A Pilot Experience in the Development of Materials for Greek LSP: Dissemination through the Odysseus Project

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A Pilot Experience in the Development of
Materials for Greek LSP Dissemination through
the Odysseus Project

• Alicia Morales Ortiz, Cristóbal Pagán Cánovas,
  Trinidad Sánchez Sánchez, Virginia Martínez
  Cárceles
• University of Murcia, Spain
• Vasiliké Kavagia
• School of Modern Greek Megas Alexandros,
  British Hellenic College, Athens, Greece

The Odysseus Project has been funded with support
from the European Commission (135779-LLP-2007-ES-K
A4MP). This communication reflects the views only
of the authors, and the Commission cannot be held
responsible for any use which may be made of the
information contained therein.
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• The Greek speaking world (15-16 million)
• 3 of EUs population
• 11.250.000 people in Greece
• 700.000 in Cyprus (89 of the population)
• Italy, Hungary and Czech Rep. (minority lang.)
• The Greek Diaspora (estimated in 3 million)
• Mainly in the US, Australia and Germany
• The Cypriot Diaspora (about half a million)
• Mostly in the UK

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• The state of Greek SP
• In the last decades, FLSP materials have found a
  place in the market ? great increase in variety
  and quality.
• This does not apply to many lesser spoken
  languages, including Greek.
• The ones we present are some of the first Greek
  LSP materials, unique in their topics so far.
  Lack of Greek references.

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• A brief history of modern Greek TL
• Greek Diaspora and Turkish minorities in NE
  Greece ? first Greek SL programs (Greek Ministry
  of Education and EU)
• First courses at Greek universities (1950s)
• Stable institutional network (1990s)
• Standardized tests to access Greek higher
  education ? Centre of the Greek Language in
  Thessaloniki (1994)
• First congresses on didactics, first postgraduate
  courses (PhD in Modern Greek FL at Athens
  University, since 1994)

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• The European multilingual space
• European Bureau of Lesser Used Languages (EBLUL)
• European Charter for Regional or Minority
  Languages (1992)
• 2001 European Year for Languages, September 26th
  Official Day for Languages
• European Commissions Action Plan for Language
  Learning and Linguistic Diversity (2004-2006)
  increase in the funding of materials for the less
  widely used less taught (LWULT) languages
• 2008 European Year of Intercultural Dialogue.
  Report of the Group of Intellectuals for
  Intercultural Dialogue minority languages as
  personal adopted languages

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• Our project
• Two phases
• 2004-7 Elaboration of Business Greek and
  Scientific Greek. Leonardo da Vinci
• 2008-10 Dissemination of results (Odysseus
  project). Lifelong Learning Programme 2007.

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Business Greek (?p??e???µat??? ????????) Financied
by European Comission, Programme Leonardo
(2004-2006) Partner Institutions Coordinator
British Hellenic Educational and Development
Association (Athens, Greece) Partners University
of Murcia (Spain), University Alexander Ioan Cuza
of Iasi (Rumany), ELBEA Ltd (Bulgary), EKEA Ltd
(Bulgary), ELEA Computer Systems Ltd (Athens,
Greece). Description CD Multimedia and Printed
Handbook. Intermediate Level (?p?ped? ?). Greek
for specific purposes
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Greek for Science (?p?st?µ?????
????????) Financied by European Comission,
Programme Leonardo (2005-2007) Partner
Institutions Coordinator British Hellenic
Educational and Development Association (Athens,
Greece) Partners University of Murcia (Spain),
University of Lecce (Italy), ELBEA Ltd (Bulgary),
ELEA Computer Systems Ltd (Athens,
Greece). Description CD Multimedia and Printed
Handbook. Intermediate Level (?p?ped? ?). Greek
for specific purposes
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• Odysseus Our consortium

• University of Murcia (Coordinator, Spain)
• British Hellenic College. School of Greek Mégas
  Aléxandros (Athens, Greece)
• Elea Computer Systems Ltd (Athens, Greece)
• European Centre of Education and Development Ltd
  (Plovdiv, Bulgary)
• Agenzia per il Patrimonio Culturale
  Euromediterraneo (Lecce, Italy)

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• Our target groups
• Higher education students, both in the
  participating countries (Spain, Bulgaria, Italy,
  Romania) and in others, planning to complete part
  of their studies in Greece.
• Vocational Training students, especially in
  Bulgaria and Romania.
• Immigrants in Greece, which, by means of Greek
  LSP, can access the Greek job market, and be
  promoted within it.

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• Professionals (especially in countries within
  Greeces area of economic influence, such as
  Bulgaria and Romania), working with Greek
  companies or wishing to develop a professional
  career in Greece.
• Modern Greek language teachers in the
  participating countries as well as in others,
  which may require specific and updated materials
  for teaching Greek LSP.

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• BUSINESS GREEK. 24 didactic units
• A prepared text on the units main topic, with
  all new vocabulary highlighted, whether general
  or specific.
• Definitions of specific vocabulary items.
  Morphological information of general vocabulary
  items.
• Vocabulary, grammar and reading comprehension
  activities fill-in the blanks, match elements
  from two lists, true-false, multiple choice.

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• Grammar points explained by means of charts,
  paradigms, etc., all in Greek. Accompanying
  grammar activities mainly deal with inflection,
  word-composition, derivation, and sentence
  transformation for syntax practice.
• A second text on the main topic, with the same
  format of the first. A dramatized version of the
  texts is available for listening. It has been
  recorded by native speakers in quite a realistic
  fashion there are no specific listening
  activities.
• Games crosswords, puzzles, etc.

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• Innovations in SCIENTIFIC GREEK
• New types of activities finding synonyms and
  antonyms in the text, matching terms with
  definitions, filling in the blanks of relevant
  texts, instead of decontextualized sentences.
• Texts are much more complete and elaborate.
• Abundant pictures illustrating the vocabulary, as
  a relevant and necessary aid to comprehension,
  given the aetiology of scientific terms.

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• More elaborate comprehension tasks.
• A final section including problems and questions
  to test the student on the scientific contents of
  the unit. These activities do not deal with
  linguistic competence, but with physics,
  chemistry, geography, etc. The student is invited
  to use his recently acquired knowledge of
  scientific Greek in order to tackle matters
  directly related to her studies.

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Thank you! Sa? e??a??st?!