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:
  1. Fluency in speaking Greek;
  2. Clear communication of meaning; and
  3. 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