Supervisors info:
Χρήστος Παρθένης, επίκουρος καθηγητής του Παιδαγωγικού τμήματος του Πανεπιστημίου Αθηνών.
Αθανάσιος Μιχάλης, επίκουρος καθηγητής του Παιδαγωγικού τμήματος του Πανεπιστημίου Αθηνών.
Αντιγόνη - Άλμπα Παπακωσταντίνου, επίκουρη καθηγήτρια του Παιδαγωγικού τμήματος του Πανεπιστημίου Αθηνών.
Summary:
If we take a look around us nowadays, we will realize that we live in a different reality than we used to hear from our relatives narratives in the previous decades. Our age is characterized by an intense variability in many factors such us economic, social and political. So, it is commonly reasonable to consider that this multileveled variability affected our country in a cultural level, due to the fact of the vast immigration issues that caused, especially in the 90s, one «de facto» multicultural reality. (Parthenis, 2016) Multicultural actuality includes the presence of alterity as one of its most significant features. As alterity is visible nowadays on a social level, so it is in the Greek school environment. Alterity reflects on the school class, through different languages, cultural goods, traditions, habits and stereotypes. (Skourtou, 2011)
So, alterity is a common characteristic of society, something that affects the way the educational institutions plan their strategy on the way students should learn. In this thesis we are determined to discover if this new modern reality of alterity also reflects on how the Greek language is being taught. We chose the Greek language lesson because through language teaching, we are able to provide students with behavioral perspectives infused with values and principles, something that will help them to become the upcoming citizens smoothly.
Our main goal is to reveal how through the teaching manual of the Greek language we can find examples and references that relate to alterity, something that will eventually lead to a whole new field of knowledge for bilingual students. Moreover, our main cause is to reveal references of different forms of religion, except the formal religion of the Greek state, and of course to find references that relate to different cultures, traditions, habits that can be used effectively to include various perspectives. These perspectives will provide teachers with the opportunity to plan their strategy: a strategy that will follow the demands of the modern globalized society and also alterity and difference.
That being said, if we look around as, it is absolutely certain to understand that there is not any specific national uniqueness which can define the content of the Greek nation, especially in the modern age. Also, we can easily see that there is not only one religion, culture, or language that can relate to people that live and work in this country. We can also say that the uniqueness of one nation, religion, culture and language cannot be combined with a society of alterity which is the most suitable description of the modern way that nations are composed. Τhis fact brings to light the importance οf alterity and how it can cooperate with modern teaching methods and material, as a canonical form and not as an exception since the changes continue to proceed. The most significant example of the changes that we are confronted with is the vast immigration numbers that our country is facing since 2015. It is reasonable to say that immigrant’s kids attend the Greek school and that alone reveals the need to make further suitable changes to help the students of different cultural background and also integrate to the new conditions.
To sum up, the school’s aim should be to make these upcoming citizens capable of coexisting with other individuals, therefore people with different language, religion, culture, traditions, habits or choices. If we do not learn to live with “other” people in the framework of the modern global society, it is almost certain that we will not be able to socialize and improve ourselves according to the modern global needs.
Keywords:
alterity, difference, culture, language, religion, pluralism, universality, interculturalism, interaction, communication, acceptance
