11 day full immersion program in Greek language
The program is aimed at basic or advanced users of the Greek language, who can, even with difficulty, communicate in Greek. It is not aimed at those who cannot form verb tenses, so cannot talk about their plans in the future or about something that happened in the past. Complete beginners who wish to have a first contact with Greek or students at the beginning levels can participate in a Greek course for beginners or in an activity with optional Greek lessons
The program includes 2 hours of Greek instruction every day, except Sundays. Every day you will get homework, which you have to work on for another two hours. You will spend many hours each day chatting with the teachers, outside of class hours: You will eat breakfast and lunch with them, play games, cook, walk with them in the mountain, learn songs and Greek traditional dances with them, and much more. The language we use in and outside the classroom is Greek.
Accommodation
You’ll have accommodation in a private room in the Center’s guesthouse. You can share your room with a classmate you travel with, and pay half of the accommodation fee.
What is the difference between this program and the intensive Greek courses in Ikaria?
1) Beginners who cannot communicate in Greek do NOT participate in this immersion program, as is done in most of our intensive Greek language courses. Thus, the language used by teachers and students in and out the classroom is only in Greek.
2) There are several additional hours of workshops and discussions in Greek on a special topic that we work with in each season, depending on the season: Herbs, Greek literature or olive picking and olive oil production is an example of the topics.
3) The contact with the teachers is more direct and lasts much longer, outside of class time: The day starts in a relaxing way, by having breakfast with the teachers. After the lessons you we all have lunch together. This give us the opportunity to continue to chat in Greek. You will have time to study, isolate yourself for a while if you feel like this, work on your own projects and go for a swim or a walk in the mountains. In the afternoons there are social activities with the participation of Centre’s stuff and other locals. Outdoor activities are also organized depending on the season: Hiking, picking herbs or olives are the most common once.
4) Breakfast and meals, including wine are served and included in the cost.
Topics
In each course, students undertake assignments on a topic. To find information and complete their work the students interview local people (in Greek) and participate in lectures, discussions and workshops organized on the topic by the Center. Following you can see the topics of each course:
June 19-30: Learning about herbs
The topic of the immersion program in June is “herbs”. What kind of herbs grow on the island, and in Greece in general? What was their use in the past? What is the attitude of people today? How do we use herbs today? June is a good month for herb gathering, so you’ll be able to see and collect sage, oregano, and other more exotic herbs.
October 30 – November 5: Greek literature
The Greek literature program does not include classical tutoring of Greek language. The lessons revolve around a figure of Greek literature and his work. In the program of October 2023 we will learn about Georgios Vizyinos. What will this literature class be like?
– We will talk about some things of his life, and then we will see how they are connected to his work.
– We will deal with his three best-known short stories: “Who Was My Brother’s Murderer”, “The Only Journey of His Life”, and “The Sin of My Mother”. You will receive the texts at least two months before the course, so if you want and have the time to read them before the course. All three texts are released in a simplified form, suitable for students learning Greek as a foreign language.
– For each short story separately: We will present it by telling the story in as simple words as possible. We will read excerpts from the short story (or the whole story if we have time). We will discuss the unknown words. We will deal more with the most characteristic passages, those that describe in a masterful way the human soul, those that prepare us for what will happen, or those that are related to the life of Vizyenus himself.
– In each lesson there will be questions and discussion.
November 6-17: Greek lessons picking the olives
The topic of the immersion program in November, the month of the olive harvest, is the olives and olive oil, these two staples of the Mediterranean diet. How and when do we pick the olives? How is olive oil produced? What should we pay attention to in the production process? How easy or how hard is it to make a bottle of olive oil? What is the meaning of “virgin olive oil”? How can we distinguish the qualities of olive oil? How can we produce soap from olive oil?
During the course we will pick olives from the Center’s olive grove.
Cost
11-day courses: 1760 Euro
6-day courses: 960 Euro
The participation fee includes:
- Greek courses and course materials
- Activities (organized hikes, outdoor work, dance lessons, visits to wineries, etc.)
- Accommodation in a private room,
- Breakfast, simple lunches with the teachers
- Excursions and local transport for swimming etc.
- Transfers to and from the airport and ports on the day the program starts / ends
Reservation
Submit the following form in order to enrol in the course.
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