Authoring Still Speaking Greek
I'm Isaac C., a 16-year-old IB student, with no Greek background, sharing my journey of learning Modern Greek in Sydney and why community languages matter, both for the diaspora and the wider community.
Γεια σου!
The universal Greek greeting, because this blog is about starting conversations that keep Modern Greek, one of the world’s oldest continuous, living languages, growing through one blog post and one insight at a time.
About Still Speaking Greek
I’m a 16-year-old IB high school student in Sydney, Australia. I have no Greek heritage or background at all. I have enjoyed learning Greek, and as the years progressed, friends and relatives would ask, so Isaac, are you, ‘still speaking Greek?’
Yes I’m still speaking Greek.
I began learning Greek when I was seven at Friday-afternoon community language school run through St Nectarios Greek Orthodox Church in Sydney, Australia. I was the only non-Greek child in Greek school!
Looking back on that experience now, Greek School was so much more for me than just vocabulary and grammar. I learned about another culture through people who welcomed me in. In the words of the priest of the St Nectarios Parish Greek School, “we (Greek community) adopted him, and well, he adopted us too!”
Seven years after I first walked into Greek school, and after working with some dedicated private teachers, I took the Greek National Certificate of Attainment exams, completing levels A1 and A2. In high school, I returned to that same Greek community school to volunteer alongside some of the very same teachers who first taught me.
When I began my volunteering - I noticed that we had fewer students than when I was a young student and even fewer the second year I volunteered. As a high-schooler, I get it. Community languages are under pressure. We have less time, more distractions, and tighter schedules.
And besides, isn’t speaking English good enough? No, English alone shouldn’t be ‘enough’.
the number of Modern Greek speakers is declining rapidly, and I don't want the Greek language to die out. Not here in Australia - not anywhere. As a volunteer and seeing the declining enrolments, is why this blog exists. When a community welcomes you in, you want to give something back to it.
Still Speaking Greek will focus on:
How do we support Modern Greek language learning?
How do we strengthen community language schools?
How do we make heritage languages relevant to younger generations? And also to non-heritage learners?
Who this blog is for
Whether you’re part of the Greek diaspora or simply someone who values multilingualism - I'm glad you're here. Please think about subscribing:
Greek-diaspora families and friends who want Modern Greek to stay strong
Teachers and volunteer educators running community language schools
Leaders and policy makers who are shaping language education
Students aiming to be bilingual
Anyone passionate about living languages and language preservation
What you’ll find in Still Speaking Greek
My posts will have:
Stories from and about community language classrooms and why they still matter
Interviews and spotlights on teachers, students, and community leaders
Practical ideas to support Greek language learning that can be applied to all languages
Commentary on the future of Modern Greek, with a focus on Australia
Because if we don’t keep speaking it — who will?
If you’re a parent, a teacher, a student, a school leader, or just someone who’s interested in Greek and living languages - a warm welcome. And if you’re part of the Sydney Greek community that welcomed a little seven year old non-Greek boy into Greek School all those years ago: ευχαριστώ. I’ll never forget your openness.
Let’s work together so we can keep 'still speaking Greek'...Ακόμα μιλάει ελληνικά
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