ευρωπαϊκής Ημέρας Γλωσσών” (Βαρσοβία, 20-27/9/2010)- Συμμετοχή Γραφείου Τύπου Βαρσοβίας

Οι φετινές εκδηλώσεις της «Ευρωπαϊκής Ημέρας Γλωσσών 2010» πραγματοποιήθηκαν στη Βαρσοβία από τις 20 έως τις 27 Σεπτεμβρίου.
Το Γραφείο Τύπου, για μία ακόμη χρονιά, συμμετείχε στη διοργάνωση των εκδηλώσεων προβολής των ευρωπαϊκών γλωσσών, εκδηλώσεις που στοχεύουν στην ενημέρωση του πολωνικού κοινού για τον γλωσσικό και πολιτιστικό πλούτο των χωρών της Ευρώπης. Η Ευρωπαϊκή Ημέρα Γλωσσών θεσπίστηκε από το Συμβούλιο της Ευρώπης το 2001.
Διοργανωτές των εκδηλώσεων ήταν δεκατρείς χώρες, μέλη του EUNIC Cluster Βαρσοβίας (European Union National Institutes for Culture): Ελλάδα (Γραφείο Τύπου Ελληνικής Πρεσβείας), Εσθονία (Πρεσβεία Εσθονίας), Ιρλανδία (Πρεσβεία Ιρλανδίας), Μεγ. Βρετανία (British Council), Βέλγιο (Πρεσβεία Βελγίου), Δανία (Πολιτιστικό Ινστιτούτο Δανίας), Γερμανία (Goethe-Institut), Πορτογαλία (Ινστιτούτο Camoes), Γαλλία (Γαλλικό Ινστιτούτο), Ιταλία (Ιταλικό Ινστιτούτο), Αυστρία (Αυστριακό Ινστιτούτο), Ρουμανία (Ρουμανικό Ινστιτούτο), Ρωσία (Ρωσικό Κέντρο Επιστήμης και Πολιτισμού).
Στη διοργάνωση συμμετείχαν, επίσης, το EUNIC Cluster Βαρσοβίας, η Αντιπροσωπεία της Ευρωπαϊκής Επιτροπής στην Πολωνία, το πολωνικό Ίδρυμα για την Ανάπτυξη του Εκπαιδευτικού Συστήματος, το Πανεπιστήμιο Βαρσοβίας, το Εκπαιδευτικό Τμήμα του Δήμου Βαρσοβίας, το Κρατικό Εθνογραφικό Μουσείο στη Βαρσοβία, η Δημόσια Βιβλιοθήκη της συνοικίας Praga (Δήμος Βαρσοβίας), το πολωνικό Κέντρο για την Ανάπτυξη της Εκπαίδευσης, η πολωνική Κρατική Επιτροπή για την Πιστοποίηση της Επάρκειας της Πολωνικής ως Ξένης Γλώσσας. Οι εκδηλώσεις τελούσαν υπό την αιγίδα του πολωνικού Υπουργείου Εθνικής Παιδείας, του πολωνικού Υπουργείου Επιστήμης και Ανώτερης Εκπαίδευσης, της Δημάρχου Βαρσοβίας και της Πρυτάνεως του Πανεπιστημίου Βαρσοβίας.
Η απήχηση των εκδηλώσεων τις προηγούμενες χρονιές οδήγησε τους διοργανωτές στην απόφαση για την φετινή διοργάνωση πολυήμερων εκδηλώσεων, με ποικίλο περιεχόμενο.  
Το πλήρες πρόγραμμα, που περιελάμβανε, μεταξύ άλλων, ημερίδα, μαθήματα γλωσσών, σεμινάρια, φεστιβάλ ταινιών, street game, κ.ά., μπορεί να αναζητηθεί στην ηλεκτρονική σελίδα των εκδηλώσεων www.edj.waw.pl

Przemek Kordos, Maria Mondelou, Pantelis Gianoulis at the Greek stand

Η ελληνική συμμετοχή στις εκδηλώσεις, η οποία περιελάμβανε μεταξύ άλλων φεστιβάλ ταινιών, μάθημα ελληνικής γλώσσας, σεμινάριο για το ζεϊμπέκικο, ελληνικό περίπτερο κ.ά., διοργανώθηκε από τη Γραμματέα Επικοινωνίας, Μαρία Μονδέλου.
Αναλυτικότερα, η ελληνική συμμετοχή είχε ως εξής:

