Blog - Alexandria Institute

Feb

A new Greek language course in Limnos island & Greek dances seminar

Categories: Unkategorisiert

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by Andreas Tselikas

A new Greek language course in Limnos island & Greek dances seminar

The historical city Myrina of Limnos island.

Thursday the 18^th of July 2019-Sunday the 28^th of July 2019 (10 room nights)

The Institute of Languages of the University of Zaragoza, the Alexandria Institute (Greece) and the Cultural Association Greek – Aragonese “Panselinos” are holding a ten-day Greek language and culture course in the island of Limnos, along with a Greek Traditional Dances Seminar, lasting from July 18 to July 28, 2019.

Modern Greek Language and Culture Course

The Modern Greek Language and Culture Course is open to anybody. All people who love the Greek language and culture are welcome, regardless of age, nationality, job or education. The course is designed for students who want to make rapid progress in Greek language, deepen their knowledge of Greece and delve into its culture. The levels offered in this course are A1, A2 and B1 (For further information on the other levels, please contact Alexandria Institute.)

The Modern Greek Language and Culture Course includes:

8-day Modern Greek language lessons course, daily, from 09:00 till 12:00.
Complete teaching material package.
Hotel accommodation, breakfast included. (Overnight stay tax is also included.)
Greek language native teachers with experience in teaching Greek as a foreign/ second language.
Welcome dinner and dinner at the end of the course.
8-day Traditional Greek dances lessons course, daily, from 12:30 till 14:00 (optional – please let us know if you wish to participate)

Cost: 880 euros per person in a double room shared with another student. 1110 euros per person in a single room.

Greek Traditional Dances Seminar

The Greek Traditional Dances program is addressed to all those who wish to learn to dance traditional Greek dances. The dances that will mainly be taught originate from the islands of Limnos, Chios and Mytilene, as well as from different places of Greece.

The Greek Traditional dances seminar includes:

8-day Traditional Greek dances lessons course, daily, from 12:30 till 14:00.
Complete teaching material package (videos, musical equipment and photos).
Hotel accommodation, breakfast included. (Overnight stay tax is also included.)
Experienced Greek dances teachers (native speakers).
Welcome dinner and dinner at the end of the course.

Cost: 450 euros per person in a double room shared with another student. 680 euros per person in a single room.

Additional information:

During the Greek Language and Culture course and the days of the lessons, optional cultural activities and excursions in the island will also be scheduled; these will be published on time and are not included in the cost of the course.
Accommodation in Ifestos Hotel.
For extra information, please contact Alexandria Institute at info@alexandria-institute.com or at the telephone number +30 6972526788.

Limited spaces available, in order of priority:

Please make your registration here.
After receiving confirmation of your application, you will receive further instructions on how to proceed with the payment.
The deadline for registration and payment for the course is May the 30^th.

Feb

Alexandria Institute’s Greek language and culture courses of 2017

Categories: Unkategorisiert

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by Andreas Tselikas

The summer courses of Greek language and Culture, organized by Alexandria Institute for 2017, were successfully completed. Students from all around the world, of different ages and interests, shared their passion and love about Greece and Greek language and culture during our programs.

In particular students from 22 different countries (Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Brazil, France, Germany, Switzerland, UK, USA, Spain, Israel, Italy, Canada, South Korea, Netherlands, Ukraine, Portugal, Russia, Serbia, Turkey, Finland and Chile) participated.

Additionally, eleven teachers collaborated and their contribution was very significant for the successful completion of the programs. All together we studied, spoke and wrote in Greek, had several educational activities, visited many interesting places, met local people, tasted the local cuisine but most of all we had a complete educational experience and had fun at the same time. We thank all our students and teachers for their participation and we wish them all the best for the new academic year.

The schedule of new programs for 2018 is already published. We have organised courses in Athens, in the islands of Andros, Paros, Lesvos and Chios and in Methoni of Peloponnese.

Looking forward to meeting you soon in our next programs!!

