ABC Wednesday: L for language school

It's ABC Wednesday again, and L is language school.



Language schools (in Greek, we call them frontistirio) in Hania, and the whole of Crete (I may as well add the whole of Greece) are like the corner shop in a neighbourhood; in some places, there is one on each street. Chiefly English, as well as French, German, Italian and Spanish (but not Chinese or Russian which I view as far more economically 'important' languages) are taught there. Children start English lessons at state school in the third year of primary school. This is also the year that they start English lessons in a private (ie you pay a monthly fee) language institute which operates in the afternoon. This kind of after-hours school is completely optional of course, but there is no Greek child that does not attend a language institute at primary school age; everybody goes to them, whether they come out of them with foreign language skills or not. If the child attends an optional all-day school program (a kind of child-minding service for working parents), there may be English lessons in that too, apart from the morning school program's regular lessons. If they are weak in some areas, their parents may hire a private language tutor to teach them in a one-to-one basis. Does it all sound too much? Maybe it is, but it shows how much focus there is in Greece in second-language acquisition, primarily English.



The principal of my children's school recently said: "Children get over five hours a week of English lessons every week, and come out of the school system not being able to understand a word of it." I disagree with this statement. In Hania, there are ample opportunities to hear and speak English, and all seasonal summer jobs require some foreign language skills. You cannot avoid hearing English every day of the week if you live and work in the tourist areas, and it is second nature to most people in Hania to be able to direct a tourist to some focal point in the town. Outside the tourist areas, many children may not be learning the English language as ardently as the average child in Hania (I should know, as an English teacher and EDEXCEL examiner), but in Hania, all children learn English, and most do come out with the bare basics in communication skills.

When I came to Greece, I had already gained my ESL-teaching qualifications in New Zealand. I had heard that there were ample opportunities for well-qualified English teachers, which was what I found when I arrived in Athens. I landed a well-paid job working in one from half past two in the afternoon till half past ten int he evening every weekday. The first week I worked there, I felt strange teaching until so late at night, especially because I had become accustomed to going to bed at the time I was still at work. The second week, I forced myself not to go to bed immediately after I came home from work, so that I could sleep in in the morning, so that I could pretend that when I did actually leave the house for work, it was still morning, even though it was actually afternoon. The third week, I realised that I would always hate working in the evenings, no matter what time I woke up or went to bed.

By working in this kind of system, I was supporting the para-education system of Greece, the one that does the work that the state education system should do, but for various reasons (disorganisation, a relaxed attitude, employing the wrong people, state indifference, etc) it is not being done. It is not only English lessons that are being given in the private 'user-pays' institutes; it is also extra tuition for all the subjects taught at school: history, Ancient Greek, Modern Greek, composition writing, chemistry, biology, physics, mathematics, computer lessons, and a whole host of other 'hobby'-type lessons such as sports, dance, music, etc. Politicians have been known to make moves to improve the education system, all the while sending their own offspring to the most elitist private paying educational establishments.

I have been working in this kind of educational institute for 17 years. This is the first year that I have decided not to return to such work. At present, through my own choice, I am unemployed. My children are nearly of the age when they will be deemed to have started lessons at a private English language institute. They already understand more than they can speak in English. I do not wish to support the Greek para-education system, but I still need to teach them to read and write in English, because, let's face it, they need that skill, as everyone the world over needs it.