Education for the Muslim Minority Children

Coordinator: Dr. Maria Tzevelekou, linguist
1st phase: 1997-2001 (Ministry of Education, 2nd European Support Framework)
2nd phase: 2002-2004 (Ministry of Education, 3rd European Support Framework)

The programme "Education for the Muslim Minority Children" was a reform project co-financed by the EU (2nd and 3rd European Support Framework) and the Greek Ministry of Education. The development and the implementation of the project were entrusted to the University of Athens, and Professor Anna Frangkoudaki was appointed as coordinator. Its scope was to improve teaching methods and to develop appropriate educational material for teaching Greek to Turkish speaking children attending the minority schools of Thrace.

The reform project

The main scope of the project has been threefold:

• Understanding the reasons for the low performance of students in the minority schools in Thrace and their deficient learning of Greek language.
• Development of new textbooks and materials for teaching Greek as a second language and for the topics belonging to the Greek part of the curriculum (i.e. history, geography, environmental studies and civic education).
• In-service training of the entire population of teachers (majority and minority) in new pedagogical techniques and in the use of the new materials produced.

The contribution of ILSP / R.C. "Athena"

ILSP / R.C. "Athena" contributed to the project in the following way:

• By developing a system for teaching Greek as a second language (multimedia CD-ROM and books).
• By developing a Greek-Turkish dictionary of 6000 words, for children from 6 –14 (multimedia CD-ROM and book).
• By developing a Greek-Turkish-English dictionary of 6000 terms.
• By organizing training courses on computer and software use for teachers of primary and secondary education in minority schools.

Methodological issues concerning the development of the abovementioned educational material have been presented on several scientific conferences.

For more information about this project click here.

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