Feb

Alexandria Institute’s Vasilopita cutting ceremony

Categories: Christmas, Έθιμα, Νέα του Σχολείου μας

Tags: Βασιλόπιτα

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by Andreas Tselikas

We are very happy to announce that on Sunday the 28^th of January 2018, we had Alexandria Institute’s Vasilopita cutting ceremony in our offices in Nea Ionia. The Head of teaching, Andreas Tselikas welcomed all the associates, the students of Alexandria Institute, the friends and relatives and he wished them a Happy New Year!

It was a great pleasure that we met again and we had the chance to discuss and have fun; the hidden coin was found from lucky Miranda Tselika!

We wish 2018 to be an exceptional year for everybody and to meet again on January of 2019 for the Vasilopita!!

Mrz

Alexandria Institute’s Meeting on Sunday the 5th of March 2017

Categories: Alexandria, greek language, Νέα του Σχολείου μας

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by Andreas Tselikas

The Alexandria Institute organizes Greek language and culture courses in Andros, Paros, Chios, Methoni, Athens as well as on-line lessons via skype. The Institute’s work involves promoting Greek cultural heritage and conservation, as well as participating in digitization and documentation projects. Our partners share a passion for humanities, for the Greek language and culture, and for philological, historical and archaeological research.

Alexandria Institute has gained a considerable experience in teaching the Greek language and culture to people living in Greece or abroad and to people who love Greece and want to learn or improve their Greek. On the same time, we take into consideration the rapidly rising need for communication in Greek by people who pass in Greece through the borders with Turkey, all those refugees and immigrants traveling to the European Union and Europe, knowing that a percentage of these may live in the Greek territory.

For all the above reasons we applied for Erasmus+, the EU funding program. Our proposal was approved and four Alexandria Institute’s partners, Greek language teachers were offered the opportunity to participate in a Mobility project for learners and staff that enables beneficiaries to travel to another participating country in order to study and develop professional skills and competences. We attended a two weeks course in Executive Training Institute in Malta, EU. The title of the course was: Methodology Revisited, Revitalised, Renergised – Language Teaching Methodology, for the dates 17-28 October 2016 in English.

Wishing to speak about this exceptional mobility project so that we can have an impact on our adult educators, on the implementation of new teaching methods in order to serve the asset “knowledge skills and competencies” we had a meeting in Alexandria Institute’s offices on Sunday the 5^th of March 2017. We made a brief presentation about the organizational information and our program’s targets and results that will be completed on October 2017. We presented some of all the interesting activities linking methodology and learning theories to today’s classroom. We focused on teaching ideas and activities to enliven Greek language lessons, to include technology and ICT in order to illustrate important aspects of the Greek language and culture.

The topics that were presented are:

Learner Styles and Multiple Intelligences.
Drama, Role play and Simulations.
Designing Crosswords and Quizzes.
Using videos and movies as a teaching method and how to create your own video by using Moviemaker.
Using Humor for Language Learning.
Using songs, music and stories in the classroom.

Our objectives were to enable a better understanding of language teaching, expand and build on previous knowledge using a range of practical methodologies, to help our teachers and partners reflect on their own teaching methods and contexts, to introduce an awareness of technology and ICT in the classroom today, to exchange pedagogical information and knowledge in a multi-cultural context. Our partners came from Athens, Chios and Italy and the meeting was really successful. We agreed to stay in contact and come up with ideas and activities for teaching the Greek language and culture.

Mrz

Αποτελέσματα Ημερίδας του Ινστιτούτου Αλεξάνδρεια στις 5 Μαρτίου 2017

Categories: Unkategorisiert

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by Andreas Tselikas

Το Ινστιτούτο Αλεξάνδρεια είναι μια Αστική Μη Κερδοσκοπική εταιρεία που έχει στόχο την προβολή και προώθηση της ελληνικής γλώσσας και πολιτισμού στην Ελλάδα και το εξωτερικό. Μέσα στα πλαίσια των δραστηριοτήτων μας διοργανώνουμε μαθήματα ελληνικής γλώσσας και πολιτισμού στην Άνδρο, τη Χίο, την Μεθώνη, την Πάρο, την Αθήνα καθώς επίσης και μέσω του διαδικτύου.