Russia honours Polish director Andrzej Wajda

Polish film director Andrzej Wajda has been awarded an Order of Friendship by Russian president Dmitri Medvedev, the Kremlin informed Tuesday.
The Order of Friendship is one of the highest Russian distinctions.
Kremlin spokesmen said Wajda was granted the Order for his contributions to Russian-Polish cultural ties.
Wajda, 84, one of the founders of the so-called “Polish film school” in the 1950s and 60s, won world fame with his epic works Man of Marble and Man of Iron, in which he criticized Stalinism. Wajda has received numerous international awards for his films, including a lifework Oscar in 2000.
Earlier this year Wajda’s film Katyn about 1940 mass executions of Poles in Katyn Forest, west Russia, evoked broad reactions in Russia. Wajda said at the time that he had been personally involved in the film as his father had been among  the Katyn victims.
(PAP, 11/8/2010)

Summer learning

 The College Year in Athens

The “College Year in Athens,” a study-abroad programme focused on Greek history and civilization, offers foreign students university-level courses on Greece and the eastern Mediterranean world.
In addition to classes taking place in Athens, an annual project is held on the island of Paros.

The Hellenic Language School

The “Alexander the Great” Hellenic Language School offers courses to foreigners. The school has branches in Thessaloniki and Chania in Greece, in Sophia and Plovdiv, Bulgaria, in Skopjie, F.Y.R.O.M, and Tirana, Albania.

Hellenic Culture Centre

The “Hellenic Culture Centre” offers Greek language courses to foreigners. While classes are held in Athens, the institute organises an Easter and summer language teaching programme on the island of Lesvos. 

   

The Athens Centre

The “Athens Centre” language programme consists of Greek language courses held in Athens and a three week summer session on the island of Spetses, which apart from the typical language classes, includes extra cultural activities.

The Greek House

The “Greek House” in Athens is a centre for language lessons and culture. The school’s aim is to provide students with a wide range of courses, seminars, lectures and art exhibitions.

Ikarian Centre

Greek Language courses can be a fruitful experience for foreigners on the island of Ikaria.

The “Ikarian Centre” runs a summer Greek Language School combining learning with entertainment.

Summer Programme in Crete

The Drexel University, Philadelphia, USA is organising a summer programme in Crete for those students who wish to spend four weeks on the island, studying the culture of Crete. 

Thessaloniki International Summer School

The International Summer School for Greek Language, History and Culture of the Institute for Balkan Studies offers summer courses for non-native speakers.  The courses include an intensive language teaching programme plus a special Greek history and culture class. 
(GREEK NEWS AGENDA)

Papandreou in “Le Monde”

