The acronym NAIDOC stands for the National Aboriginal and Islander Day Observance Committee and NAIDOC week (7-14 July) is devoted to events celebrating the Indigenous communities’ histories, cultures and achievements.  Events taking place across Australia include talks, music performances, art exhibitions and workshops for various audiences including children.
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Apart from engaging with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures and languages, the Greek language teacher can potentially use this significant week in the Australian calendar as a starting point for classroom discussions about all languages and cultures, the importance of valuing and developing them and the implications the large variety of languages and cultures has for the contemporary multilingual Australian society.
 
For NAIDOC week events taking place across Australia, students and teachers can visit the link here.

2019 NAIDOC Week poster source: 
​https://www.naidoc.org.au

Greek singer and musician, Dimitiris Basis, was visiting Sydney this year for a series of musical performances during the 2019 Greek Festival of Sydney.  Basis’ discography includes musical pieces that belong to the Greek music genre known as “Laïkó Tragoudi”, folk or urban folk music, a genre that followed Rebetiko music and which has taken many forms over the years.

Basis’ finale performance for the 2019 Greek Festival of Sydney at City Recital Hall in late May, “Mikis Theodorakis – Romiosini and Beyond”, was a tribute to the poetry of internationally acknowledged Greek poet, Yiannis Ritsos, as well as to the music of Mikis Theodorakis, one of Greece’s most important songwriters and composers. Romiosini in Yiannis Ritsos’ poetry refers to an idea of heroic Greekness as this was manifested in the Greek people’s struggles during the Greek War of Independence – 1821 and much later during the Second World War.

Following his final performance, the singer visited the Greek Orthodox Community Saturday School at Clemton Park Public School, where students asked questions about his interest in music, his career and his experience singing in front of a Sydney audience. Basis kindly answered all of students’ questions sharing his journey as a migrant in Germany early in his life. At the end of Basis’ visit to the school, the students were asked to sing along some of his songs!

The photos that follow capture the festive atmosphere at the school in late May!
 
Photos source: O Kosmos – Greek Australian newspaper  (https://kosmosnewspaper.com.au/)

ANZAC BATTLES OF CRETE AND THE GREEK CAMPAIGN 78th ANNIVERSARY

Where: Cenotaph Martin Place Sydney
When: Saturday, 18 May 2019 at 2 pm
 
 
The  Joint  Committee for  the  Commemoration of the Anniversary of the  Battle of  Crete  and the  Greek Campaign  (Joint Committee) annually commemorates through a wreath laying ceremony the Anzac Battles of Greece and Crete of April-May 1941.
 
On the occasion of the 78th Anniversary of the Battle of Crete and the Greek Campaign,  the Committee wishes to invite  you and your families to attend  the very poignant  wreath laying ceremony at the Sydney Cenotaph Martin Place Sydney on Saturday 18 May 2019 at 2pm.
 
Please find below details of al the commemorations  of the 78th Anniversary of the Battle of Crete and the Greek Campaign.
 
Saturday,  18 May 2019, 1.45 pm
Wreath laying ceremony at The Cenotaph Martin Place Sydney 
Saturday, 18 May 2019, 7pm
Battle of Crete Annual Ball
Sunday, 9 May 2019, 9.30 am                 
Memorial Service, Greek Archdiocese Church
Sunday, 26 May 2019, 11.15 am
Memorial Service, Garrison Church

For more information, please contact:
Nick Andriotakis , Secretary, Joint Committee  for  the Commemoration of the Battle of Crete  & The  Greek  Campaign, Email: nick@lateralestate.com

Μητρική Στοργή, 1889, Γεώργιος Ιακωβίδης (Georgios Jakobides)

Mother's Day can be an opportunity to use Greek in creative ways in class. Apart from creating cards with brief messages in Greek for beloved women in our students' lives, we can explore how the theme of maternal bond is presented through literature and art.

Here are two examples where the themes of maternal affection and love are interestingly presented through the perspective of two males, a male Greek painter, Georgios Jakobides and a male Greek prosaist and poet, Georgios Vizyenos.

For more art and craft ideas for Mother's Day, you can visit the following sites: here and here
For the theme of 'motherhood' in art and literature, you can visit the following site: here

Η μητέρα, Γεώργιος Βιζυηνός

Πώς να πειράξω τη μητέρα
να κάμω εγώ να λυπηθεί,
που όλη νύχτα κι όλη μέρα
για το καλό μου προσπαθεί;

Πώς ν' αρνηθώ ή ν ' αναβάλω
ό,τι ορίζει κι απαιτεί,
αφού στη γη δεν έχω άλλο
κανένα φίλο σαν αυτή;

Αυτή στα στήθη τα γλυκά της
με είχε βρέφος απαλό,
με κάθιζε στα γόνατά της
και μ' έμαθε να ομιλώ.

Αυτή με τρέφει και με ντύνει
όλο το χρόνο που γυρνά,
και δίπλα στη μικρή μου κλίνη,
σαν αρρωστήσω ξαγρυπνά.

Αυτή σαν πέσω και χτυπήσω
φιλά να γειάνει την πληγή.
Αυτή, τι πρέπει να αφήσω
και τι να κάμω μ' οδηγεί.

Πώς το λοιπόν τέτοια μητέρα
να κάμω εγώ να λυπηθεί,
που όλη νύχτα κι όλη μέρα
για το καλό μου προσπαθεί;