The 2005-07 Period
The training organized in this period followed the same logic as the one that guided the previous trainings.
The following training seminars and visits took place in the current school year:
September 29-30, 2006:
Joint Training for the Courses of Greek Language and Literature
The first training of the school year 2006-2007 for secondary school teachers was a joint seminar on the teaching of the Greek Language and of Greek Literature, entitled “Language-Literature-Identity: The Contribution of the Language and Literature Classes to the Formation of Pupils’ Identity”.
The training seminar began with a general introduction to the Program for the Education of Muslim Children (PEM), and, especially, to the goals and functions of the after-hours (or “extended”) program. The seminar then focused on the following issues:
- The differences between the mother tongue and the second language, the different ways to achieve proficiency in the one and in the other, and why it is necessary that a mother tongue and a second language should be taught through different methods. (Teachers were given relevant examples from the PEM-prepared educational material for the teaching of the Greek Language)
- The relationship between language and identity, the role played by the (standard) school language -- and the school culture in general -- in the formation of identity, and the difficulties faced by pupils who at home speak a language that is different from the school language.
- The ways through which reading literary texts affects the formation of the reader’s identity; how the Literature classes have been used in education to reinforce pupils’ national identity and to create national and cultural homogeneity. The trainers explained why it is necessary for the Literature classes to change direction in today’s era, where pupils come from culturally diverse backgrounds, and especially in the schools of Thrace. The trainers also gave an initial description of the principles upon which PEM’s intervention on the Literature classes is based.
January 19 to February 23, 2007:
Training for the Greek Language Classes through Visits to Schools
The training team visited the following schools:
- The Minority Secondary School of Komotini (Celâl Bayar)
- The 1st Secondary School of Komotini
- The 3rd Secondary School of Komotini
- The Private Minority Secondary School of Xanthi (Muzaffer Salihoğlu)
- The 1st Secondary School of Xanthi
- The 2nd Secondary School of Xanthi
- The 3rd Secondary School of Xanthi
- The 5th Secondary School of Xanthi
- The 6th Secondary School of Xanthi
All the Literature teachers (philologists) in these schools had been teaching additional (Modern) Greek Language classes in the after-hours program since the beginning of October 2006. To these teachers the trainers distributed a proposed syllabus, structured around grammatical topics, which combines the Grammar Exercises (PEM, 2002-2004), and the support material (also prepared by PEM in 2002-2004) for the teaching of Modern Greek in secondary schools, with the teaching units of the official textbooks entitled Modern Greek Language for the 7th, 8th, and 9th grades (OEDB, 2006).
September 30, 2006 & March 16, 2007:
Training for the Greek Language Classes
This training took place in Xanthi on September 30, 2006, and in Komotini, on Friday, March 16, 2007. The presentations and discussions in these training meetings were focused on how to link the official textbooks for the Greek Language classes with the Educational Support Materials for the Teaching of the Greek Language at Secondary School (PEM, 2002-2004) and the Grammar Exercises (PEM, 2002-2004).
