Autumn means back to school for students throughout the world and it’s no different for the dozens of students at Greek Lessons Online, an online school bringing together dozens of people from throughout the world who are learning Greek.
The Fall period for Greek LOL comes after a exciting summer in Greece during which students came from thousands of miles away from places like New York, Chicago, Alabama, even the Caymen Islands and Norway and faraway Melbourne, Australia.
Following months of online interaction while learning Greek in virtual classrooms and in private lessons, students were able to meet in Greece and take part in a special program that was planned by Greek LOL founder Stella Bobotsiari and her team.
Imagine the experience of interacting “digitally” with people for months and only seeing them inside a square computer screen– only to meet in person in Greece.
According to Ioanna Sylligardou, one of Greek LOL’s online teachers, it was an exciting and exhilarating moment, finally meeting her students whom she had only known from a computer screen.
Months of online interaction have passed… Emails go back and forth, dates are on, and the day that you meet your online students face to face is finally here.
You wake up in the morning, being so impatient about this meeting! “How is it going to be?”, “Are we going to talk or would it be so awkward that we would just stare at each other speechless”? “What are we going to talk about?” So, you go to the meeting spot.
The thrill is off limits and you can’t believe that in any second you will finally see in person your students and their families. And when you see them coming towards you everyone has a huge smile on their face and emotions take over. Your students run right into your arms and tears of joy start running because you cannot believe you actually see each other in flesh and bones.
The first few moments after the greetings are a little strange. You scan each other from head to toes. But after a while you drink your coffee and chat about everything just like you do this every single day. It becomes so familiar, the sweetness and the warmth that you get from these people is priceless.
The whole Greek LOL Team and I feel lucky and blessed for the special bonds connecting us with our students. We are a Team of teachers investing in our relationships with our students and every summer this special investment pays off! Until next time.
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