​Inaugural Greek Language Competition Makes its Mark!

The West Australian Modern Greek Language Teachers’ Association Inc.
(WAMGLTA) held its first ever Greek language competition for school-aged
children (Pre-primary to Year 12), and it was a hit!

With the aim of promoting the speaking of the Greek language in an enjoyable
and non-threatening way, the Association devised the WAMGLTA Speak Greek
in June Competition (also in support of the annual Speak Greek in March
Campaign) with the following stipulated criteria:

• Prepare a video of maximum 3 minutes’ duration, speaking in Greek on
any one of the following topics:

Me
My family
Food
Winter
Life in Greece
Life in Australia
Explaining the rules of a chosen sport
Greek Orthodoxy
The Arts

• Students were permitted to work alone, in pairs, or in groups of no more
than 4 persons.

• The categories for judging were:
(1) Background Speakers: Solo, Pairs, Groups
(2) Non-background Speakers: Solo, Pairs, Groups

• The criteria used for judging the winners in each of the above categories
were:
(a) Fluency in speaking Greek;
(b) Clear communication of meaning; and
(c) Entertainment level.

• The competition opened on 1 June 2019 and closed on 6 July 2019.

It was heartening for the Association to receive entries from 40 individual
students, some of whom worked in pairs or in groups.

The participants came from the following three educational providers where Modern Greek is taught:
• St. Andrew’s Grammar
• Immaculate Heart College
• The Evangelismos Greek Language School

Judging took place on Saturday 10 August, with the following winning entries
emerging from each educational provider:

St. Andrew’s Grammar

Background Speakers (Solo)
Filippos Stergiou – Winning Entry
Lucas Cristopoulos
Panagiota Kyriakidou
Melina Lampropoulos
Kon Stergiou

Non-background Speakers (Solo)
Bojan Dinic – Winning Entry

Background Speakers (Pairs)
Strati Pergamalis & Dean Diodato
Alexandra Zafiropoulos & Jana Edwards – Winning Entry
Nicholas Cristopoulos & Konstantinos Koutsouvelis
Jason Androutsos & Damianos Kyriakidis

Non-background Speakers (Pairs)
Milan Dinic & Nemanja Savic – Winning Entry
Ana Susa & Yashvi Meghani
Asha Greer & Cassiana Papadoulis
Andjela Petkovic & Nina Novakovic
Georgia Kikiros & Elena Ilic

Non-background Speakers (Groups)
Ewan Weir, Biftu Demissie & Anh Vu Nhien Tran – Winning Entry
Jelena Cubrilo, Mia Francis, Lamija Ekic

Immaculate Heart College

Non-background Speakers (Pairs)
Polly Bartlett & Emmanuel Hurley – Winning Entry
Mikaela Vale-Kunz & Kelsey Van Heemst
Tyson Dewhirst & Georgie Buxton
Kaelan Ormsby & Oliver Parker

The Evangelismos Greek Language School
​
Non-background Speakers (Pairs)
Delaney Mamakos & Zeva Mamakos – Winning Entry

As Chair of The West Australian Modern Greek Language Teachers’ Association
Inc., I had the privilege of visiting each of the schools over the course of Term
Three, to present a certificate to every participant, and the prize of a Dymocks
Book Voucher to each of the winners.

As a result of the enthusiastic and positive outcome of this inaugural
competition, WAMGLTA will be sure to offer it again in 2020 and beyond!
​
Dr Angela Evangelinou-Yiannakis
WAMGLTA Chair
14 September 2019

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