Στα πλαίσια της συνεχούς βελτίωσης των γνώσεων, των ικανοτήτων και των δεξιοτήτων μας υποβάλαμε αίτηση στην Ευρωπαϊκή Ένωση μέσω του προγράμματός της Erasmus+ και το Ίδρυμα Κρατικών Υποτροφιών. Ο τίτλος του σχεδίου που υποβάλαμε και τελικά εγκρίθηκε και χρηματοδοτήθηκε είναι «Διδακτική Μεθοδολογία της Ελληνικής γλώσσας ως Ξένης/Δεύτερης και χρήσης ΤΠΕ κατά τη διδασκαλία: Εμπλουτισμός μεθόδων, πρακτικές εφαρμογές και παραγωγή εκπαιδευτικού υλικού στοχευμένου σε ενήλικες, πρόσφυγες, μετανάστες».

Το σχέδιο αυτό πέρα από τους προφανείς στόχους δίνει βαρύτητα στη σημασία της διαπολιτισμικότητας, της αναγνώρισης της ύπαρξης και της αυξανόμενης εισροής μειονεκτούντων πληθυσμών, όπως είναι οι πρόσφυγες και οι μετανάστες και της αναντίρρητης ανάγκης βασικής επικοινωνίας και πολιτισμικής αποδοχής.

Στα πλαίσια του σχεδίου τέσσερις συνεργάτες του Ινστιτούτου Αλεξάνδρεια παρακολούθησαν στη Μάλτα, στο Executive Training Ιnstitute (ETI) ένα επιμορφωτικό πρόγραμμα δύο εβδομάδων ώστε να βελτιωθούν οι δεξιότητες των συμμετεχόντων ανάλογα με το επαγγελματικό τους περιβάλλον και να βελτιωθεί η παρεχόμενη από το Ινστιτούτο Αλεξάνδρεια μεθοδολογία εκπαίδευσης ενηλίκων με νέα εργαλεία όπως είναι η τεχνολογία επικοινωνιών και πληροφορίας (ΤΠΕ). Το πρόγραμμα «Methodology Revisited, Revitalised, Renergised – Language Teaching Methodology», πραγματοποιήθηκε από τις 17-28 Οκτωβρίου 2016 στην αγγλική γλώσσα.

Ως απόρροια, θέλοντας να λειτουργήσουμε ως πολλαπλασιαστές αυτής της γνώσης και να δημιουργήσουμε έναν θετικό αντίκτυπο, πραγματοποιήσαμε την Κυριακή 5 Μαρτίου 2017 μια ημερίδα στα γραφεία του Ινστιτούτου Αλεξάνδρεια. Καλέσαμε τους συνεργάτες μας και καθηγητές μας, τους ανθρώπους που μας βοήθησαν από το ΙΚΥ αλλά και το Δήμο Νέας Ιωνίας. Οι συνεργάτες καθηγητές μας ήρθαν από την Αθήνα, την επαρχία και την Ευρώπη. Δημοσιεύσαμε την πρόσκληση στην ιστοσελίδα και τη σελίδα Facebook/Twitter του Ινστιτούτου. Ενημερώσαμε και παρουσιάσαμε σε μεγάλο βαθμό τις εντυπώσεις και τη γνώση, που αποκομίσαμε. Μιλήσαμε για τις νέες τεχνικές και τις δυνατότητες των ΤΠΕ που στοχεύουν τον μαθησιακό εμπλουτισμό και τη βελτίωση της δουλειάς και του έργου μας. Μεταφέραμε την εμπειρία μας από τη διαπολιτισμική επικοινωνία, τη συνύπαρξη και ουσιαστική συνεργασία με εκπαιδευτικούς από άλλες χώρες. Υπήρξε ένας γόνιμος διάλογος και μια εποικοδομητική και ουσιαστική ανταλλαγή επιχειρημάτων σχετικά με την ενσωμάτωση νέων μεθόδων διδασκαλίας προκειμένου να βελτιωθεί η εφαρμογή της σε διαπολιτισμικό περιβάλλον με οδηγό το τρίπτυχο: Γνώσεις-Δεξιότητες-Στάσεις.

