The President of the Institute of Culture, Democracy and Education, Professor Pantelis Georgogiannis, introduced the teaching of Greek as a second or foreign language as an academic field in the curriculum of the Faculty of Primary Education at the University of Patras in 1992, in the form of the course named: “Didactics and Teaching of Greek as a Foreign Language”. Greek as a foreign language has occupied a central position in his theoretical and research interests ever since. Additionally, he was the Scientific Coordinator of the teaching of Greek as a foreign or second language at the Centre for Intercultural Education at the University of Patras since 1996.
The students of these programmes can be divided into four categories:
- Students of Greek Studies departments of universities abroad, already being taught Greek
- Foreign educators speaking and teaching Greek abroad, wishing to improve their language skills and be trained in the methods and techniques involved when teaching Greek as a foreign language
- Students participating in the EU’s “Erasmus” and “Socrates” programmes, who attended all academic departments of the University of Patras
- Foreign individuals, permanent residents of Greece, who wished to be certified in the Greek language in order to work in Greece
In total, we can say that, throughout the years, more than 3.000 foreign educators, Greek language students of foreign universities, exchange programme students and foreigners were taught the Greek language or were trained in its teaching methods.
With Professor Pantelis Georgogiannis’s transition from teaching at the University to serving as Scientific Coordinator at the Institute of Culture, Democracy and Education, the effort towards Greek language teaching continues to this day, adjusted to the prospective students’ needs.