French daily “Le Monde” portrays George Papandreou in an article (‘L’ homme qui fait trembler l’euro’, February 5) describing Greece’s current affairs and Papandreou’s personal and political career over the years:
“Le monde le regarde. Le destin de l’euro tient à lui. Elu depuis tout juste quatre mois, le premier ministre grec est le point de mire des dirigeants et des marchés de la planète, pressé de questions affolées sur la situation dont il a hérité : un pays au bord de la faillite, discrédité sur les marchés, exposé à la spéculation, étranglé par une dette et un déficit public colossaux, un Etat dysfonctionnel, un système de fraude généralisé.
Le raffinement est son arme. Costume bleu marine, chemise blanche, cravate délicatement violette, Georges Papandréou a la silhouette longue et distinguée, la moustache taillée au millimètre, la politesse souriante, l’anglais parfait du brillant élève passé par Harvard et la London School of Economics, la graisse évanouie dans des heures quotidiennes de fitness et de cyclisme à haute dose. Si peu balkanique, si différent.
Devenir premier ministre n’était pas sa vocation, lui qui, à la fin des années 1960, étudiait la sociologie aux Etats-Unis et manifestait, cheveux longs et guitare rock en bandoulière, contre la guerre du Vietnam. “Si la Grèce avait été à l’époque un pays normal, dit-il dans son bureau à Athènes, je ne serais pas entré en politique.”
Son nom a fini par le rattraper. Celui de son grand-père, Georges Papandréou, trois fois premier ministre, centriste, figure mythique de la politique des années 1960. Celui de son père, Andréas Papandréou, ministre et économiste renommé, fondateur du Pasok (parti socialiste grec), et premier ministre dans les années 1980. Quant à lui, ce rêveur affable et modeste que l’on appellera longtemps Yorgakis (petit Georges), personne n’imaginait qu’il dirigerait le pays à son tour, dernier-né de l’une des trois dynasties familiales qui, avec les Caramanlis et les Mitsotakis, se partagent le pouvoir en Grèce depuis l’après-guerre.
Il a 14 ans ce 21 avril 1967. Le coup d’Etat des colonels, prélude à la dictature qui durera sept ans, vient d’avoir lieu. Les militaires viennent chercher son père, Andréas, caché sur le toit de la maison. L’un d’eux lui colle sa mitraillette sur la tempe. “Où est-il ?” L’enfant ne répond pas. La mitraillette frémit. Andréas se rend. Pour lui, c’est la prison. Puis, pour toute la famille, l’exil.
Georges Papandréou vient d’ailleurs. Avant la guerre, son père Andréas, déjà forcé à quitter la Grèce pour des raisons liées à ses activités trotskistes, était devenu citoyen américain, avait enseigné l’économie à l’université de Berkeley, puis en Suède et au Canada. Georges a une mère américaine, est né au Minnesota, a grandi en Californie et étudié dans l’Illinois, à Londres, à Stockholm. Il parle à quasi-égalité l’anglais, le grec et le suédois.
A son retour en Grèce, en 1974, la dictature abolie, il découvre un pays où tout est à réinventer. Et une élite forcée comme lui à l’exil, revenue “avec des idées nouvelles, la capacité de comparer, de tirer réflexion des contrastes.”
Etre différent, c’est son atout. “L’étranger” est un drôle de zèbre, mélange de “libéral” à l’américaine et de social-démocrate suédois, défenseur des libertés individuelles, de l’Etat-providence, de l’environnement, du progrès technique. Théodoros Pangalos, vice-premier ministre, s’amuse à rappeler ces années 1990 où Georges était ministre dans le gouvernement de son père, Andréas Papandréou : “En réunion, Georges prenait des notes sur un ordinateur portable. Nous, nous avions nos feuilles et nos crayons. On se donnait des coups de coude : “Regarde, le petit Georges joue, il n’a toujours pas grandi !”. En fait, comme toujours, il avait plusieurs longueurs d’avance…”
Au sein de la dynastie Papandréou aussi, il fait la différence. Après Georges “l’ancien”, le centriste anticommuniste, après Andréas le tempétueux tribun socialiste aux accents nationalistes, Yorgakis, président de l’Internationale socialiste depuis 2006, conquiert les Grecs par un agenda progressiste inhabituel. Il est hostile au blairisme, croit en la primauté de la politique sur le marché, préconise une société ouverte et multiculturelle, une économie tournée vers la valeur ajoutée et la croissance verte. “Je suis fier de porter mon nom mais je gouvernerai à ma façon. Comme Sinatra, je pourrai dire : “I did it my way”.”
Son style politique, il l’a déjà esquissé. Ministre de l’éducation, en 1988, il s’affronte au conservatisme ambiant et à la puissance de l’Eglise orthodoxe en défendant les droits des homosexuels. Ministre des affaires étrangères très estimé, en 1999, il milite en faveur de l’Europe et tempère l’anti-américanisme, sport national en Grèce. Il établit des conditions de dialogue avec la soeur ennemie, la Turquie, soutient la candidature de celle-ci à l’Union européenne (UE), contribue à l’intégration de Chypre dans l’UE.
“Yorgakis sait écouter, il ne fait pas l’intelligent, il prend calmement des décisions audacieuses. Il nous change de ce théâtre balkanique dont nous sommes tous fatigués”, témoigne l’un de ses anciens collègues au gouvernement, Nikos Dimadis. “La Grèce a plus que jamais besoin d’un dirigeant différent, citoyen du monde, qui a sur son pays une pensée globale”, analyse l’éditorialiste de centre droit, Georges Kirtsos.
Depuis quatre mois, Georges Papandréou est parti en guerre contre un Etat pléthorique, contre la corruption et l’économie parallèle. La droite l’accuse déjà d’immobilisme. Des mouvements sociaux se préparent contre les mesures d’austérité annoncées.
Certains le craignent plus visionnaire que pragmatique, plus théoricien que politique. Mais la Grèce n’a plus le choix, la zone euro non plus. Le petit Georges est peut-être la dernière chance. Lui-même en a fait un slogan : “Nous devons changer, ou sombrer.””
(LeMonde.fr)

Giorgio De Chirico Art Centre in Volos

(GREEK NEWS AGENDA) The Giorgio de Chirico Art Centre is located in the centre of the city of Volos, Greece’s third-largest port city, where the famous Italian painter was born in 1888.