Στα περιεχόμενα της Ημερίδας περιλαμβάνονταν η παρουσίαση του σχεδίου και της οργάνωσής του, της προετοιμασίας, παρακολούθησης και της θεματολογίας του επιμορφωτικού προγράμματος στο ΕΤΙ. Επιπλέον, παρουσιάσαμε κάποιες από τις θεματικές του προγράμματος προσαρμοσμένες στις ανάγκες της διδασκαλίας της ελληνικής ως δεύτερης/ξένης γλώσσας. Κάναμε προτάσεις για την ελληνική γλώσσα και τη διδασκαλία της σε PowerPoint. Ορισμένες θεματικές που μπορούν να εφαρμοστούν και να αξιοποιηθούν στην ελληνική γλώσσα και τον πολιτισμό είναι οι ακόλουθες:

Οι διαφορετικοί τύποι μάθησης.
Τα παιχνίδια ρόλων στη διδασκαλία μιας ξένης γλώσσας.
Η παραγωγή σταυρόλεξων με τη βοήθεια ιστοσελίδων.
Η δημιουργία εκπαιδευτικών βίντεο με τη βοήθεια του Moviemaker.
Η χρήση του χιούμορ και των αστείων ιστοριών στη διδασκαλία.
Η χρήση των ιστοριών, διηγήσεων και παραμυθιών στη διδασκαλία.

Αποφασίσαμε ότι θα συνεχίσουμε την επικοινωνία και την ανταλλαγή ιδεών και προτάσεων για τη μεθοδολογία και τη χρήση ΤΠΕ στο εκπαιδευτικό μας έργο. Παράλληλα συνεχίζουμε την υλοποίηση του σχεδίου μας και είμαστε κοινωνικά ενεργοί να ανταποκριθούμε στις ανακύπτουσες ανάγκες στον ελληνικό και ευρωπαϊκό χώρο.

Mrz

Alexandria Institute’s Vasilopita cutting ceremony

Categories: Alexandria, Νέα του Σχολείου μας

Tags: Vasilopita, Βασιλόπιτα

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by Andreas Tselikas

We are very happy to announce that on Sunday the 12th of February 2017, we had Alexandria Institute’s Vasilopita cutting ceremony in our offices in Nea Ionia. The Head of teaching, Mr. Andreas Tselikas welcomed all the associates, the students of Alexandria Institute, the friends and relatives and he wished them a Happy New Year!

It was a great pleasure that we met again and we had the chance to discuss and have fun; the hidden coin was found from our lucky Greek language teacher and friend Mr. Yianni Papapostolou.

We wish 2017 to be an exceptional year for everybody and to meet again on January of 2018 for the Vasilopita!!

Apr

Easter in Greece

Categories: Greece, Tradition, Έθιμα, Ελλάδα, Πάσχα, Πολιτισμός

Tags: Ανάσταση, Ελλάδα, Πάσχα

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by Irene Dioti

For Greeks, Easter is the biggest religious holiday of the year. Although many of the celebrations have roots to pre-Christian times – the Elysian mysteries in ancient Greece were also a celebration of rebirth after death when in winter everything dies and in spring they’re born again – today in Greece, Easter celebrations have a direct connection with the Orthodox faith.

By „Pisach“ (the word means crossing pass) the Egyptians celebrated the passage of the Sun from the equator, the vernal equinox and the coming of spring. The Jews established this celebration to commemorate their liberation from the Egyptians and the crossing of the Red Sea. In addition they wanted to celebrate the end of the winter and the beginning of the spring.

In Christian feast was given the name „Easter“ and by decision of the First Ecumenical Council in 325 AD set to be celebrated on the first Sunday after the full moon of the vernal equinox. At Easter, people celebrate the victory of Christ against death, the victory of God’s love to the humans despite their weakness and the arrival of spring, the awakening of nature after winter hibernation.

