Pedagogical Activities for the Support of the Greek Language Skills of Preschool-Age Children

Activities to enhance the Greek language skills of kindergarten children began to be organized in the 2012-2013 school year, in primary schools that participate in the Project, and in villages where there are no KESPEMs, such as in Gláfki and in Kéntavros of the Xanthi prefecture, and in Arrianá and in Lýkio of the Rhodope prefecture. The activities being organized in these villages follow the same approaches as the ones adopted in similar activities conducted at the KESPEMs. In Kéntavros, there are 40 small children who take part in these activities. As the circumstances require, the classes/activities are taught either by kindergarten teachers who are Minority members, and graduates from a Greek university, or through co-teaching, that is by two teachers together, one of whom is a member of the Minority and speaks the mother tongue of the children and the other one is a member of the Majority. There is systematic record-keeping and data collection to measure the extent to which this action is effective. The classes/activities aim at improving the Greek language skills of the participating children, while at the same time familiarizing them with the place of the ‘big’ school, in other words, with the primary school, where they are going to be going. To this end, as part of the classes/activities, children are shown all the halls and rooms of the school building, and are informed about the functions of the school.

Children are cooperating to produce posters and cards about weather events.