GreekLanguage.ca: A portal to the future for Greek and other community languages in Canada?

Description

NOTE: This event is proceeding as planned on March 12. For those unable to attend in person, you may join us via the live webcast: https://hosting2.desire2learncapture.com/MUNK/1/Live/490.aspx

Cultural and linguistic diversity is one of Canada’s main characteristics and strengths. Beyond the two official languages, English and French, millions of Canadians are speakers of indigenous and immigrant languages, which are taught, learned and promoted mainly by community and educational institutions. New ICT technologies, offer today the opportunity to facilitate the inter-generational transmission of these languages by connecting their speakers and learners with teachers, programs and resources, nationally and globally.

GREEKLANGUAGE.CA is an online portal designed by Dr.Themistoklis Aravossitas at the University of Toronto’s Hellenic Studies Program, to support Greek language education in Canada. It is aimed at students, educators, parents and community members who wish to locate schools, associations and groups that teach and promote the Greek language and culture in order to access their services and share resources which enhance learning. The portal is based on a doctoral study at the Curriculum, Teaching and Learning department in the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE) of the University of Toronto, entitled “The Hidden Schools: Mapping Greek Heritage Language Education in Canada”. The platform’s content is based on dozens of researchers, volunteers, educators and other stakeholders, who shared their insights on where, how and by whom Modern Greek is used, taught and learned across Canada.

This year’s Hellenic Heritage Foundation Annual Munk Lecture is the official launch is GREEKLANGUAGE.CA. Prof. Aravossitas will guide users through what the platform has to offer and discuss the key components of second-language learning in Canada. A discussion of the role community groups, cultural institutions and associations play in language learning will be examined, along with how connecting communities, educational institutions, language programs and recourses is vital for the survival of community languages in Canada.

Themistoklis Aravossitas teaches Modern Greek language and culture at the Centre for European, Russian and Eurasian Studies of the Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy, University of Toronto. He holds a Bachelor of Education from the University of Athens, Greece, an MA and a PhD from the Department of Curriculum Teaching and Learning of the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education. He is a SSHRC-Canada post doctoral fellow investigating the status of heritage/community languages in Canada. His recent publications include the books Rethinking Heritage Language Education (Cambridge University Press), Handbook of Research and Practice in Heritage Language Education (Springer), Interdisciplinary Research Approaches to Multilingual Education (Routledge Research) and Language Diversity and Education Matters (Gutenberg, In Greek).