The word Easter, “Lampri” refers to the two weeks starting from the resurrection of Lazarus until the Low Sunday (Saint Thomas Sunday), the Holy Week and the week after Easter.

From the Byzantine years Christians were making preparations long before the Easter holidays. They overlaid their house’s floors with herbs, laurel, myrtle, rosemary, lemon; they bought new clothes, which called them “lampriatika”.

On Easter day everyone exchanged gifts and wished “Christos Anesti “that means Christ Has Risen, while at night the streets and the houses were illuminated. At the time of Ottoman domination Easter had a very special significance for the Greeks because they made a comparison of Jesus’ last week of life with their obedience to Ottomans along with Christ Resurrection came alive their hopes for the resurrection of the Nation.

The big week, or as it is known in Greek ‚Megali Evdomada,‘ is the week from Palm Sunday to Easter Sunday. Despite it being an ordinary work week, shops have special hours, there are church services every evening, and many people clean and prepare their homes in preparation for the big feast of Easter Sunday.

Holy Week is essentially a revival of Jesus´ last days when the Orthodox Church relives the last week of the life of Jesus. On Thursday Greek Easter bread called tsoureki is baked and the traditional red Easter eggs are dyed. On Good Friday you´ll hear the church bells ring all day for the funeral of Christ. Many people participate in the quiet procession while carrying candles and the experience overall is quite solemn.

On Good Saturday in the morning we celebrate the Resurrection of Christ, it is called “Proti Anastasi” (first Resurrection of Crist) and the touch of the Holy Light from the Holy Grave in Jerusalem. It is the last day of Lent and it is filled with preparations for the midnight meal, including a traditional soup called magiritsa. Just before midnight on Saturday everyone gathers at church with their Easter candles (or ‚lambades‘ in Greek).

Just before midnight all the lights are switched off, as a symbol of Jesus‘ descending to the kingdom of death, and a moment later the priest announces ‚Christos Anesti,‘ or Christ Has Risen. People start cheering, greeting and kissing each other and many fireworks go off.

Everyone carries candles with them to be lit by the priest’s candle which represents the ‚holy flame.‘ The tradition is that representatives from the Greek Orthodox Church have transported to Greece a candle lit by the eternal burning flame at the Church of the holy Grave in Jerusalem, and the flame is spread from candle to candle all over Greece.

Each person carefully carries their lit candle home in order to bless their home by drawing a cross with the flame above the entrance for protection from all evil.

The ‚tsougrisma‘ game begins where people break each other’s´ red eggs by hitting them against each other. The one with the strongest egg is said to have good luck for the whole year!

The first meal after Lent is usually the traditional Easter soup called magiritsa, eaten after church on Saturday night.

On Easter Sunday family and friends gather for a big Easter meal, which typically includes roasted lamb, loads of different salads and mezedakia. On Easter Sunday, there is a scent of spring and delicious food across the entire country!

Mrz

Poem by Konstantinos Kavafis, „As much as you can“.

Categories: poetry

Tags: Καβάφης, ποίηση

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by Irene Dioti

„As much as you can“

Even if you cannot live your life as you wanted to,

at least try this

as much as you can; do not humiliate it

into the affinity of the world

into the gestures and the conversations.

Do not humiliate it by bringing it,

by hanging around and exposing it,

to the daily stupity

of the realtions and the interactions,

til it becomes a strange and obtrusive one.

Mrz

Greek “Apokria”- Carnival.

Categories: Greece, Tradition, Ελλάδα

Tags: Αποκριά, Βλάχικος γάμος, Διόνυσος, Θήβα, Μοσχάτο, Πάτρα, πέταγμα αετού, Πλάκα, Ρέθυμνο, ταραμοσαλάτα

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by Irene Dioti

Carnival in reality means abstaining from meat –a mental and physical preparation of the human for Easter and Resurrection. In Latin the word carnival, derives from carne, which means „meat“, and the verb vale, which means „I pass.“

The carnival period is considered a period in which man escapes from his daily life and externalizes his passions with the help of disguise.

