Course Dates:  June 2 – June 28, 2025

NOTE: This course starts and ends on the Island of Spetses, a short ferry ride from Piraeus, the port of Athens. Students should make travel arrangements accordingly.

Staying for a month at the beautiful Anargyrios & Korgialenios School, students of Modern Greek Language and Culture will have the opportunity to learn and practice the language, while enjoying the landscape and the island life of Spetses, one of the most impressive, cosmopolitan and historical Greek islands. Through different aspects of language practice, as well as etymological, historical and cultural information that complement language instruction, students will become familiar with the various facets of Modern Greek culture and society, so that they can move comfortably and sensitively within the host society and become an integrated part of it.

Modern Greek Language will be offered at two levels:

Beginning Modern Greek Language and Culture (MGKL-101) for those with no or very little knowledge of the language. By the end of the course, students will be able to handle orally daily life situations (introducing oneself, describing family, ordering coffee and food, making reservations, shopping, requesting and understanding directions etc.); will acquire daily vocabulary and basic grammatical structures; and will also be able to write simple letters and short paragraphs.

Intermediate Modern Greek and Culture (MGKL-201) for those with a solid knowledge of the language or completion of 120 hours of instruction. The primary aim of this level is to enable students to develop further their proficiency in Modern Greek in all four skills (listening, speaking, reading and writing). By the end of this course students will be able to handle a wide range of complex situations; describe events in past, present and future; will read simple authentic texts; make in-class presentations on a variety of topics and write letters, brief texts and simple reports.

Both levels focus on strengthening and improving students’ oral language proficiency through different activities and daily life interactions inside and outside the classroom and on enhancing reading comprehension through short stories and interactive texts (e.g. role-playing, skits, films, internet searches, advertisements, songs, walks, interviews with locals, travel diaries, group projects, presentations etc.).

This course includes visits to the picturesque site of Epidaurus in the Argolid and a day trip to Athens.