The Nausicaa experience: Teaching Ancient Greek in French preschools and primary schools

Abstract

In the Marseille region in France, ancient Greek has been taught in pre-school and primary school for more than 20 years. The ‘Nausicaa’ Association was created in 1996 with an express purpose in mind. As Nausicaa was Odysseus' guide and helped him regain his dignity as a man and a king, so our association supports children in becoming more complete and richer humans, or so we hope. Nausicaa has grown enormously in the past 20 years, and currently operates in various schools in the South of France, in particular in Marseille and Aix-en-Provence. Around ten volunteers (teachers working in middle school, high school or retired) teach ancient Greek to pupils from pre-school to the end of primary school. All activities are done at school during class teaching time and in the school setting. This paper presents an outline of the activities of the Nausicaa Association and how it benefits pupils of all abilities in learning about the ancient Greeks and their language.

Keywords

• primary education
• ancient Greek
• pedagogy
• special needs