Formerly carnival was everywhere in Greece with group masquerades, dances, feasts, satire and various special customs in every place. It was a chance for endless party, revelry with wine and a thousand moqueries. The largest centers of carnival revelry were, like today Patras with the famous Carnival, which has its roots in the early 19th century. Another place is Plaka in the center of Athens and Moschato, a south suburb of Athens. In Thebes there is famous custom, the „Vlach wedding”. The „Vlach Wedding“ is a remnant of the ancient orgiastic cult of the god Dionysus, the son of Semele in the country of the legends, Thebes. “Vlach Wedding,” is revived each year, with all participants joining the festivities with satirical songs and lots of dancing. Other places known for the festivities during Carnival are Kozani with the beautiful famous lamps and the outdoor celebrations around fires in various neighborhoods and Rethymno with its unique carnival, where the participants are taking part in a fantastic treasure hunt in the Renaissance Old Town alleys!

This celebration is associated with the last permitted by the orthodox tradition period to eat meat and to have fun before starting the Lent. During this period and for seven whole weeks weddings or celebrations or festivals cannot be made. So Apokries is a pleasant parenthesis between the twelve days (from Christmas’ Eve until Epiphany) and Lent. This period lasts three weeks and it is called Triodio. Clean Monday puts an end to the preceding Carnival celebrations, inviting all Orthodox Christians to leave behind the sinful attitudes associated with Carnival festivities and non-fasting foods, which were largely consumed during the three weeks of the Carnival.

As a result, the feast, which is a public holiday in Greece and Cyprus, is celebrated with outdoor excursions, the consumption of shellfish and other fasting foods. After Clean Monday it is forbidden to the Christians to eat meat, eggs, milk but the consumption of shellfish and mollusks though, is permitted, thus creating the tradition of eating elaborate dishes based on seafood, like cuttlefish, octopus and different shellfish, like shrimp and mussels. A traditional dip made of the salted and cured roe from carp or cod, mixed with olive oil, lemon juice and bread crumbs, called taramosalata, is also part of the products consumed on Clean Monday. Taramosalata is ideal for spreading on the lagana, a special kind of unleavened flatbread, baked only on that day.

Traditionally, as Clean Monday is considered to mark the beginning of the spring season, kite flying is also part of the tradition. The kite has its roots in ancient Greece and symbolizes the human need to rise mentally and spiritually and get closer to God.

Feb

Greece through the eyes of our student, Sylvia Alberti!

Categories: Greece, Unkategorisiert

Tags: Alexandria's Institute students, Greece, photography

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by Irene Dioti

My name is Sylvia Alberti and I am a freelance Hatha Yoga and English teacher in Italy. I love travelling maybe because I used to be a flight attendant and I have always felt like an adventurous free spirit. I have lived in California and India for several years and travelled around the world.

Then, in 2008 during a holiday in the island of Rhodes, I felt a strong desire to rediscover Greece and its islands. Since then every year I go back there for several months and I feel instantly at home. Greece with her beauty, authenticity, and her welcoming people full of zest for life has literally mesmerised me. This is the reason why I have been taking Modern Greek lessons via Skype in Alexandria Institute, for the past 3 years. I am very fond of studying Greek and I feel really happy when I can communicate with the locals without feeling like as a tourist anymore. As I like to say, I am an Italian with a Greek heart! I love photography and my Nikon follows me in my Greek adventures! Taking photos is my way to express poetry and emotions of what I perceive through the shutter. I have participated to several photo contests and won prizes, one of them was an unforgettable stay in Santorini. My photos have been exhibited in Italy and Crete and on travel magazines.

I leave you now to the vision of some of them taken in the Cyclades and Gavdos island, South of Crete. They talk about cobalt Aegean, whitewashed chapels, expressive faces, lazy cats, and long, bright Greek summers. „My“ islands are not simply islands but each of them represents a place where my heart, spirit and soul feels happy and free.

Greece through the eyes of our student, Sylvia Alberti!