The Art Centre, located on a pedestrian road next to the Municipal Conservatory, is housed in a new glass building that has been named after the Surrealist painter who was the founder of the “scuola metafisica” (metaphysical school) art movement.
The ground floor, mezzanine and second floors of the Art Centre, which was inaugurated in September 1990, house the Volos Municipal Art Collection.
The latter includes more than 400 paintings, sculptures, hagiographies, ceramics, mosaics and artistic photographs, as well as periodical exhibitions, and a small library.
The other two floors house the Alexander Damtsas Museum, a permanent exhibition of the Volos-born art aficionado’s collection comprising some 500 paintings and gravures by mostly Greek artists representing all the important art styles from the late 19th century to date.
Athens News Agency: The Giorgio de Chirico Art Centre, a cradle of culture in the heart of Volos

Greek Supersonic Minds

(GREEK NEWS AGENDA)  Dimitrios Tsounis and Manolis Vlatakis from the High School of Kareas in Athens participated in the NASA Aeronautics 2008-2009 Student Competition “Design of supersonic aircraft in 2020.  The competition was open to high school and college students from all over the world who proposed ideas or design concepts for a commercial transport that can fly faster than the speed of sound over land or water.  The two Greek students won third prize with their Supersonic Flight Project.

Greece: “Green Development” in Olympia Region

(GREEK NEWS AGENDA)  Five ministers accompanied the premier during his visit to the area, along with Spanish urban planner Josep Acebillo, who will have the central role in designing the restoration of the area.  The regional plan features the establishment of a new International School of Sports, Olympism and Civilisation, and the further expansion of the International Olympic Truce Centre, so that Olympia could become the centre for peace and cooperation initiatives among nations.  A new bill will focus on green development, which could become a model for the whole country, Papandreou pointed out, during his visit to the region. The project is “an initial effort to attract international interest for offers and investment in the region,” he said.

Summer Schools & Seminars in Greece

Comparative Folklore

(GREEK NEWS AGENDA)  The Department of History and Archaeology at the University of Ioannina and the student academic network “Border Crossing” are hosting the fourth summer school in “Anthropology, Ethnography and Comparative Folklore of the Balkans.” The summer school is taking place from July 29 to August 13 in Konitsa, northwestern Greece.

The World of Erotokritos

The Municipality of Siteia and Prefectural Authority of Lasithi in eastern Crete are hosting a three-day international scientific conference from July 31 to August 2 on world-renowned Siteia poet Vitsentzos Kornaros, who wrote the epic poem “Erotokritos.” The conference is titled “The World of Erotokritos: Erotokritos in the World.” Speakers include Cambridge University professor David Holton and Boston College professor of Classical Studies Dia Philippides.

Behavioural Finance

The fourth Advanced Summer School in Economics and Econometrics begins at the Rethymno University campus in Crete on August 2.  Hosted by the University of Crete, the summer school focuses on “Behavioral Finance” and will run through August 9.

Theological School of Halki

(GREEK NEWS AGENDA)   Turkish Dailies Hürriyet (April 18) and Today’s Zaman (April 27) report on the Theological School of Halki (Istanbul, Turkey), Ecumenical Patriarchate’s theology and primary seminary, closed by the Turkish authorities in 1971.  Since 1971, there have been attempts to reopen the Halki Theological Seminary. The debate over the potential opening up of the Seminary is, while not these days at the top of the public agenda, a topic which will clearly come up often in the near future.   In fact, it most recently came up during the visit to Turkey by US President Barack Obama (April 7).

