Eugenia Manolidou: Teaching Ancient Greek

The debate on the upcoming reduction of one hour of Ancient Greek in the first year of Lyceum has reignited. Eugenia Manolidou refers to the educational value of the subject and its contribution to linguistic cultivation, the development of thought and critical ability.

She argues that instead of looking for ways to make Ancient Greek more attractive, we prefer to remind how valuable it is. She proposes the experiential, active teaching method (active language teaching) to make the lesson meaningful and efficient.

She also refers to the speech of academic Alexandros Nehamas, who notes that the problem of teaching Ancient Greek in Greece has existed for 250 years and that the Greek school keeps students bound by grammar.

Eugenia Manolidou concludes that we must stop expecting children to love something that is presented to them passively and bring to the fore the joy of knowledge.