Approaching literary Representations about the Life and Work of Eleni Boukoura-Altamura, first Greek female Painter, in Teaching of Modern Greek as a Second Language to Adults of advanced Level of Greek using Theatre Pedagogical Method

Athens, 25/11/2018, Workshop, Mary Margaroni

Approaching literary Representations about the Life and Work of Eleni Boukoura-Altamura, first Greek female Painter, in Teaching of Modern Greek as a Second Language to Adults of advanced Level of Greek using Theatre Pedagogical Method

Athens, 25/11/2018

Mary Margaroni, educator, Greek language and literature teacher, Greece

Workshop 2,5 hours
 Part of the 2018 ATHENS GREECE INTERNATIONAL THEATRE/DRAMA & EDUCATION CONFERENCE
organised by the Hellenic Theatre/Drama & Education Network (TENet-Gr)

Language: Greek

The aim of this workshop is to highlight the contribution of the Theatre Pedagogical method to teaching foreign languages (Smith, 1984), and specifically teaching Greek as a second language to adults in advanced level C1- C2, following the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages. The novel by Rhea Galanaki (2004), Eleni or Nobody is used to bring the adult learners in first contact with less known aspects of Greek visual arts, society, culture and Micro-history since the early years of the foundation of the modern Greek state until the end of the 19th century through the reflective acquaintance with the unconventional biography of Eleni Boukoura-Altamura (1821-1900). Shewas the first Greek female painter, daughter of the first theatrical entrepreneur in Athens. Due to her sex, she did not have the opportunity to study painting at the newly founded School of Arts in Athens. Therefore, she went to Italy where, disguised as a man, she attended painting classes, beginning with the School of Nazarene painters on the outskirts of Rome. She fell in love with the younger Italian painter and revolutionary Francesco Saverio Altamura, with whom she had her first two children, Ioannis (Altamuras, later known sea painter) and Sophia. At that time, she chose not to marry her partner. Then she embraced Catholicism in order to be able to marry Altamura, according to the social norms of her time. However, Altamura abandoned her, shortly after their marriage, leaving with his mistress Jane Benham Hay, an English painter, and Alexander, the third child, whom he had acquired with Eleni. The latter returned to Greece, where she earned a living by giving private painting lessons and raised her first two children, who died of tuberculosis at a very young age. These events brought her to the brink of madness, while the inhabitants of the island accused her of practicing magic.The workshop uses a variety of theatrical-pedagogical techniques such as still image, live image, role in the wall, role’s personal belongings, guided imagery, titles, ceremony, thought tracking, writing and reading in role, collective character, conscience alley/ conflicting voices in the head or conflicting advice in order to help learners discover ways of enhancing receptive and productive skills in Modern Greek as a second language through CLIL (Content and Language Integrated Learning).

Mary Margaroni teaches Modern Greek as Second Language at Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (School of Modern Greek Language). She completed undergraduate studies in Greek Philology (Aristotle University, 1991), German Philology (National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, 2000), History, Archaeology and Social Anthropology (University of Thessaly, 2005) and Special Education (University of Thessaly, 2010) as well as postgraduate studies in History and Social Anthropology (University of Thessaly, 2006), Adult Education (Hellenic Open University, 2013), Theatre Studies – Theatre in Education (Open University of Cyprus, 2014), European Literature and Culture (Aristotle University, 2015), Educational Sciences – Teaching Modern Greek (University of Western Macedonia, 2016). She is a PhD candidate in Social History at the Centre for the Study of Antisemitism in Berlin. She is the author of more than 50 articles in scientific journals and conference proceedings, several chapters in collective volumes and 3 books.