Archaeological Park in Athens

(GREEK NEWS AGENDA)   Culture Minister Antonis Samaras recently announced  the creation of a unique archaeological park – approximately 3.4 hectares – in downtown Athens. The park will unify the famed Lyceum established by the philosopher Aristotle with the Byzantine and Christian Museum. According to Culture Minister, a translucent protective roof is to be erected over the antiquities of the Lyceum’s area. Work on the project, which will cost €4.5 million, is to begin soon and to be completed by 2011 and it will be funded by the partly state-owned company OPAP. Aristotle opened the Lyceum- also known as “the Peripatetic School” – in 335 BC upon his return to Athens following a period during which he taught Alexander the Great. Foundation of the Hellenic World: Aristotle & Education; (Photo:Plato and Aristotle in Raphael’s masterpiece “The School of Athens”)

Free Summer School in Greece

(GREEK NEWS AGENDA) Americans and Canadians of Greek origin, aged 17 to 23, will be meeting in Kalamata this July to take classes in Greek language, history, philosophy and culture. The summer school will also include field trips to archaeological sites, museums, and more.  Held annually since 2006 and organised by the University of Peloponnese, in Kalamata and the Pan-Messinian Federation of USA and Canada (www.pan-messinian.com), the aim of the summer programme is to enhance Hellenic education by “providing an immersion experience in contemporary Greek culture.”

UN: Reopen Halki Seminary

(GREEK NEWS AGENDA)

The United Nations’ Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) has invited Turkey to reopen the Greek Orthodox Theological School on the island of Halki, after the Turkish authorities’ decision to close the Halki seminary in 1971.  The Committee has also called on Turkey to return confiscated properties and promptly to execute all related judgements by the European Court of Human Rights. Furthermore, the Committee noted its concern over the particularly serious situation of the Greek minority and calls urgently upon Turkey to redress such discrimination as well as respect human rights. The Theological School of Halki, established in 1844, was a prestigious centre of culture and civilisation. During its years of operation the school counted many internationally renowned scholars.

Garden of the Gods at Corfu

(GREEK NEWS AGENDA)   The Durrell School of Corfu (www.durrell-school-corfu.org) will host “The Garden of the Gods,” an international seminar at its Library and Study Centre from May 24 to 29. The School calls for papers on all aspects of botany, horticulture, landscape history and Mediterranean gardens and gardening.    The Durrell School of Corfu offers a variety of activities, ranging from a series of week-long seminars to excursions to explore the rich cultural history of the Mediterranean basin. Lawrence Durrell (1912-90) was one of the most important novelists of the twentieth century. He wrote his personal evocation of Corfu, Prospero’s Cell (1945). Visit the Mediterranean Garden Society: www.mediterraneangardensociety.org

Byzantine Encounters in Greece

 (GREEK NEWS AGENDA)   The British School at Athens is hosting a lecture on “Encounters of British Architects in Byzantium”  on November 19. The event is jointly organised by the British School and the British Hellenic Chamber of Commerce. After the lecture, there will be a preview of the exhibition, “The Byzantine Research Fund Archive: Encounters of Arts and Crafts Architects in Byzantium,” which has been shown at the Hellenic Centre in London, Edinburgh and Thessaloniki.

Karamanlis Chair at Fletcher School

(GREEK NEWS AGENDA)   Alexandros Yannis, is from September 2008, the new Constantine Karamanlis Associate Professor at the Fletcher School in Boston. Professor Alexandros Yannis has extensive experience in multilateral diplomacy with the European Union and the United Nations; including working with the European Union Special Envoy to Somalia (1994-1997), the Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary General in Kosovo (1999-2000) and in the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights in Geneva (2001).  The Constantine Karamanlis Chair in Hellenic and Southeastern European Studies at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy is committed to promoting Hellenic and Southeast European Studies in the US while honoring a towering figure of Greece’s recent past. The Karamanlis Chair brings academic scholars to The Fletcher School and the Tufts University community, encouraging a renewed focus on modern Greece, Southeastern Europe, the Mediterranean and the European Union and the crucial role these regions play in world politics. The Chair’s endowment provides a basis for scholars to teach the lessons of Greece and Southeastern Europe through history and culture as well as economics and politics. Karamanlis Chair @ Fletcher: Working Papers in Hellenic & European Studies

Greece at the International Animated Film Festival in Belgrade

Greek Animation and Animators, creators from the wider audiovisual sector will be honored in Belgrade, by the Balkanima, International Animated Film Festival, that will take place in Belgrade from 7th to 11th of October 2008. For the benefit of the festival and the best possible presentation of our country in Serbia, the Hellenic Audiovisual Institute, the European Animation Centre and the Athens School of Fine Arts, have been united in one team and selected a series of various artistic activities in the context of the Serbian capital is Festival, that are targeting to reveal the Greek contemporary Visual Arts, through animation art, painting, sculpture, graffiti, video art, photography and music. Through this creative framework of all the above forms of art, Greek artists will present their propositions and will attempt artistic interventions in the city, with collaboration from their Serbian associates.