Teachers’, Parents’ and Children’s Perspectives of Teaching and Learning Greek in a Complementary School in Luxembourg

Abstract

Many scholars have been interested in studying patterns of language shift or language maintenance of migrants during their diaspora. One way of sustaining the development of a home language can be the attendance of a complementary school. This paper explores the differing perspectives on teaching and learning Greek in a complementary school in multilingual Luxembourg. The participants include the two teachers of this school, the mothers of three newly migrated families, and their children. The children are multilingual and attend the Greek complementary school once a week. The data, which stem from interviews with all participants, have been analysed thematically. The findings show that the children’s understanding of the purpose of attending the school and their experiences within the school, varied with age and school friendships. The teachers were aware of the children’s different levels of motivation, which they associated with language competence and opportunities for socialisation. Although they valued the children’s multilingualism, they did not build on this their lessons which were underpinned by a monolingual policy. While the parents had high expectations regarding competence in Greek, and enrolled their children to develop this competence, they nevertheless did not seem to perceive Greek as an educational priority. The findings of this paper encourage teachers to reflect on their language policies and teaching approaches and encourage them to capitalise on their students’ heterogeneity.