Greece in Schools

Report on the Greek Day in June 2004 held at Stelling Minnis C.E. Primary School, Canterbury

There is something about the Summer Term in this primary school that encourages one to have good ideas - ideas that usually end up snowballing out of all proportion!

Having been involved with the Minimus programme for primary Latin for several years, I noticed a link from the website to JACT. This led to contact with the SPHS (Hellenic Society), and we applied for a grant of £100 from the Society to support a Greek Day that was really still in the embryonic stages of planning. Like most ideas that start in this school, it changed out of all recognition! I am fortunate to work in a small primary school with a lively and talented staff, so my initial idea was taken and adapted by everyone into a theme day when the children could experience a wide variety of activities.

A parent who is a potter brought in clay so that all the children could make pots and tiles. We looked at Greek pottery and tried to copy the ideas and designs. The younger infants also drew Greek pots and used charcoal to make repeating patterns, while the older infants were challenged to make a model Parthenon using only paper and sellotape. One of our mothers, who has married into a Greek family, brought in Greek meatballs and salad, and this - plus pitta bread, feta cheese, taramasolata, tsatziki, olives and houmous - formed a Greek buffet which proved to be very popular! The older pupils visited web sites that taught them simple Greek words, and Year 6 added to their history project on the Ancient Greeks by using the internet to research the different Gods and goddesses. They then made masks and have since acted out Greek myths for the younger pupils. At lunchtime Greek music accompanied the meal, plus an impromptu attempt at Greek dancing! A storyteller visited to tell Greek stories, and encouraged the children to act out events and participate in the telling of the various tales.

We have held theme days before, developing cross-curricular links, and these are always popular events. The grant from the Hellenic Society allowed us, as a small school, to fund the Greek Day and to purchase resources. We would all like to thank the Society for their support, helping us to have a most enjoyable day.

Report on Ringwood Junior School 's Greek Day: Friday 12 th March 2004

The children arrived in the morning with their costumes and responded to their name in the register, by answering 'Yes' or 'Hello' in Greek. There were some wonderful examples of chitons bought in by both the year 4 children and staff, which were worn throughout the day.

In order to prepare for the 'Olympic Games', (which were held after break time) the children were split into four groups: The Athenians, The Spartans, The Corinthians and The Argives. Each city state was given a pledge to rehearse and learn off by heart. Athenians: We are the Athenian scholars, trained and educated, we will win fairly and nobly. Spartans: We are the Spartan warriors, proud and fierce, we pledge to win. Corinthians: We are the Corinthian traders, practical and successful, we will solve any problems. Argives: We are the Argive musicians, trained for peace and war, we will convince you!Even at this stage, the children were enthusiastic and also competitive, putting maximum effort into the expression of their voice and their body language. As part of this exercise, the children also made banners.

After break, the whole group gathered in the hall and again split into their four city states. At the front, four children were chosen as the welcoming committee, who were also responsible for judging the events, penalising contestants and awarding prizes. In the centre of the hall was the table representing the Olympic torch and during the opening ceremony each city state marched around this, chanting their pledge and cheering. There were three events: 'Boxing' which involved memorising fifteen objects in a box, 'Throwing' where the children had to hit specific targets and 'Olympic Tongue Twisters' where rhymes were recited. Points were awarded to each competitor according to their achievements and the winners were announced by the welcoming committee. A closing ceremony followed and all the states were congratulated. All the ideas for the Olympic Games were taken from a very useful website: www.members.aol.com/MrDonnUnits/GreekOlympics.

In the afternoon, the children were introduced to a whole variety of foods. We were very fortunate to have a child in the year group whose father originates from Greece and so some of the food was brought in from the child's mother, after their recent visit to Greece during half term. The food offered included: Black and green olives; Pitta bread; Greek yoghurt; Vine leaves wrapped around rice; Butter beans in tomato sauce; Feta cheese. The children also enjoyed listening to Zorba's dance and some even took part once their food had gone down!

The afternoon was rounded off with a fun game of 'Who Wants to be a Millionaire' with questions about the topic, 'Ancient Greece'. Money, instead of pounds, was shown as Euros. Questions were displayed on a large OHP so all the children could see, and in order to compete, eight children at a time were chosen to take part in 'fastest finger first'.

We had a fantastic day which the children certainly benefited from and many have said they would like to go to Greece on holiday! We benefited from a grant from the Hellenic Society to put on this day.