New York, NY – This year’s Annual Staff-Development Seminar of the Direct Archdiocesan District will be held on Tuesday, November 2, 2010 (Election Day), at the St. Demetrios Cathedral High School in Astoria.
The Seminar is held under the auspices of His Eminence Archbishop Demetrios of America and is organized by the Direct Archdiocesan District Office of Education. It will include an array of workshops covering the English and Greek curricula (pre-K to high school) and offering in-service training to the teachers serving in the Day and the Afternoon Schools of the Direct Archdiocesan District.
The Greek language and culture teachers will have the opportunity to listen to presentations by two distinguished university professors – Dr. Georgios Papanastasiou, professor of Linguistics at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and Prof. Panagiotis Andreou of the School of Modern Greek Language – who will focus on the teaching of the Greek language as well as the assessment of language skills.
Specifically, Dr. Papanastasiou, who is also director of the Institute of Modern Greek Studies/Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, will entertain the topic “Loan Words from both Greek and English Languages - How to use the borrowed words in teaching” and Prof. Panagiotis Andreou will speak on the “Assessment of Language Learning Skills.”
Dr. Papanastasiou and Prof. Andreou are currently working on the development of a “Course of Studies in Modern Greek as a Second Language-Level A (Beginning Level),” in collaboration with the Direct Archdiocesan District Office of Education. Samples of their work so far will be presented to the participating teachers for discussion and comments.
The program for the Greek teachers will also include a presentation by Prof. Stefanos Papazacharias of the State University at Buffalo, who will speak on “The Comprehensive Examination of Modern Greek and its important role in the evaluation of students and classroom instruction.”
The Seminar will start with registration at 8:00 a.m. and end at 3:00 p.m. The Direct Archdiocesan District Office of Education invites all the teachers to attend. To register, please contact the Direct Archdiocesan District Office of Education at (212) 570-3553 and (212) 570-3554 or visit the Office’s website at www.education.goarch.org .
The principals of the New York City parochial day schools have designated November 2nd for professional development for their teachers, and all schools will remain closed. The principals of the District’s afternoon Greek schools are advised to act similarly and encourage their teachers to attend.
